The mad scientists at Darpa have done it again. The Pentagon’s research group has announced a new system that could help U.S. troops and multinational forces communicate — a problem that frequently plagued the countries’ cooperation in the field.Darpa’s nearly-completed Mobile Ad-Hoc Interoperability Gateway (MAINGATE) is said to overcome the technical incompatibilities between communications systems. Darpa awarded Raytheon an initial $155 million contract back in 2009.
"The system relies on two technologies to provide an interoperable network for connecting forces. A high capacity Wireless IP Network (WIPN) radio provides a “terrestrial ‘Everything over IP’ backbone” with enough capacity to simultaneously support many channels of voice, video and data. The second is MAINGATE’s Interoperability Gateway, which provides inter-connectivity for otherwise incompatible communications equipment. According to Raytheon, MAINGATE provides 10 megabits per second to a network of as many as 128 nodes that could include drones, ships, bases and vehicles on the ground."