Harris Corp., ITT Corp. partner to accelerate availability of Soldier Radio Waveform

Posted by Courtney E. Howard

ROCHESTER, N.Y., 25 Oct. 2010. Harris Corp. and ITT Corp. are collaborating to accelerate the fielding of the Soldier Radio Waveform, integral to the U.S. Department of Defense’s vision for a networked digital battlefield. Harris and ITT have exchanged voice and data between the Harris Falcon III AN/PRC-117G manpack and ITT's Soldier Radio development model using the specified SRW Version 1.01.1C.

The AN/PRC-117G and ITT's Soldier Radio were developed under the JTRS Enterprise Business Model, designed to spur innovation in tactical communications. This is the first time that independently developed tactical radios have interoperated using open-standard wideband JTRS technology.

The Soldier Radio Waveform is being developed to serve as a standard for wideband tactical communications for the U.S. Department of Defense. SRW will deliver voice, data, and high-bandwidth networking capabilities to forces at the tactical edge.
Following the success of the exercise, Harris plans to conduct additional testing to include additional SRW features, such as communications security and SRW Network Manager integration. The company is integrating SRW into the AN/PRC-117G manpack, with release expected next summer.

"Harris and ITT have validated the utility and portability of SRW and are accelerating its availability to warfighters as part of a joint tactical wideband data radio network. This demonstrates the benefits of the JTRS Enterprise Business Model," says Brendan O'Connell, president, Department of Defense business, Harris RF Communications. "The successful exchange of voice and data over SRW illustrates the ability of the AN/PRC-117G to add standard U.S. Government waveforms from the JTRS information repository through technology insertion."