Crossbanding

Introduction

The modern warfighter faces an increasingly complex array of challenges, and as a market leader in its field, INVISIO is constantly developing new ways to unlock tactical communications for defense and public safety professionals. 

One of those innovations is the addition of crossbanding - a feature enabled by INVISIO’s V-Series Gen II control units and intercom system - to develop interoperability and add to the flexibility offered by its systems.

Developments by INVISIO’s R&D team address many, complex challenges to provide a tactical communications system that is not just fit for purpose, but on the forefront. Some of these challenges include:

• The need for interoperability between new and legacy radios and comms systems
• Flexibility to adapt comms to different mission scenarios on-the go
• Interoperability between different types of radios, waveforms or frequencies
• Reduce systems complexity and simplify their set-up
• Requirements to reduce the overall cost of comms systems

The INVISIO crossbanding feature addresses these challenges, providing reliable, secure and interoperable communications in a range of settings and scenarios.

What is crossbanding?

Crossbanding enables the relay of audio between separate nets - meaning a signal received can be pushed from one net onto another through an audio bridge. 

This feature is activated and deactivated through a simple key combination on the control unit. 

Radio signals can be crossbanded on a uni-directional basis as well as on a bi-directional basis, allowing ultimate flexibility when it comes to communications, and the ability to operate dynamically in different scenarios. 

While some missions require units to operate entirely separately, communicating via isolated nets, others call for flexible communication spanning different radio systems, or legacy systems and next-generation radios. Thanks to INVISIO Crossbanding, this is now not just possible - but easy and available at the touch of a button, varied from mission to mission and even from different phases of a given mission.

The benefits of crossbanding

Previously, allowing intercommunication between long-range radios and short-range squad radios required a separate piece of equipment and accompanying weight, cost and space issues. Crossbanding removes many of those issues, providing a simple set up with fewer components and less overall cost. 

Crossbanding enables comms between different types of radios connected to an INVISIO unit, and brings a series of benefits to the warfighter in the field, including:

• Simple set-up with fewer components and lower cost
• Less real estate on the vest and fewer points of failure
• The use of existing communications systems to reduce the physical and cognitive burden to the warfighter
• The provision of reliable, secure and interoperable comms

One of the key benefits of crossbanding is that you utilize the existing body worn system where the feature is simply enabled in the accompanying cable between the control unit and the radio. 

Using INVISIO’s IntelliCable® technology the user simply has to connect a crossbanding enabled cable to provide the capability to the system.

User scenarios

Bridging radio comms

Crossbanding allows different organisations with differing radio systems - military, police, public safety or other first responders - to communicate during missions in which they are cooperating. This not only allows for ease of communication, but also enables faster deployment of teams or response to an incident and reduces the potential for user error in the field.

Growth of comms footprint

For scenarios where fighting forces are looking to expand their comms footprint, crossbanding allows the addition of newer radios to legacy systems without issue, adding operational capacity. This aids the introduction of technology by allowing an organization introducing a new radio or new radio waveform to utilise their entire radio inventory while phasing out existing or older inventory. Effectively, this means crossbanding provides the potential to maintain or grow a communications footprint more easily than ever before, bringing increased flexibility and potential financial benefits.

Interface any audio system

Crossbanding can allow the interface of any audio system - not only radio to radio. While that is the current focus, INVISIO’s Crossbanding has the potential to crossband software-based communication applications and interface to radio, providing even more flexibility to communications scenarios in the field and potential added value in the future.  

Conclusion

INVISIO’s crossbanding feature has been successfully fielded with customers since the launch of the V-Series Gen II platform in 2021 as part of the company's ongoing work to add ultimate flexibility in tactical communications, providing game-changing potential for communications between different organizations as well as in the development of comms systems and introduction of new technology.

Key Questions

What crossbanding communication schemes are supported?
INVISIO crossbanding is agile and can be activated for either bi-directional or uni-directional communications.

Do I need to upgrade my existing Gen II system to enable crossbanding?
No, you do not need to upgrade the system. You only need to connect an INVISIO IntelliCable® with crossbanding capability.

Can crossbanding mode be toggled on/off?
Yes, cables with crossbanding capability operate as normal until the user enables crossbanding with the key combination.

Does INVISIO Crossbanding relay data?
Currently audio only.

What radios have been tested with INVISIO Crossbanding?
INVISIO has solutions for most prominent tactical radios such as PRC-163, PRC-148C/D/E, TW950, Moto APXs, ICOM 3400/4400, PRC-170, SquadNet but more are available.

What if my radio isn’t listed above?
INVISIO is working with several radio manufacturers to add more radios to the tested list; if your radio isn’t listed please contact INVISIO for the latest updated list and a crossbanding consultation for your use case.

For more information, please contact us.