Last week I had the incredible opportunity to attend the Global Defense & Security Training & Users Conference, hosted by Cambium Networks in Tampa FL. I learned volumes about RF communications, especially in field and tactical applications, and I learned about Network Engineering, Planning, and Management, not only in Enterprise settings, but in distributed and field environments. The devices showcased at this conference facilitate robust, secure, air-gapped radio networks over large areas, in adverse terrain, and in extreme weather.
Part of my objective at this conference was to determine if the Cambium PTP700 is a viable choice to upgrade network infrastructure at some research bases in Antarctica, and I'm now confident that these link radios would work at high throughput for DECADES, near 99.999% reliability, in both the Antarctic Shore and Polar climates, including Polar Winter. The PTP700 has been shown to survive extreme storms, physical shock, melting cases, and even GUNSHOTS, though with some decrease in throughput. Some of this is due to exceptionally rugged engineering, which meets MIL-H requirements, but link persistence is also supported by an RF feature called Beam Steering. Beam Steering allows the array of 16 antennas to direct radio-wave propagation without any physical adjustment to the panel, so that even if a panel is knocked more than 90 degrees out of alignment, a radio link can still be established. Additionally each radio is tested at an internal temperature of -40C, before heat testing. The PTP700 is also a seriously secure device, running entirely in AES256 encryption, preventing external pattern recognition, preserving evidence of tampering, and is currently in process to be FIPS 140-3 certified.
In addition to the practices and gadgets I learned about, I got to meet many seasoned professionals in the field of tactical network engineering, most of whom were also veterans of the US Military. I'm deeply grateful and honored to have met these veterans, and to have heard the stories of their varied careers, from their enlisted days to maintaining the networks of Cambium devices they manage now. Going forward in the field of IT and Network Engineering I hope I can find a glimmer of the camaraderie I saw at this conference and training.
Thank you Cambium Networks!
