Communications Extender
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorChristopher Samios
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A communications network allows radio communication to be established within radio frequency (RF) shielding structures, such as a ship. The network is compatible with existing handheld radios and can interoperate with existing land mobile radio (LMR) systems. The network includes a plurality of communications extenders configured to form an ad hoc mesh network for propagating voice data. The communications extenders are battery-powered and have a form factor to allow rapid deployment and reconfiguration of the network.
Claims20
A method of providing radio frequency (RF) coverage within a structure having RF shields, the method comprising:
- providing a first apparatus within RF communication of a first radio, the first radio located within a structure;
- providing a second apparatus within RF communication of a second radio and within mesh network communication of the first apparatus, the second radio located within the structure, wherein one or more RF shields located within the structure inhibit RF communication between the first radio and the second radio;
- forming a wireless mesh network between the first apparatus and the second apparatus;
- at the first apparatus, receiving an RF audio signal transmitted from the first radio, generating network audio data representative of the received RF audio signal, and sending the generated network audio data into the wireless mesh network;
- and
- at the second apparatus, receiving the network audio data from the wireless mesh network, generating an RF audio signal representative of received network audio data, and transmitting the generated RF audio signal to the second radio.
An apparatus comprising:
- a mesh network adapter to send and receive network audio data;
- a two-way radio to receive and transmit RF audio signals;
- and
- a radio-to-network converter comprising a network port coupled to the mesh network adapter and a full-duplex audio port coupled to the radio, wherein in response to receiving an analog audio signal from the radio, the radio-to-network converter generates a representative network audio data for sending by the mesh network adapter.
An apparatus comprising:
- a mesh network adapter to send and receive network audio data;
- a plurality of radios to receive and transmit RF audio signals;
- and
- a radio-to-network multiconverter comprising a network port coupled to the mesh network adapter and a plurality of full-duplex audio ports, wherein each of the plurality of radios is coupled to a respective one of the plurality of audio ports, wherein in response to receiving an analog audio signal from any one of the radios, the radio-to-network multiconverter generates a representative network audio data for sending by the mesh network adapter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.