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24 Jun 13. ITT Exelis received National Security Agency (NSA) certifications for its SideHat and the Soldier Radio-Rifleman (SR-R) radios. Certification allows the radios to operate up to the “SECRET” level and be fully integrated into the U.S. Army’s tactical communications network. The SideHat radio hosts the U.S. Army standard Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) that operates in the UHF and L-Band frequency ranges and provides an affordable second channel solution to Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems (SINCGARS) vehicular radio installations. The Exelis SideHat is also specifically designed for the vehicular electromagnetic and physical environment delivering increased range compared to other solutions. SideHat is designed to easily attach to SINCGARS, the primary tactical communications backbone for the U.S. Army. SINCGARS with SideHat provides a system solution with up to four-channels (2 SRW and 2 VHF). It provides dismounted soldiers the ability to communicate both voice and data to mounted soldiers in vehicles within a larger network. SideHat has successfully completed multiple operational tests including Command, Control, Communications Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) On-The-Move (OTM) at Fort Dix, N.J., the Air Assault Expeditionary Force and Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment at Fort Benning, Ga., the Bold Quest Exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and the Network Integration Exercises at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The Rifleman Radio is a software-defined handheld radio that provides the individual soldier with reliable, low- weight, high-capacity intra-squad voice and data communication in a self-forming and self-healing network.
27 Jun 13. Another major milestone in the Galileo European Navigation Satellite System’s development and deployment programme has been achieved. On the 12th March 2013, staff at the European Space Agency at ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, achieved the first ever navigation solution using only the encrypted Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) signals broadcast by the four Galileo In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites launched in 2011 and 2012. Septentrio and QinetiQ working in close partnership developed one of the two PRS test user receivers used in this historic first test.
Leo Quinn, CEO of QinetiQ, said: “Following last year’s first successful reception and processing of PRS signals from Galileo satellites I am very pleased to see the programme moving forward successfully. Achieving a first PRS-only Galileo navigation solution is a major achievement. With positioning, navigation and timing services increasingly critical to the safety, security and economic activity of UK and our European neighbours QinetiQ are very proud to be contributing to the development of Europe’s first secured satellite navigation services.
“This milestone is another important step towards the launch of operational Galileo services and will continue to build confidence in both prospective users and the industrial supply base. It showcases QinetiQ’s capabilities in this field and signals the way towards the production of exciting new solutions for critical navigation and timing applications.”
PRS positioning was achieved using the Galileo PRS Test User Receiver (TUR-P) jointly developed by Septentrio and QinetiQ under an ESA contract. For the reception test, the receiver was installed in the PRS test facility in ESTEC and operated by technical experts from ESA. Positioning accuracy of ~10 m was achieved, excellent for a first test so early in the system’s deployment. The TUR-P now continues to be used as part of the campaigns running during the GALILEO In Orbit Validation Phase. This milestone builds on a number of previous major Septentrio/QinetiQ achievements including:
• First ever laboratory demonstration of the PRS signal a