FSMLabs reports that its real-time Linux OS is being used in three R&D projects involving wireless communications systems. The projects involve software-defined radio, saving power with directional antennas, and cellular/IPv6 network interoperation.

Harris Systems's Linux-based military radio system

Harris Systems was awarded a contract in 2002 by Lockheed Martin to build a military tactical communications system called WIN-T (warfighter information network-tactical). According to Tim Kaiser, Harris's WIN-T software lead, the company used RTLinux in a software-defined radio built as part of that project. The US Army News Service reported earlier this month that the Harris-developed WIN-T system proved popular with soldiers and commanders in field testing, in part because it worked better on the move and over great distances than currently deployed technology.

Directional antennas in ad hoc networking

BBN, meanwhile, used RTLinux in a large, government-funded experiment aimed at testing the hypothesis that directional antennas, combined with GPS technology, could reduce power use and improve performance of ad hoc networks by an order of magnitude (a tenfold improvement). The BBN experiment involved 20 SUVs and a helicopter fitted with 802.11b radios, sophisticated antenna arrays, GPS receivers, and “government laptops” running RTLinux. Communications between the vehicles was tested during movements throughout a lightly used, partially wooded area measuring 4km by 3km.

Twenty SUVs with tinted windows were deployed over a 4km by 3km area

A paper about the BBN experiment can be found here (PDF download). A PowerPoint presentation showing how the project used relays and separate low- and high-power radios to conserve energy can be found here (PPT file download).

Institute Eurecom's cellular/IPv6 research

Additionally, Institute Eurecom (IE) researchers in Sophia-Antipolis, France, reportedly used the free version of RTLinux in a research project involving the interoperation of cellular networks with IPv6 networks.

Read the whitepaper

Details about all three R&D projects can be found in an FSMLabs whitepaper.

 
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