MONAX communications system enables COTS smart phone use for Air Force commanders

Posted by John McHale
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., 23 April 2011. The MONAX 3G wireless communications system from Lockheed Martin was demonstrated to Air Force officials with the 3rd Combat Communications Group at Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), Okla. The system enables commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)smartphone applications to be accessed anywhere on military installations.
During the demonstration Lockheed Martin engineers integrated MONAX to a legacy voice and data communications deployable infrastructure.
"With MONAX, commanders now have the ability stay connected at anytime and anywhere on base with full voice, text, e-mail, imagery, and applications," says Sam Guthrie, Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions-Defense director of strategic development. "We demonstrated that MONAX extends existing communications systems and allows all these features with just one device on a secure private network."
The MONAX communications system connects a COTS smartphone to a ground or airborne MONAX XG Base Station, enabling the use of a single, convenient, touch screen COTS smartphone. The system is frequency flexible, connects hundreds of users to a single base station, and delivers superior range and link performance in voice, video, and data transmission. The network uses a secure RF link, protected through exportable encryption for joint and coalition operations.
"Just as smartphones in the commercial world allow us to do much more than just talk to one another, MONAX will provide our warfighters with secure access to email, imagery and other mobile applications in a military environment," Guthrie says.
The use of COTS devices means that MONAX is more affordable than other systems. It is also portable and can be deployed with the military unit, Guthrie says. In fact, in the case of a bare base deployment, MONAX can have commanders in full operations almost immediately and can replace the need for wired phone systems.
Other advantages of MONAX for military installation use include the ability to talk simultaneously in two directions, unlike push to talk systems. MONAX also has greater range and can accommodate more simultaneous users than regular mobile phone system.