Harris, Shared Spectrum collaborate on radio communications

Harris Corp. and Shared Spectrum Co. will partner on a study of radio technologies that use communications protocols and sensing capabilities to improve access to available spectrums without causing interference to existing systems.

Shared Spectrum's dynamic spectrum-access technology will be integrated with field-ready Harris Falcon III military radios. Vienna, Va.-based Shared Spectrum is the prime contractor.

Shared Spectrum will work with Harris to integrate and evaluate software to determine the operating requirements for deploying the radios in frequency-hostile environments.

Shared Spectrum has conducted successful demonstrations of the radio technologies. The demonstrations are being conducted using the company's prototype cognitive radios, which were developed for Phase III of the neXt Generation Communications (XG) Program funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

The XG contract was recently modified to have Shared Spectrum analyze existing and future military communications systems and integrate XG technology into the networking modes of two types of military radios.

"Building on our significant progress, retrofitting the Harris Falcon family of radios with XG software is another step toward implementing and fielding DSA technology," said Mark McHenry, Shared Spectrum's founder and chief executive officer.

As part of the joint project, Harris will first assess the feasibility and cost of integrating the software into its Falcon III AN/PRC-152(C) handheld radio.

Based on the outcome of initial assessments, the companies intend to develop a plan for additional software development, integration into the Harris Falcon radios and field tests and demonstrations.

Harris of Melbourne, Fla., ranks No. 21 on Washington Technology's 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.