RC12 — Wideband ARQ & IP Controller (240 kbps)

The RC12 ARQ Server and IP Controller is a software defined OSI Layer 2 product for HF radio circuits, offering the following standards-conformant protocol and voice embedded functions in a 19" rack-mountable unit:
• STANAG 5066 Edition 4 Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) protocol stack for HF Beyond-Line-Of-Sight (BLOS) data communication,
• STANAG 4691 Appendix A Mobile Ad-Hoc Relay Line of Sight Networking (MARLIN) controller for HF Extended Line-of-Sight (ELOS) data communication, and
• STANAG 4591 Enhanced Mixed Excitation Linear Prediction (MELPe) digital voice encoder and decoder.

These functions enable seamless end-to-end interoperability between strategic and tactical data and voice radio communication systems for NATO and Allied Forces. The RC12 embedded functions can be ordered separately and activated via software activation keys. Refer to the ordering information on the back page of this datasheet.

The STANAG 5066 Ed.4 ARQ Stack was designed for emerging wideband HF applications providing data communications over HF BLOS radio links. The RC12's wideband ARQ function supports automatic Data Rate Change (DRC), multi-frequency Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) and Automatic Link Maintenance (ALM) operation which combined, significantly increases geographic reach and availability of service – day and night.

The STANAG 5066 Ed.3 Narrowband ARQ Stack for HF, including the Wireless Token Ring Protocol (WTRP), is available as an operating mode in the RC12. This can be used for backward compatibility with existing fielded equipment supporting STANAG 5066 Ed.3 only.

Even though the STANAG 4691 MARLIN standard was originally developed to provide connectivity amongst ships at sea and slow-moving aircraft using V/UHF LOS radio links, it has become a proven technology for ships using HF LOS radio links, i.e. using surface wave propagation. This use case enables task force-based ship-to-ship command and control (C2) operation over HF ELOS, where direct UHF LOS (including multi-hop relay) communication is not possible due to distance.

The RC12 includes a standards-conformant STANAG 4591 MELPe digital voice coder, enabling seamless end-to-end digital voice interoperability among and between the strategic and tactical NATO and Allied radio communication systems.

The RC12 MELPe implementation is based on the Compandent Inc. MELPe library (Version 8.3MC) and provides the 1200 bps and 2400 bps voice coder rates.