Pearson Engineering, UK

When Pearson Engineering, were required to provide an unmanned capability for their mine clearance adaptation of the American Abrams tank and having failed to find commercially available products which could withstand the extreme temperature and vibration specifications imposed upon them by their US military customer they turned to Giga-Com for help.

With only 4 months available before scheduled field trials in the Mojave desert, Giga-Com engineers set about developing a bespoke duplex microwave link working in the military 4.6 to 5.0GHz band. COFDM modulation was chosen for transmission of video in one direction with a maximum ratio, combining receiver and COFDM modulation was also chosen for the control data in the reverse direction. Whilst not particularly bandwidth efficient, clearly there could be no risk of a break down in communications between the 61 tonne battle tank and the remote command station and there is no more robust transmission medium.

"Fortunately the project was not particularly cost driven so we were able to machine housings from solid aluminium billet and pay more attention to shock mounting and environmental protection than we would usually have the luxury to do on commercial products. All that really mattered was that we delivered the reliability we promised," said Giga-Com Managing Director, Chris Lay.

Dave Mason, Project Manager, Pearson Engineering commented, "Giga-Com really pulled out the stops. The first 5 pilot systems were delivered on time and I'm relieved to say field trials were completed successfully. We look forward to a mutually successful future."