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Digital Modular Radios by General Dynamics Quadruples U.S. Navy Network Communications Capacity with New Software

 

Feb. 4, 2015

General Dynamics' four-channel Digital Modular Radios (DMR) are being upgraded with high-frequency dynamic routing (HFDR) software to turn the radio's four channels into eight virtual channels. In addition to HFDR, the new high-frequency virtual channel exploitation software expands the DMR's communications capacity to 16 virtual channels when operating in the high frequency (HF) line-of-sight and ultra-high frequency (UHF) satellite communications frequencies.

With the two new software upgrades, the U.S. Navy has four-times more capacity for secure HF communications without adding additional hardware or changing the configuration in space-constrained shipboard radio rooms. The Navy began equipping surface and subsurface ships and a number of land-based locations with the DMR in 1998, and there are currently 500 secure, four-channel DMR radios supporting Navy operations worldwide.

Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamics Mission Systems, said, "As the first software-defined radio to be used by the U.S. military, DMR continues to produce long-term cost-effectiveness for the Navy because these technology advancements use software, avoiding time-consuming and cost-intensive hardware replacements."

General Dynamics engineers are also working to integrate the new Mobile User Objective Systems (MUOS) waveform into the DMR radios. The waveform is the digital dial tone needed to connect to the U.S. military's new narrowband MUOS satellite communications system. Once the MUOS network is operational, Navy personnel will experience the global reach, voice clarity and connection speeds similar to their cellphones they use at home.

Built using open architecture standards, the DMR radios will continue to provide improved functionality and interoperability while accommodating next-generation communications waveforms like MUOS, the Integrated Waveform and future advanced network communications waveforms.