S-Band Attenna System for Littoral Combat Ship Communications Relay

The US Navy developed the Multiple Vehicle Communications System (MVCS) as a network communication scheme used between Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) and Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs). The various USVs are capable of supporting multiple mission packages (MPs) including the Mine Countermeasure MP and the Surface Warfare MP. The MVCS can be used with any radio, however the primary radio used for line-of-sight (LOS) networked communication is the RT-1944/U. The RT-1944/U has two critical limitations: (1) it is limited to LOS communication which limits the total range due to the curvature of the earth; and (2) it is susceptible to jamming within an Electronic Warfare (EW) environment. The Navy deployed an aerial relay extending the RT-1944/U’s range. The relay uses a mechanically steered directional antenna to communicate with the LCS and an omni-directional antenna to communicate with USVs. The omni-directional antenna has limited gain which decreases range and throughput and is still susceptible to EW attacks. The directional antenna is susceptible to wear and slow scanning speeds. Toyon is proposing an aerial Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) communication node capable of quickly scanning highly-directional high-gain beams in both transmit and receive directions, while also providing advanced multi-null EW protection.