Photo By Airman 1st Class Jordaan Kvale | Tech. Sgt. Charles Oakley (center), 194th Security Forces Squadron team leader,...... read more read more
CAMP MURRAY, WASH. -- The 194th Security Forces Squadron trained on and field-tested a state-of-the-art radio network system technology on Camp Murray, Wash., Feb. 2-3, 2024.
The radio devices augment traditional communication networks by enabling off-grid connectivity anytime… anywhere.
“It’s a mesh network radio system that uses an application called [Android Team Awareness Kit] to provide a common operating picture between users,” said Senior Master Sgt. Christopher Martin, 194th SFS superintendent.
A mesh radio network eliminates the need for a central hub. Traditional radio networks are constricted to either a line-of-sight signal or they rely on a central hub to transmit their signal. A mesh network, on the other hand, allows signals to hop from one device to another seamlessly.
“If you have radio A, B and C, and radio A can see radio B and radio B can see radio C, then C can still talk to A, even if they don't have line-of-sight, because they're all meshed together,” said Martin.
The radio system works in conjunction with the Android Team Awareness Kit, or ATAK, which is an application that permits real-time visibility into mission status, coordination, and provides geospatial information and situational awareness.
“You put in the information on your phone, it sends it to the radio via Bluetooth, and then the radio transmits that data packet to the mesh,” said Martin.
This technology is designed to provide situational awareness even at the battle’s edge.
“It does not require a network,” said Martin. “Everything is off grid. We can pack this up and take this with us expeditionary as well.”
194th SFS hosted a training seminar to familiarize personnel on the radio network system and the ATAK application. The seminar concluded with a brief training exercise.
“We're doing an exercise where we're utilizing the software to communicate with each other while not being right next to each other, [while] trying to find a [simulated unexploded ordnance] and a couple other armored vehicles in a predefined location,” said Senior Airman Cameron Ashworth, 194th SFS installation patrolman.
Through the classroom and field training, it was evident that the radio network technology and ATAK application will benefit the 194th Wing immensely.
“I think the benefit to the Wing and Security forces as a whole is the ability to communicate over a pretty vast distance and not having to do it over a radio,” said Ashworth. “You're actually able to visualize it on a phone and a screen, and I think that's pretty advantageous considering you can see where certain points are.”
Whether it be an unexploded ordnance, or suspicious vehicle, a gate runner, or even an active shooter, this technology allows users to drop coordinates on a map and immediately relay information to others outside of the affected area.
“Everyone can be on the same page and have situational awareness of specific threats happening on our installation,” said Ashworth.
This technology not only has beneficial implications for Wing exercises and real-world threats against the installation, but also on the 194th Wing’s state missions that may arise.
“We're not going to keep this for ourselves,” said Martin. “If we're sending a team out to the [wildfires] or whatever type of [domestic operations] scenario we find ourselves in, my intent is to train up that team on how to use it.”
| Date Taken: | 02.03.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.29.2024 12:14 |
| Story ID: | 464594 |
| Location: | CAMP MURRAY, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 653 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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