Frag Out! Magazine

A fully scalable system is to be based on exclusively Po- lish components, which is to ensure independence from external suppliers. When creating the system, lessons learned from many conflicts were taken into account, with particular attention paid to those drawn from the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. The latter entail a major de- gree of relevance since they are related to a conflict that involves a potential adversary of Poland. Based on the Ukrainian experience, as Adam Bartosiewicz, Vice-Pre- sident of the Management Board at WB Group noted, basing the whole communications system on a single, baseline radio is an error. In a setting as such it remains fairly easy for the enemy to recognize, detect, and track communications. Bartosiewicz said that the Ukrainians are trying to counter this by hiding the communications among different radios, also by commonly using Chine- se radios, or the Starlink system. The Polish Armed Forces, meanwhile, have just star- ted to rearrange the comms after two decades. As the requirements stipulate, two radios would be added to the existing system: COMP@N, and PERAD.. PERAD Personal Radio PERAD radio offers low spectral density of the emitted si- gnal, frequency hopping, and embedded encryption algo- rithms which provide an effective barrier that makes de- tection and transmission intercept far more challenging. The radio operation time is also impressive, thanks to its energy management system. It also offers a conferencing capability for multiple users. It is easy to handle, ergono- mic, and, more importantly, very reliable. The radio solutions used in this piece of kit, supported by advanced digital signal processing algorithms, render the device a reliable tool that can be used for digital voice and data transmission in circumstances in which the curren- tly used communication assets may fail to deliver. Key features of the PERAD radio include: • Increased range of connectivity and effective- ness, thanks to UAV-based relays. • Information advantage with simultaneously re- duced EM signature. • Communications can be established across vast areas of any type (urban setting, forests, mountains) thanks to UAV-borne radio relays; • Communications for an entire mechanized bat- talion can be established with the use of a sca- lable network, undetectable for enemy electronic countermeasures. • Soldiers gain access to aerial reconnaissance assets, communications, and joint fires, depen- ding on circumstances, the available assets may include: loitering munitions, armament of the fi- ghting vehicles, artillery, and CAS assets; • Making the redundant weight in the soldier's individual kit disappear. Furthermore, PERAD also acts as a network node, a miniaturized base station supporting other, con- nected nodes. That means that all elements of the system, even the most distant ones, gain reliable access to all data passing through the system, as required in the case of the modern communica- tions infrastructure, in conditions when standard networks may be impossible to use. Total EM emission levels for an element equipped with PE- RAD radios are at a sub-1W level. If a relay is used (such as the FlyEye UAV for instance), the range of PERAD may be extended up to several kilometers in broadband, and up to several dozens of kilome- ters in a narrow bandwidth transmission. PERAD www.fragoutmag.com

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