Jane's Military Communications
Issued January 2006
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Another system that uses VoIP to tie together disparate radio assets is the Mercury IP system offered by Trilogy Communications Ltd. According to the contractor, Mercury IP delivers interoperability across all communication systems, is based on technologies developed for international broadcasting applications, and can be used to support defence and emergency management/public safety communications. Mercury comprises a suite of products that can be scaled out on LAN, WAN, Internet and IP over Satellite (IPoS) systems. It features 'one touch' operation that allows users to make instant calls, and can support direct communications or be interfaced to external devices. Audio quality is claimed to be superior to that of typical radio and telephony systems. A Mercury system utilises peer-to-peer architecture, with no central servers or single points of failure. User interfaces include a variety of Virtual Panels (PC users) or Hardware Panels (non-PC users). These panels can be provided to individual users or dispatch personnel anywhere on the network. Panels for dispatch locations do not require any direct connection to existing dispatch consoles. By 2005 Trilogy had delivered Mercury systems to approximately 50 customers in the US. These range across markets such as homeland security, defence, broadcast and industrial. Applications include: tactical military operations; mobile command vehicles; and operations centres. Users include: California National Guard; Georgia National Guard; Texas National Guard; units of the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force and US Coast Guard; and the Egyptian Air Force. Mercury equipment was deployed in the California National Guard IC4U vehicles to provide interoperability between the different radio systems used in the relief effort following Hurricane Katrina. Interestingly, in September 2005 the newspaper USA Today quoted chief of the National Guard Bureau Army Lieut Gen H Steven Blum, as saying that a shortage of regular communications inventory hampered the recovery effort. Mercury IP can work with Push-To-Talk (PTT) and other signalling systems. |