Blu Wireless develops mobile V-band mmWave radio

PhantomBlu prototype. ( Blu Wireless)

PhantomBlu from Blu Wireless is the first mobile V-band self-forming and self-healing mesh network radio, utilising millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology to provide multi-gigabit per second network throughput with lowest probability of detection.

A V-band radio operating in 57–71GHz frequency band, PhantomBlu successfully completed live trials aboard moving platforms with a speed of 300 km/h, Macy Summers, president and CEO of Blu Wireless Inc, told Janes.

The system trials were undertaken by various military organisations including the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the British and French militaries. “Initial productions are expected in 2024–25 and full rate productions [will] likely start after that,” Summers said.

“The system creates automated wireless network and achieved up to 3Gbps at 500 m, 1.0 Gbpsat 1.5 km, and up to 100 Mbpsthroughput at 4 km of distance,” Summers said. Such high-speed data communication makes the system suitable for tactical communication networks' requirements for transferring voice, data, and video in Denied, Disrupted, Intermittent, or Limited (DDIL) bandwidth environments.

In addition, the real-time calculation of the Doppler shift because of the movement of the platforms enables PhantomBlu to operate in a moving platform without link failure of the mesh network, up to 300 m/sec (or 1,000 km/h).

PhantomBlu utilises propagation behaviour of 60 GHz band to locate and hide gigabit speed signals from adversary electronic support measures (ESM) systems, as part of the radio's Low Probability of Detection/Low Probability of Interception (LPI/LPD) capability.

Due to the dominance of oxygen (O2) absorption in lower 60 GHz channels, signal attenuation takes place at lower band frequencies and is much more suitable for short distance communication. Detection of these signals beyond 2 km is near impossible.