Advanced MIL-STD-1553 UHF/WHF Radio

In previous UHF/VHF radio subsystems, each UHF/VHF radio had a dedicated control head which stored and controlled all radio modes and data. In an advanced architecture, independent multipurpose data entry units are used to control any number of radios, simultaneously, with the aid of a bus control-processor as a data base and mode command controller for the radios and display units.

To integrate the system properly, the bus control-processor must have dynamic control of each radio's modes and provide the data to generate each of the display unit's data formats. Processors with advanced software can reconfigure radio parameters to circumvent failures, and also generate valid command modes when receiving conflicting data from the independent data entry unit or associated data inputs. The processor can also determine which antenna is best suited for communication in any particular phase of the mission, primarily useful for air vehicles where altitude, orientation, antenna patterns, and structure-shading affect the communications link.

The architecture presented describes the software features to control multiple UHF/VHF radios, data entry units, and UHF/VHF antennas.