WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin plans to display its new 5G community applied sciences at Mission Convergence ‘22, following a profitable displaying of substances put in on automobiles traversing Florida scrublands.
The defense-contracting big has utilized to check its 5G options as part of the U.S. Military’s annual experiment, mentioned David Rohall, a senior program supervisor on the corporate’s sensors and international sustainment superior packages group, and hopes to enhance its associated capabilities within the close to future.
Mission Convergence ‘22 — the Military’s contribution to Joint All-Area Command and Management, a plan to modernize navy communications — is ready for this fall. It’s going to, for the primary time, embody worldwide companions.
The primary Mission Convergence started in 2020. Since then, the collection of experiments has put rising applied sciences, like networks, synthetic intelligence, robotics and autonomy, to the take a look at.
Lockheed final 12 months geared up a pair of Hummers with 5G-capable open structure processors, and drove them throughout its digital testing website close to Orlando Worldwide Airport.
“We took these two business Humvees and related them via a business 5G community on website,” Rohall mentioned. “We took these Humvees and we put them in several eventualities to drive all through.”
The train, accomplished in November 2021, falls underneath Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL initiative, designed to combine and improve the fifth-generation gear within the navy. The corporate mentioned the Florida expedition will assist its engineers discover 5G purposes for floor automobiles.
The 5G.MIL program, Rohall mentioned, represents “a big funding sooner or later for all of our joint warfighters. This expertise will advance and convey new capabilities to our airmen, troopers, Marines and sailors throughout all of the joint area operations.”
Fifth-generation wi-fi expertise is a marked enchancment in comparison with its predecessors, promising quicker speeds and boosted bandwidth. Officers consider it can usher in a brand new period of connectivity.
“That is an enabling expertise to share information securely, resiliently and seamlessly throughout that battle area,” Rohall mentioned.
Lockheed Martin beforehand joined forces with Microsoft to work on 5G, and in mid-February introduced it received a $19.3 million contract to develop a 5G communications community testbed for the U.S. Marine Corps in California.
The protection contractor has additionally teamed with Verizon to develop 5G programs for battlefield use.
Colin Demarest is a reporter at C4ISRNET, the place he covers networks and IT. Colin beforehand lined the Division of Power and its Nationwide Nuclear Safety Administration — specifically nuclear weapons growth and Chilly Battle cleanup — for a every day newspaper in South Carolina.