Subterranean Communications for First Responders and the Military

In Phase I, Kutta defined and detailed its vision for a subterranean wireless communication system that gives America’s soldiers the ability to communicate more effectively and efficiently than ever before in underground caves and urban tunnels. During Phase I, Kutta exceeded the Army’s Phase I distance transmission requirements by nearly four-fold feet by demonstrating the ability to send voice, data (text messages), and photos through 380 feet of solid rock. CERDEC, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, Fort Benning subterranean war fighting experts, and numerous user groups contributed significant concepts, subject matter expertise, and resources that shaped Kutta’s Phase I results. In Phase II, the SWEC system is designed and built on a modular software defined radio platform and integrated with innovative antenna designs. The system is designed to produce a transmission that has a low-probability of intercept and low-probability of detection. The system creates its own self-healing and self-maintaining ad-hoc network. Kutta also integrates innovative voice commands, text-to-voice features, video display, and annotation functionality all designed around the subterranean warfighter’s needs. At the end of Phase 2, Kutta will deliver a rugged SWEC radio system that exceeds the design guidelines described in the Phase I and Phase II solicitation.