Mercury Wideband Network Radio

ITT’s Mercury Wideband Network Radio (WNR) is providing the backbone for the first two digitized divisions of the US Army and the British Army Bowman digitization program. The system operates at the 225 – 450 MHz UHF frequency band introducing a High Capacity Data radio (HCDR) which can be deployed both on the move (at speeds of up to 50 km/h) and from fixed positions, supporting intelligence, targeting, air defense and command posts as well as backbone data operations. Utilizing self-organizing networking techniques, the WNR is independent from fixed base stations and can therefore be deployed with mobile units. In a typical brigade application, the aggregate throughput of the WNR can deliver over 2 mbps, supporting multiple users at a data rate of 288 kbps per user. This capacity has already demonstrated effectively for bandwidth demanding video teleconferencing from moving vehicles. A message delivery rate of about one second per message (at an average 4 hops), operating at a maximum power of 20 watts, the WNR covers a range of 35-40 km in open terrain.