BILLERICA, Mass., 15 Feb. 2006. Engineers from Radstone Embedded Computing installed the company's GS16 Rugged Gigabit Ethernet switch on a Boeing F-15E1 jet fighter to demonstrate the capabilities of DARPA's TTNT (Tactical Targeting Network Technology) program, Radstone officials announced today.
The mission -- known as the TTNT Phase 3 Demonstration, and which saw the GS16 deployed with five of its 16 available connections hooked via a local area network to devices on the aircraft -- was completed last September.
"The GS16 can be an excellent solution for the increasingly network-dependent fighter jets of the future," says Peter Cavill, President of Radstone Embedded Computing.
The purpose of DARPA's TTNT program is to research new technologies that can improve the precision and speed with which tactical targets can be located in a distributed sensor environment -- for example, several aircraft and multiple ground stations cooperating to locate and act on the same targets.
The September 2005 mission was executed in a real 'tactical thread' with real fighter aircraft under real conditions -- but with simulated targets.
According to DARPA, the TTNT network successfully demonstrated the ability to:
-- transmit data at speeds of two megabits per second over distances greater than 100 nautical miles;
-- maintain a network with a 10 megabit per second capacity;
-- transmit data further than 100 nautical miles in less than two milliseconds in a low latency mode;
-- coexist with the military's existing Link 16 network;
-- register new platforms within five seconds of entry into the network;
-- transmit data in excess of 300 nautical miles; and
-- route data across multiple nodes beyond line of sight, including sending tactical internet protocol applications from aircraft to the surrogate CAOC at China Lake and to Hanscom AFB, Mass., and the Pentagon in Arlington, Va.
The next mission in the program, known as the JEFX (Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment), will take place in April 2006, and is designed to explore the benefits and opportunities of further increasing the networking capabilities deployed on fighter aircraft.
For more information contact Radstone online at www.radstone.com.
