PHYSICS

Raytheon Company will receive $8 million in funding from DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) to develop and demonstrate networking and communications technologies for future insertion into the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) and other Army systems. The program's goal is to advance a net-centric system capable of the high data rates and low latency communications needed for real-time FCS fire control and robotic missions. Because future warfighters will operate in hostile electromagnetic environments, the FCS communications system must also provide protection against jamming and significantly reduce the probability of enemy detection. The FCS communications approach to meeting these opposing constraints is through a multi-tiered mobile ad hoc network (MANET) utilizing both directional antennas at low-band and highly directional antennas at high-band. "Raytheon continues to build upon its successes from earlier high- performance communications and networking program demonstrations within DARPA," said Mike Keebaugh, president of Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems. "The new FCS communications paradigms and protocols that we are developing and demonstrating will permit warfighters to have access to high- quality data at very high data rates, enabling a better understanding of their tactical environment and improving situational awareness." FCS Communications DEMO 4 work will be done in Fullerton, Calif.; Falls Church, Va.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; and Centerport, N.Y.