Exelis Wins 10.7 M Contract From DARPA To Develop Next-Generation Communications Capability

Exelis has won a $10.7 million contract from the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) to develop a new multifunctional chip for airborne radio applications.

The contract is part of an overall effort to enable secure communications and keep battlefield networks ahead of emerging electronic threats.

Along with improving the security and jam-resistance of airborne radio communications, the Exelis chip will pioneer a new architecture known as interface awareness.

Interface awareness aims to improve the standardization of radio subsystems and allow radio components to be re-engineered to meet different requirements without the need to develop entire systems.

"Current limitations in radio architectures pose a challenge to effective and secure communications, especially as electronic threats become more sophisticated," said Mark Adams, vice president and general manager of the Exelis specialty applications business.

"By focusing on modularity and multifunctionality, we are committed to keeping communications capabilities at the cutting edge", Mark Adams added.

The new Exelis chip helps in reducing overall engineering costs in radio production and tackles existing limitations, such as those that prevent information from being shared and networked at both the local and global levels.