Building on its successful HF Software Defined Radio (SDR) products, Codan Communications has now developed its latest SDR backpack, the Sentry-H 6110-MP, one of the smallest and lightest tactical backpacks on the military market that incorporates all the key features of its predecessors while adding further improvements and refinements. It complements Codan’s other SDR products to specifically target the tactical defense market.
The Sentry-H 6110-MP shares the same SDR platform as the successful Sentry-H 6120-BM and thus builds on a proven capability already in widespread use. It was developed through extensive market research and consultation with both existing and potential customers. This involved reviewing and evaluating feedback on 26 data points, all of which contributed to the current design.
Software defined
As a true SDR featuring field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology, all functionality in the 6110-MP is field upgradeable. Future upgrades can be easily incorporated without requiring equipment to be returned for hardware changes. In addition, passive functions are available in the software and can be activated if and when a customer wishes to expand the capabilities of the equipment simply by issuing software code. This allows future technological developments to be integrated at low cost and provides strong protection against being overtaken by these developments – so-called ‘futureproofing’.
Because the 6110-MP is an IP-based radio, it can be operated remotely, offering a number of location options to suit the tactical or physical situation. The radio can be connected via an Ethernet cable or via a point-to-point connection to a remote antenna for better communication conditions or for tactical reasons. These may include locating the antenna outside or on the roof of a building while operating from inside, or moving the antenna location away from the plant location to reduce the electronic vulnerability of the plant and the exposure of its location to ECM detection of transmissions . The remote capability also allows the radio to be controlled over a LAN, which in combination with Codan’s Virtual Control Point (VCP) software offers control flexibility and allows HF network communications to be managed from headquarters workstations via a Windows PC or tablet.
The 6110-MP can also be controlled using Codan’s Xtend software app on a smartphone or tablet. Xtend can be used in all commonly used voice modes and for text messages. It has a common icon-based user interface providing user familiarity and consistency.
Powerful and lightweight
Considerable effort has gone into optimizing the size, weight and power (SWAP) of the 6110-MP, resulting in one of the lightest tactical HF handheld radios available to military customers, and one that Codan believes is the most -the best performing radio station in the world in its class.
The 6110-MP weighs less than 5 kg including the battery, which is a simple modular, continuously evolving military BB-2590 with full System Management Bus (SMBus) information.
The radio is rugged and compact, built and tested to MIL-STD 810G, and its durability exceeds that of a typical MIL-STD backpack.
A secure digital opportunity
The 6110-MP has up to 1000 channels, with 500 programmable contacts and 20 programmable networks. It incorporates Codan’s TWELP technology with a vocoder that offers speeds from 2400 bps to 300 bps, the latter being lower than most equivalent radios, to provide communication when analog voice cannot be used. It offers 2G ALE to MIL-STD 181 and 3G ALE to STANAG 4539, as well as Codan’s market-leading voice messaging capability.
This new facility allows digital voice messages to be transmitted over a channel where neither digital nor analog voice communication works. The 6110MP supports a voice message duration of up to 100 seconds at a digital voice rate of 1200 bps or 50 seconds at 2400 bps. All received and sent voice messages are stored in the transceiver’s call log and can be played back or forwarded to other stations at any time. Voice messages can also be encrypted over the air with AES256 encryption.
Global satellite navigation with GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou is built into the radio. ECCM capability is provided with variable user-configurable hopping sequences and bandwidth. Both AES-256 and CES-128 encryption are available, both integrated into the radio. Using a standard H250 handset connection, external devices such as handset, earpiece, intercom and external encryption devices can be added in addition to the Codan 2230 smart handset. Combined with Codan’s exclusive Channel Programmed Secure Interoperability feature, this gives the radio’s unique ability to operate three different COMSEC protocols that may be required to integrate with existing or other agency communications.
Customizable and tactically user-friendly
The 6110MP’s new user interface was developed based on the customer research program and using Google’s Material Design methodology. The custom icon-driven menu has been completely redesigned and extensively tested with different environments and users to ensure it is as intuitive as possible and usable even by operators with little knowledge of technical terminology. It is practical and easy to follow.
The interface is currently available in up to 10 languages with additional options set for the future. The radio panel is a simple design to make reconfiguring the hardware language as simple as possible. It is a unique but simple approach to solving the problem of providing common equipment for the deployment of multinational and multilingual forces.
See Codan’s product range and global impact for tactical communications and data interoperability here: www.codancomms.com/sectors/military.
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