Army plans battlefield smart phone network

The Army plans to develop a battlefield smart phone system that will use cellular and WiFi technology as well as tactical networks to provide a range of connections for soldiers, the service's top scientist told lawmakers this week.

The program, called Multi-Access Cellular Extension, will provide both cellular and WiFi connections to soldiers equipped with smart phones, as well as a link from cellular base stations to tactical systems, Marilyn Freeman, the Army's deputy assistant secretary for research and technology, said Tuesday at a hearing of the House Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee.

Popular commercial smart phones, including the Apple iPhone, BlackBerry phones from Research in Motion, and phones that use the Google Android and Microsoft mobile operating systems, all offer WiFi and cellular connections. Commercial cellular carriers have boosted their use of WiFi so that broadband data can be transmitted in hot spots instead of overloading the cellular network.

Freeman said MACE will use WiFi mesh networking technology to form an ad hoc local network when users are not able to connect to a cellular base station or WiFi access point.

The center that's developing MACE expects to begin the project this year and keep it at a cost of between $20 million and $40 million during the next three years, Michael Lombardi, associate director for business development at the Army's Communications-Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center told an industry meeting last December.

This is the latest in a series of Army projects to push the use of smart phones on the battlefield. Last summer the service began testing smart phones at Fort Bliss, Texas, and plans are under way to equip soldiers in Afghanistan with smart phones soon.