At one-tenth the weight of existing tactical video receivers, the United States Marine Corps has a new battlefield intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) tool in the Harris Corp. RF-7800T Falcon ISR video receiver.
The RF-7800T entered service with the USMC in late July and is designed for the dismounted warfighter to provide an easily portable tactical video platform to improve situational awareness.
Mark Benoit, major account manager for Harris RF Communications, a division of Harris Corp, says that the RF-7800T is designed to be "rugged, cheap and lightweight."
Video from a loitering UAS is designed to downlink on the L, S and C-band frequencies to the RF-7800T receiver being carried by the warfighter in the field to be viewed on a hand held computer or monocle attachment.
US forces currently utilize a larger Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receivers (ROVER) as a mobile video receiver, but the units weigh as much as 48lb, making their individual portability virtually impossible. The RF-7800T builds on the existing ROVER technology, making it more portable at weight of under 4lb.
The Falcon, which features a software upgradable architecture, also connects to the Falcon III AN/PRC-117G multiband manpack mobile radio to disseminate the video signal to a broader data network. Harris says the AN/PRC-117G is the first JTRS-approved wideband tactical radio.
Harris says the lithium ion battery life of the unit is on par with other products in its class, holding around 8h of operational use.
The receiver unit also takes advantage of a non-proprietary battery format found in other handheld devices in the field.
Harris says that a software upgrade to support C-Band digital video will be available for the RF-7800T in the fall.
Source: Flight Daily News
