Roke’s new military base station ready for evaluation

Roke has unveiled a wide area man-portable military base station called SmartLink, designed for military, security and public safety operations. The system is now available for demonstration and evaluation.

According to the company, the private 3G base station has been developed at a much lighter weight and smaller size than other like-for-like tactical cellular systems. The station’s 15km range will also continue to operate when the user is travelling at speeds of up 120km per hour. 

The SmartLink base station is capable of rapid deployment; once the station is switched on, mobile phones with the private network’s SIM will work immediately. By providing a self-contained, dedicated 3G (upgradable to 4G) network, SmartLink extends the communications range on rapid deployments, where no local infrastructure exists. Fully interoperable with the existing command infrastructure, SmartLink supports a variety of high bandwidth communications, such as voice, SMS, IP data and video streaming, whilst being robust to accidental and intentional interference.

Greg Moore, business sector manager, Roke Manor Research, said: ‘Unlike current solutions, SmartLink provides all the benefits of a deployable wide-area cellular network whilst maintaining on the move capabilities due to being small, lightweight and low power. Roke’s proven pedigree in electronic warfare and force protection technology means that SmartLink brings the benefits of cellular technology while preserving the resilience of traditional military communications.’

SmartLink is fully upgradable to include features such as spectrum agility, to make greater bandwidth available to users; security and resilience enhancements; re-banded communications; and range and mobility extensions. Roke is also able to add bespoke functionality to the base performance of the SmartLink unit upon request.