Cubic Corporation announced Nuvotronics, which operates within its Cubic Mission and Performance Solutions business division, was awarded a contract worth more than $10 million from the Department of Defense (DoD) through the National Spectrum Consortium to develop a dual-band, ultra-high performance and low size, weight and power 5G wireless network communications transceiver (WNCT) for military applications. Cubic Nuvotronics will support the DoD’s “5G to Next G” Program which was established to accelerate the implementation of wireless communications for the military. WNCT’s simultaneous dual-band operation provides greater operational resiliency and ensures high-speed data with low latency, with no interference on current DoD operational frequencies.
The objective of the program is to develop an advanced backhaul radio to support the future throughput rates associated with increased data demands and need for spectrum use agility. The ultra-compact 5G backhaul leverages Nuvotronics’ patented PolyStrata® three-dimensional microelectronic RF fabrication process to ensure a robust, scalable and secure wireless data transport solution in support of the 5G network enhancement for the augmented reality/virtual reality networks and next-generation government initiatives.
“As network demands increase and more devices are connected, connectivity in millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum is critical to support higher throughput demands,” said Martin Amen, vice president and general manager of Cubic Nuvotronics. “Nuvotronics’ WNCT solution provides the ability to access this spectrum, allowing an ultra-fast, low-cost and high data rate solution to meet the demand, which is perfect for the adoption in AR/VR.”
Cubic Nuvotronics will work with the U.S. Army PEO STRI and Joint Base Lewis-McChord and industry partners including Nokia and the Wireless Research Center over a period of three years on the project. The DoD announced it will be awarding $600 million to contractors for "5G experimentation" at five military test sites with successful projects anticipated to support the DoD’s more than 4,800 sites and 560,000 facilities around the world.