American defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin is developing technology to connect military vehicles to 5G networks.
Called the Open Architecture Processor, the tech looks like a laptop computer, roughly the size and weight of a car battery.
Program manager David Rohall said that the device smoothly links military vehicles of any age to a 5G network to ensure improved communications on the battlefield.
The company is currently experimenting with the technology on a 25-year-old high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee) at its Development and Integration Laboratory in Orlando.
“That would be like your home computer on steroids, that’s designed for all of the environments that our military needs to go in, and it’s upgradable,” he said, as quoted by television station WFTV.
Testing and Evaluation
A Lockheed 5G development team used two commercial Humvees to test its latency time in a real-world environment at the company’s electronics test site.
Latency time is the time delay for communication in the field. Military units prefer lower latency for an advantage in making quick decisions.
According to Rohall, the test produced a total round time of approximately 30 milliseconds, which is considered “very low latency.”
Last year, Lockheed also announced it is partnering with American wireless network operator Verizon to develop 5G technology for reliable and ultra-secure connections for the US military.
