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Military System Offers Worldwide Cell Access
coondoggie writes to mention a technology in use by the U.S. military in remote regions of the world, which allows high-quality cell reception to reach troops. A portable box, called the Tactical Base Station Router, can serve as a gateway for cellular communications and VoIP network calls. Developed by Alcatel-Lucent, it allows deployment of reliable services in disasters, search and rescue operations, and (as has seen use in recent years) military encounters. "The TacBSR is available for U.S. government customers only ... Customers include the U.S. Army Reserve Command, which is using the TacBSR as a portable cellular system for forward-deployed operations and disaster recovery. The system allows U.S. Army Reserve Commands to take GSM-capable cellular systems anywhere they need to go ... Smaller than a laptop, the TacBSR can be used in a stand-alone configuration to enable communications for a small team or as part of a multibox mesh that supports a large geographical area."
I went to SWA twice while I was in the Air Force. Was never in combat, but those guys have radios between each other and the base that are more reliable than cell phones anyway.
The first time I was there I used a sat. phone briefly and it worked, but there was a noticable delay, the primary means of communicating to the states was Cisco IP phones and DSN.
The second time I was over there we bought regular gsm phones from a company call Mobal in England. Those had no noticable delay using commercial carriers (obviously we weren't discussing anything critical) and the only place they weren't reliable was Iraq.
On the other hand, in New Orleans after Katrina, about the only way I could communicate with the remote team I was working with was sending each other sms messages that ended up getting delivered about 10-15 minutes later.
I guess what I'm saying is that there is a use for this technology, but based on my experience they're not targeting it properly.
does the TacBSR interface with the rest of the world? The article suggests it uses a VOIP link, but is that link wireless or wired? Does it have an Ethernet port, can it interface with telephony equipment?
Also, it'd be interesting to see what happens when you start a TacBSR in an area that already has cell phone coverage. Can you specify who can and who can't use the TacBSR network?
Can it talk to the billing system of the local telco (not so interesting for military use, but may be a factor during disaster relief, when civilians will use the system)?
If it's any consolation, I just returned from Afghanistan in January and never even heard of this thing until now. Also, it's probably a hell of a lot easier to provide cell coverage to a few small areas with concentrations of US military personnel than to provide comprehensive coverage over North America. If you don't like your cell service, bitch to the company, not the military.
Many people did sign up for cell service on the base we were staged from, paying $40 or $50 per month for 500 minutes, though I think incoming calls did not count against that. I spent too much time out in the field for that to be worthwhile, though I did get internet access in my room whenever we'd come back to base for a week or two--again, $35/month for dial-up speeds (but worse latency; timeouts every fourth or fifth http request) with no English-speaking support and frequent DNS outages.
Yes, I'm horribly biased, but if DoD can provide something like this on the cheap for the guys downrange, more power to them. Very rarely was it worth it to me to wait in line for an hour to try to talk to someone from home for 15 minutes--assuming I could stay connected that long.
Anyone have a guess on the range for one of these? I imagine it's gotta be farther than your run-o-the-mill router...
data from operational zones is usually set via secured sattelite communications. it's entirely possible to set up a link that's green and has enough bandwidth to carry several international VoIP calls. given that some cell phones can be used as data modems, it's also possible to hook up a cell phone as the transmitter for the transmission of encrypted data from a laptop computer.
but cell phones are great, operationally speaking, because they allow a way to reach an individual person quite easily without going through the hassle of arranging a call. it's unlikely that cell phones will ever be used (in voice mode) for really sensitive material, but we do have ways of passing information in the red while masking the content. code words, to begin with. a few other methods I can't really talk about. fact is, though, that for unsecured communications in the domestic theatre, cell phones are now the primary means of communication, and it's only logical that we start rolling out ways to use them overseas. they're never going to replace things like inmarsat, frequency hopping, and encryption, because they're too easy to hack (not that those other methods are 100% secure either). but they are going to make the job a lot easier for signal operators, in reducing the amount of chatter on nets, keeping them open for more important traffic.
obligatory disclaimer: I'm a signal operator in the Canadian Army. Yes, we do have guns....
If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
My brother worked on the Iridium satellite phone project back in the day. It seems to me that it's just as effective as ever and would be superior to this in almost every way.
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