USA - Airborne Software Defined Transceiver

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Aviation Logistics Center (ALC) is conducting market research to determine industry capability to provide Airborne Software-Defined Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO) P25 Transceiver.

The USCG aviation assets are required to be capable of communication protocols utilizing Type 3 encryption which is a sensitive but unclassified standard. This is accomplished by airborne transceiver installations that perform encrypted voice communications by employing the Data Encryption Standard (DES) or the more modern Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Additionally, the USCG is interoperable with various agencies by using APCO Project 25 (P25) conventions. Existing P25 users operate on the “Phase 1 trunking” protocol for bandwidth compression. A more stringent “Phase 2” is being implemented nationwide and the Coast Guard will necessitate an improvement to maintain interoperability. Current transceivers are also equipped to operate on all Air Traffic Control (ATC) frequencies as well as a wide selection of civil and military channels. Due to the obsolescence of materials, sustainability, and the aging technology associated with solid-state electronics, the Coast Guard desires to recapitalize with more modern software-defined transceivers as they provide better reliability as well as the potential for growth.