Frag Out! Magazine

From the very beginning the PERAD is a work of the WB Electronics authorship, including its software which has been developed in-house – the manufacturer ensures that updating of integrated software is easy and can be performed by a user. It has been designed as a personal radio station which is a standard equipment of every soldier in the military sub-unit, working in the UHF and L frequency ranges, enabling communication in the network connecting up to 100 units at one time – a radio station is able to set up and configure the MESH network by itself. An entry-level of the PERAD coverage in the not built-up area is about 4 kilometers, but using five radio stations one can create a transmission network increasing a coverage to several kilometres. The SIP protocol is implemented in the radio so each network subscriber can be assigned a "phone number" and it is possible to provide dial-up access into the radio network from the IP network. Moreover, the IP connection may be used to connect with other radio system or transmit data at the speed of 1 Mbps. The PERAD also cooperates with the digital internal communication system called FONET. At EUROSATORY 2014, Paris took place a world premiere of the latest product of the WB Electronics compa- ny, located in Ożarów Mazowiecki near Warsaw, Poland. The PERAD PERsonAl RADio (acronym from words Personal RADio), on which a ten-persons team has been working a little over three years. A device has come into life as an effect of works under the Tytan programme, in which WB Electronics, as one of 13 entities included in a consortium, is responsible for an electronic systems in relation to means of communication and imaging. Within the scope of the project a multifunctional device called PSI Ψ has been created which combines features of a communicator, a radio system, a mobile phone, a GPS and which enables transfer of imagery and daa (maps, images or video, e.g. as an image from UAV). Initially, it has had a form of a wrist-mounted panel, then it has been carried in a special pouch providing an easy access, and finally it has been divided (quite rightly) into two separate ones – a universal radio system and a device for data imaging. The decision is justified by any measures since an expanded (and at the same time expensive) multifunctional device, which provide access to a large amount of data is simply not needed by each soldier (perhaps excluding special forces operatots), all the more so that, information overload is the same (maybe even more) dangerous as a lack of thereof. As a result a relatively small, with up-to-date solutions, all-purpose radio has been created which overshadows in terms of parameters currently used equipment, not only in the Polish Armed Forces but most of worldwide too. www.fragoutmag.com

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