COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS
COMMUNICATIONS WITH CLARITY
Today’s global battlespaces demand a higher level of adaptability when making crucial
mission connections
By Alan Breitbart, business development manager, Collins Aerospace
Intuitive, adaptable, reliable and
clear. These are your requirements
for a communications system,
whether you’re operating at a fixed site or in
a moving environment such as a ground
vehicle or ship.
Collins Aerospace’s 721S family of V/UHF
air traffic control (ATC) and battlemanagement
communication solutions
offers customers highly flexible, portable and
space-efficient choices. These systems are for
primary, emergency and backup AM/FM V/
UHF ground-air communication.
The 721S family comprises the 721S fixed
site VHF-UHF radio transceiver, the 721S
Blade ground V/UHF radio and the 721S
Emergency Transceiver Radio.
Modular, building-block architecture
makes the systems easily scalable to address
unique customer requirements. Superior
radio-frequency performance combines with
a size small enough to accommodate both
transportable and fixed-site applications.
Pete Iversen, program manager at Collins
Aerospace, provides an overview of the
Collins Aerospace 721S family of radios and
the technology required to address the needs
of the FAA and military customers for
airspace control.
Bespoke and flexibility
“Customers can choose from two Collins
Aerospace systems when evaluating fixedsite
communications operations,” Iversen
says. “The 721S fixed site transceiver delivers
superior connectivity in a tailorable solution
for stand-alone or networked transceivers.
It’s a direct, drop-in replacement for legacy
GRC-171 and GRC-211 systems.”
Options include electronic protection
measures with Talon, Talon II, HAVE
QUICK I/II and SATURN waveforms.
“The second fixed-site system is the 721S
Blade,” Iversen added. “It offers modular
flexibility in a small form factor that can
scale to a customer’s site and capability
requirements.”
For transportable operational
requirements and for primary, emergency
and backup AM/FM V/UHF ATC
requirements with flyaway operation, the
721S Blade is the best choice. It offers the
smallest footprint for size, weight and power
usage in the dual-band V/UHF market.
Features of the 721S Blade include: voice
only, data/networking, protected
communications, no compromise in RF
70 AIR TRAFFIC TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 2020
Left & below: The 721S fixed
site VHF-UHF radio transceiver
and the 721S Blade ground V/
UHF radio
Right: The communication
range extension using Clarity
noise reduction technology
performance for the transportable/
expeditionary market, 10-minute setup time
in deployable configurations, modular
design enables flexible scalability and easy
upgradability and an embedded scanning
guard receiver mode.
The 721S Blade consists of small, hotswappable
TCP/IP-based 10- or 50-watt