ICT: ruggedised radios ready to go | ADM Aug 2009
Julian Kerr | Sydney
The company boasts annual revenue of about $140 million, with more than 85 per cent derived from export sales of HF radios, satellite radio subsystems and metal detectors, which are now in service in some 150 countries.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary on 1 July, Codan has built a substantial business by concentrating on niche markets and focusing on interoperability, reliability and durability.
These attributes have become increasingly important as coalition troops find themselves fighting alongside and sometimes equipping local forces and agencies in challenging locations such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
Codan has sold more than 3,000 transceivers in those two locations over the past five years through US-sponsored programs.
In the words of Greg Bell, Codan's General Manager HF Military and Security "we've become the preferred solution in those areas".
Most of the radios that have been deployed with anti-narcotics, border and security forces are the 2110 HF manpack, with the balance made up of NGT 125W vehicle systems which can also be used as base stations.
The 2110 operates the US MlL-STD 188-141B ALE (automatic link establishment) standard which enables it to inter-operate with other ALE networks in service with coalition forces.
The Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) certification of Codan's ALE waveform recently enabled Codan to win a major project with the US government for a counter narcotics and border control program in Central Asia supplying NGTs configured as its new 125W & 500W MRX HF systems.
The MRX system supports high quality voice transmission to email, fax, GPS, tracking and telephony.
"It's simple to use, it's reliable, it's rugged, and it doesn't involve a premium price," Bell commented.
The latest version of the 2110 is the 2110M (M for Military) which in addition to ALE interoperability comes with frequency hopping and an internal MIL-STD-188-110B data modem.
Last year some US$7 million worth were sold in sub-Saharan Africa.
With an internal GPS unit in the 2110 and 2110M, the radios provide over-the-air position reporting for operators and commanders coupled with the radios' ability to support SMS messaging, enhancing its C2 capabilities, in either fixed frequency, ALE or hopping modes of operation.
Batteries included
According to Bell, battery life and weight are major customer preoccupations.
The 2110M operates for up to 50 hours on a single charge of a 13Ah Ni-MH battery while others of its type tend to rely on lithium-ion batteries with a charge life of about 24 hours.
Transceivers and battery units are made from lightweight alloys and high impact plastics, with Codan claiming this makes the 2110M manpack the lightest radio in the market at 2.5kg - less then 5kg with the 13AH battery pack.
An undisclosed number of Codan HF radio systems have been purchased by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) for NorForce where equipment with Type 1 encryption was not required.
The systems include GPS and a tracking application, allowing commanders to keep track of their deployed assets in the field.
However, the ADF generally prefers US Type 1 Encrypted equipment "with every waveform there is" for reasons of interoperability, Bell said.
For Codan to compete with existing Type 1 Encryption primes such as Harris, whose multiband AN/PRC-152 radio was last year selected for the dismounted requirements of Land 200's Combat Radio System, would require major investment, he added.
Instead, Codan has decided to focus more heavily on the HF radio sector, providing simple to use, affordable, reliable, feature-rich, digital tactical military communications for international non-front line and paramilitary requirements.
Ruggedisation is a prerequisite both for Codan and for its competitors.
The 2110M meets MIL-STD-810F, which takes in immersion in one metre of water for one hour and resistance to shock, vibration, humidity, fungus, salt fog, sand and dust.
The 2110M meets temperature variations from -35 to +60 degrees and rough handling.
"One customer dropped a 2110M from three metres as part of their tests even though the MIL-STD is only one metre - each has their own idea of what they want a product to achieve in the field," Bell said.
The ability to withstand vibration and widely-varying temperatures was also vital for the more than 100 VRC-92 SINCGARS VHF systems with 50 W power amplifiers and routers for network operations delivered to the ADF by ITT in support of the Abrams tank program.
The new SINCGARS systems combine data, voice and geo-location information into a 7 1/2lb package that can be placed in a rucksack or mounted in wheeled or tracked vehicles such as the Abrams.
Aluminium chassis protect against shock and vibration, while the equipment is designed to operate in temperatures ranging from -51C to +71C.
Other players
Earlier this year ITT also provided a small quantity of its new-generation SpearNet secure voice, data and video tactical radios to the ADF for evaluation.
These are intended to provide a seamless, self-healing ad hoc networking and multi-hop routing capability over a nominal one kilometre typical range, although the system has been tested at up to six km with elevated antenna.
Meanwhile deliveries began to US forces last year of Harris' AN/PRC-117G(V)1C Type 1 wideband, multimission radio, a development of the AN/PRC 117F unit equipping Australian special forces in Afghanistan.
Part of the company's Falcon III radio family, the AN/PRC-117G(V)1C incorporates Harris' proprietary Sierra II programmable crypto module, which is certified by the US National Security Agency to carry voice and data up to US Top Secret level.
The radio transmits voice and data in narrow-band VHF high/low and UHF, satcom low and UHF, sitcom UHF low and wideband UHF covering the 30 MHz to 2GHz range, yet is claimed by its manufacturer to be 30 per cent smaller and 35 per cent lighter (12 lbs with battery) than currently-fielded manpack radios offering similar features.
The AN/PRC-117G stores multiple mission fill files, extending the time between reconfigurations.
It also includes an embedded GPS receiver to display
local position and provide automatic position reporting for situational awareness on the battlefield.
When combined with the RF-7800B series of Broadband Area Global Network (BGAN) terminals, the system provides automatic and secure range extension, connection to out-of-range networks, and entry into the Internet or remote private networks.