WO2013030825A1

WO2013030825A1 - Method and system for automated adaptive relay for tactical communication

Info

Publication number: WO2013030825A1
Application number: PCT/IL2012/000324
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tal Mashraky
Original assignee: Acceleradio Ltd.
Priority date: 2011-08-31
Filing date: 2012-08-24
Publication date: 2013-03-07

Abstract

An automated adaptive relay system suitable for working with various kinds of RF and broadcasting methods, that can provide scanning, monitoring, and relaying services to one or more networks, and being able to perform independently or to be remotely controlled, using an innovative method to generate compressed IP suitable for both low band and high band RF.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED ADAPTIVE

RELAY FOR TACTICAL COMMUNICATION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field Of RF (radio frequency) networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

RF networks combine from a number of radio devices working on the same frequency. Only one station can talk in a time, while others are in a receiving mode.

A human operator mediates message transfer between stations that have no direct connection.

The quality of connection depends on parameters as distance, topography, strength of transmitter.

For example: Figure 1 illustrates the influence of the distance between the transmitter and the receiver on the quality of the signal. As for topography, Extreme Topology objects like a mountain or canyon harm connection continuity, Figure 2 illustrates the importance of line of sight (LOS) between the transmitter and the receiver in order for the signal to pass between them.

In order to connect between two stations that have a bad connection it is common to use a third retransmitting station to mediate between them.

The 2 common methods to do it are known as Fl-Fl and F1-F2, which means repeat the message by a human mediator in the same frequency (human Fl-Fl) , OR /to use 2 frequencies to retransmit messages from F2 simultaneously to Fl (automated F1-F2, F for frequency).

Common solution for the topographic issue for networks with only 1 available frequency (Fl-Fl) is to place a manned station on a strategic point that have the best coverage of the entire area in order to retransmit messages between them as illustrated in Figure 3. This kind of service is On- Demand. This station's operator has to understand that somebody needs service, or the users will ask him verbally to give repetition service.

The problems with current solutions for single frequency networks:

Every message has to transmitted manually 2-3 times, which means delay in time and the potential to loose data during transfer due to human error.

No real time monitoring about stations loosing communication (going out of range).

Assigning a third manned radio station as a repeater.

Adaptive relay have been designed in order to overcome these problems. Adaptive relay system in -Fl-Fl networks detects Connectivity changes; perform routing^s analysis and Automate relay/dispatch action.

This system has 3 major values:

Connectivity awareness: Each radio station is equipped with small radio-switch that gives MAC address to the radio and listens to his neighbors signal and thus learning the connectivity status between stations and transferring the information to com. center.

Alternate traffic paths: A station that lost direct communication with some station s can issue retransmit command trough other station/s, for example figure 4 illustrates station 401 not having direct connection (line of sight) with station 402, and commanding station 403 to retransmit the message as an adaptive relay station.

Source related routing: In cases where a station connectivity is good (for example: it is been received well by all stations) the source of a message received by all the stations, no retransmit will be needed.

For example: station 403 transmit, stations 401,402 and 404 receive the original transmission. Another example: if 401 makes a private call to any radio but radio 402 (like 404), station 403 shouldn't retransmit the messages (both original and the coming response).

Figure 5 illustrates a solution for the topographic problems for networks with more then 1 frequency using an Automatic RF relay, which means retransmit all messages "on-line" but via different frequency (F1-F2), by placing two radio devices connected between them trough a relay station on strategic point. Station 501 equipped with radio switch 511 and station 502 equipped with radio switch 511 , located from both side of mountain 503, cannot communicate trough Fl so relay station 504, consist of radio transmitter 505 using Fl, radio transmitter 506 using F2 and relay device 507 to ridge betwee hem is located on top of mountain 503.

Station 501 incapable of connecting station 502 directly through Fl will switch to F2 and transmit the message to station 506. Relay device 507 will automatically convert the message and send trough station 505 via F2.

During the last years few developments have been made in order to improve the usage of the above F 1 -F2 solution:

Airalog-Trunkmg <Rav-<3al) - a system in which the radio stations transmits 1 and receive F2 and the relay station according to it receives Fl and transmits F2, in order to keep the user from switching between the frequencies and by that to eliminate the potential to loose data while using the other frequency. The problems with such a system:

Stations cannot communicate directly with one another but only trough a relay station.

Very recently, some industries started deploying digital trankmg systems, that support private calls, and multi-hop services.

Scan system - a system in which the station transmit F 1 hut receive F 1 and F2.

For receiving two frequencies the device move rapidly between the 2 frequencies looking for a signal, in case that a receiver received a signal it stays locked on this frequency until the end of the message.

Usually in those systems the whole network will be accompanied by a relay station that'll receive the Fl broadcast and transmit it in Fl and F2.

The problems with such a system:

The rapid transfer between the frequencies in order to look for a signal weakens the signal and might cause the start of the message to get lost.

Those systems are relatively expensive for wide distribution.

No real time monitoring about stations loosing communication (going out of range),

Mesh radio - systems that use high band frequencies (500 Mhz - 5Ghz) in order to transfer data digitally, like VoIP commercial systems

Those systems work exactly like a wireless internet.

The problems with such a system :

The working with such high frequencies is expensive, requires special Permissions from the authorities, consumes a lot of energy and do not suit to work with most of radio users nowadays. High frequencies networks work well only on short distances due to their short range survivability of the wave form (i.e. shorten line of sight).

fti conclusion: various methods and systems available to solve the problem of bad

communication between two radio station due to distance or topographic problems.

Until today there is no solution that provides low band frequency and smart networks who can detect stations with poor connection, and to assign automatically station from this network as relay station (adaptive relay). MSCLUSURE OF INVENTION

Various methods and systems are possible for relaying data between stations with bad connectivity.

This innovation deals with automated adaptive relay using analog VHP frequencies its advantages and various function, which described below.

Automated adaptive relay or SDR (software define relay), are configurable systems that correspond to change independently.

The usage of low band low band RF in SDR made possible due to the development of special low band IP over analog frequencies that allow for the first time, for most of the tactical forces, whichrety on VHP low band RF equipment, to enjoy the benefits of such relay system and methods as follow:

F1-F2 adaptive rela .

The user doesn't have to check for direct communication with his network's colleague. The automated relay station scans the network all the time, looking for connectivity problems, and in case it finds one it automatically starts to function as a relay station between problematic users

(enjoying the benefit of superior location) by commanding the network's radio transmitters

(equipped with radio switch) to automatically switch to channel F2 whenever the users PTT

(press-to-taik), and go back to Fi right afterwards.

The relay station then receives the original message trough F2 and retransmits it via F 1.

This automatic procedure saves the user the checking of direct communication in the network, and the rnanuaily switching ijetween modes.

Nowadays tactical ftwrces usually ¾se more than mc network at a time, for example, police force in some city has 4 squads each of them working with its own network. Figure 6 illustrates the usage of automatic relay station in such case providing F1-F2 services.

Networks 611 , Hi 2, 13 and 14 are the networks of squads 601, 602, 603 and 604 respectively, a fifth network 615-616 (Fl, F2 respectively) which is the network of control unit 600 has 2 frequencies.

All the units in squads 61 1 , 12,613 and 614 have a radio switch attached to their radio systems.

Control unit 600 combined from Units 605 and 606, connected between them via relay station 607.

During normal activity networks 615-616 are using F 1 only. Meanwhile radio€05 watts for commands from the com center€08 (on a separate frequency or at network 615 frequency), and radio 606 scans networks 611-614 to learn topologies and communication problems.

Adaptive relay607 adaptive relay analyzes scanning results and can perform automated service to any of the networks, or to report com center, and wait for commands from the com center The command center 608 once got an information regarding one of the squads (for example network 612) having communication problem order unit 06, via unit€05 and the relay station 607, to supply relay service to squad 602 and it networks 612.

Unit 606 will then automatically transmit a digital command to all squad 602 transmitters (equipped with radio switch) that relay service for network€12 are on, and from that point every PTT from a radio transmitter with communication problems from network 612, will switch the network from 612 to 616 (for as long as the PTT is pressed), unit 606 will receive the message, automatically pass it to relay station 607, and relay station will send the message to its destiny via unit 605_» who will change its network to 612 temporarily for retransmitting the message. For example unit 602a having connectivity problems with unit 602b, will transmit the message to radio 606 via network 616 and relay service will pass the message to unit 602b via radio€05 using network 612.

Spontaneous /virtual adaptive relay.

Some radio-switch got more than 1 RF port. For example a Wi-Fi port in addition to VHF port. Figure 7 illustrates a case that 2 close enough radio-switches of Squad 700 using network 710 have Wi-Fi connection, com-center can issue a digital command for these 2 radio-switches (say unit 701 and unit 702 equipped with radio switches 705 and 706 respectively) to open a points- point connection over the Wi-Fi, and unit 701 will change frequency to network 711.

Thus, units 701 and 702 together can serve network 71-0 as a regular adaptive relay with 2 radios. This may be called spontaneous (or virtual) adaptive relay

Once station 701 and 702 established the Wi-Fi connection and unit 701 changed frequency, unit 702 would send a digital message to network 710 announcing that there is a F1F2 automatic relay in the network, and the relay frequency to access the relay is 711.

Regular radios with communication problems within squad 700, for example unit 703, will change frequency to 711 for any PTT, unit 702 wiH receive the message and forward it to unit 701 via Wi-Fi, and unit 701 will retransmit it via network 710.

Station 702 won't change frequency if its user pushed the PTT, but the Wi-Fi P2P will forward the message to 701. Unit 701 won't change frequency cither, the Wi-Fi P2P will forward the message to 702 and 702 will transmit it, while 701 itself won't transmit its own message.

A network like network 700, with more than 2 radio-switches with Wi-Fi (for example to alternative communication) will spontaneously try to form pairs of radio-switches as a virtual relay.

Scanning can be continued while listening to channel under F1-F2 service via unit 701. Once a signal had been received, scanning will stop and unit 701 will be set back again to network 700's frequency.

Scanning function is a privilege for normal F1-F2 relays, but can also be available for virtual Fl- F2 relays.

Fl-Fl adaptive relay.

Figure 8 illustrates a situation where operation control unit 800 has only 1 radio transmitter 801 serving one network 811 in order to contact command center 805 and automated relay station 806 to scan thenetworks 812,813 and 814 of squads 802,803 and 804 respectively for communication problems and provide those squads relay service if necessary.

In a situation like this if control unit 800 scans and updates command center 805 about the communication status of networks 812,813 and 814 via network 811. And if unit 800 locates communication problems within one of the networks, for example, network 813 during scanning, and unit 800 can provide better coverage and LOS (line of sight) to all the radios of squad 803, due to its position, then adaptive relay station will switch the network of radio transmitter 801 to network 813 and send a digital message to all the units of squads 803 via radio transmitter 801 that relay service is on.

Every PIT in squad 803 will send the message to radio 801 via network 813. Radio 801 will record the message and send it right back to all the members of squad 803 via network 813. For example user 803A having connectivity problems with unit 803B, will send the message to control unit 800 wh ¾ retransmit it to user 803B.

Dual Fl-Fl adaptive relay.

Control unit combined from relay station and 2 radio transmitters can function in two modes: To provide traditional F1F2 relay service or to provide dual Fl-Fl service to 2 networks simultaneously.

All the applications that were relevant to single radio F1F1 relay (repetition, store & forward etc..) are relevant. End-users can issue a control command to transform the control unit from dual-FlF 1 mode to F1F2 mode vice verse,

F1F1 muhtband adaptive relay.

In case that a station using band- A, for example VHF RF, want to access station using band- B, for example, UHF RF radio, an adaptive-relay can be attached to a multi-band radio, and perform relaying between the different bands.

Once a relaying command received, the radio-switch will start to record the message

In the end of the message, the adaptive relay will change the frequency & band of its radio to the appropriate channel as was mstruetedmt e relaying command.

After settmg the channel, the radio-switch will retransmit the stored message to the other band, Multiband may refer also to different waveforms, different frequency, different encryption code, different frequency hopping formula, different encryption level, different duplex-mode of the line etc,

Combined high / low RF relay services

In case that a network combined from users some using digital interfaces and some analog ones, an automated adaptive relay station will be able, due to its ability to compress typical IP into analog waves and vice versa, to support relay services to all of the users of the net work although they work with different method of communication.

Monitoring network using DRS

In case that some of the users of the network do not have a radio switch attach to their transmitter, the relay system will still be able to monitor their identity and status of connectivity by analyzing their singular radio signature every time one of those ¾sers PTT using BRS systems implanted into the relay system.

While the inventio has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications and other applications of the invention may be made. It will be appreciated that the above descriptions are intended only to serve as examples, and that many other embodiments are possible within the spirit and the scope t>f the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, purely by way of example, to the accompanying drawings

With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. In the accompanying drawings;

Figure 1 shows the quality level of typical communication service.

Figure 2 illustrates the importance of LOS (line of sight).

Figure 3 illustrates manually F 1 -F 1 relay service.

Figure 4 illustrates automated adaptive Fl-Fl relay service.

Figure 5 illustrates automated adaptive F1-F2 relay service.

Figure 6 illustrates adaptive F1-F2 relay service for multiple networks.

Figure 7 illustrates virtual adaptive F1-F2 relay service.

Figure 8 illustrates automated adaptive Fl-Fl relay and scanning services.

Figure 9A illustrates digital header and digital trailer over wave during transmit.

Figure 9B illustrates data over wave during silence.

Figure 10 illustrates typical network connectivity, with LOS problems.

Figure 11 illustrates connectivity tables as collected at the 7 stations in parallel, after 2 rounds of communication.

Figure 12 illustrates connectivity tables as collected at the 7 stations in parallel, after 3 rounds of communication.

Figure 13A illustrates the final spanning tree metric of station 4.

Figure 13B illustrates the final connectivity matrix of station 4.

Figure 14 illustrates a block diagram of a relay switch device.

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the drawings have not necessarily been drawn accurately or to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity or several physical components included in one functioanl block or element. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numeral may be repeated among the drawing to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Moreover, some of the blocks depicted in the drawings may be combined into a single function.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth regarding the apparatus and method, in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known components, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the subject matter of the present invention. Moreover, various examples are provided to explain the operation of the present invention. It should be understood that these examples are exemplary. It is contemplated that there are other methods and systems that are within the scope of the present invention. Also, the same reference numerals are used in the drawings and in the description to refer to the same elements to simplify the description.

The ability to provide such vast relay services as described above over analog waves is possible due to an innovative protocol that allow to compress the relatively heavy weight data in a typical IP into a light weight data suitable for analog.

Typical IP consist of 7 layers.

Layers 2 and 3 (data link and network layer respectively) in charge on the roles of transportation over the network, forwarding and routing, are the relevant layers to convert into analog signal in order to direct data into its destiny.

In a typical IP those layers weight about 240 KB per sec.

Automatic adaptive relay due to its small quantity of users and the usage of analog waves

(providing longer and stronger arcs) can compress the size of those layers into a size of 300 bit per second (around 0.125 % of the original data). The compressed data is being represented by a flow of bytes in a protocol similar to TCP, specifically designed for tactical communication application.

Figure 9A illustrates the placement of digital data during transmitting mode as a digital header 901 and digital trailer 902 on wave 900.

Figure 9B illustrates the placement of digital data 910 during silence mode as the "main course" of wave 911. The designated protocol is based on a custom language, designed for radios and communication devices of tactical forces. The radio switch protocol structure consists of:

Frames length: constant / vary (depends on the system)

Frames time sharing : TDMA (CSMA for new entries only)

Frames trigge : PTT / Periodic

Frames types: ID MSG, MAP MSG, PTT_ON / PTT_OFF, RS_CMD, RADIO_CMD,

PHONE CMD, NET CMD, SA_CMD (GPS / AGPS data).

The frame types contain the following commands:

ID MSG: {MAC, NET, ID, PORT2}

MAP MSG: {MAP/MAPS}

PTT ON / PTT OFF: {RESERVED}

RSjCMD: {FXFY, MAN, AUTO,EW}

RADIO_CMD: {CH, FREQ, CONF, ERASE, CLR, SEC, AJ}

PHONE CMD: {DIAL, LINE, SPEEDIAL}

NET CMD: {SLOT, HLS, SQ_ID, SQ_.NET, NA, NETSIZE}

SA_CMD: {Location, Clock, SatCom_Data}

Concept and method to analyze connectivity

Each station user got radio switch containing a modem, a unique identifier and a synchronized clock.

TDMA protocol defines the events and the order for each station to transmit self identifier and the neighbors that receive the station's signal.

Each station in the network creates a row representing the status of its connectivity with other members of the network: Each bit in the station's row represents the connectivity of the station with the other stations of the network.

The rows from all the users together form a station list, representing the connectivity status of the network.

The will contain the following beats: "0" means - self, owner/source of a row, the station that created and published it, "1" means - received by the station that published this row, "F" represent disconnected from the owner of the row.

After each station creates its own row, it will then publish it to its neighbors. As was written before, each station got a timeslot (TDMA): at the first slot, a station will transmit an empty stations-list, and at the second slot, after a station "heard" all it's neighbors, will publish it's neighbors.

Figure 10 illustrates a typical network 10 with LOS connectivity problems.

The network comprising users 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The arrows in the scheme represent good connectivity between 2 users for example user 3 has goo connectivity with user 1 and no connectivity with user 5, therefore station 3 receiving stations 1,2 & 3 will create the row:

"1101FFF" and publish it in the second round.

E_¾ch station will store the lists that were received from its neighbors in a table:

Figure 11 illustrates all the tables of network 10 after 2 rounds.

It is clear now that connectivity can be published, and after a while, the whole network will be aware of the connectivity status, however, it is critical to shorten this process.

For networks with high level of LOS problems, it will take more time for the connectivity data to flow from coast to coast, for example, the "rank" of unit is 4, means that there are 4 arcs in the shortest path from station 1 to station 7, which means that information from station 1 will reach station 7 after at least 4 rounds.

A traditional approach to share connectivity tables among stations involves publishing all the matrixes at once, this application deals with the option to minimize the transferred data between the stations.

Reference is made to figure 12 representing all the tables of network 10 after 3 rounds.

In the third round, station 3 transmits data from stations 1+2 to station 4, in addition, station 3 need to transmit data from station 4 to stations 1+2.

Station 3, see in the row that was received from station 4, that stations "l"+"2"and "7" are marked with "F" - means "disconnection". So, station 3 will send only lines 1+2+7 from the table of stations 1 and 2 for the benefit of station 4.

And furthermore, Station 3, see in the row that was received from station land 2, that stations "4","5", "6" and "7" are marked with "F" - means "disconnection". So, station 3 will send only lines 4+5+6+7 from the table of station 4 for the benefit of station 1 and 2.

Reference is made to figures 13A and 13B illustrating the final spanning tree metric of network 10 based on the connectivity matrix respectively.

Concept and Method to overcome starvation

Networks that combine random voice talks and periodic keep-alive messages (that learn and update the topology) used to give highest/strict priority for voice messages. As a consequence, there are many occasions where a station in the network that is currently not talking, will "starve" and won't be able to send its' periodic message for topology / GPS.

In order to prevent it the protocol has the ability to measure starvation levels on-line, and to compensate stations that being starved in the following way:

PTT MSG will issue a temporary allocation of this station's slot to a starved station, using slots of very far stations (beyond 2 hops from me), and will be able to Concatenate information between the stations.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

Reference is made to figure 14 illustrating a block diagram of a adaptive relay device 140 containing ATD 150 and 151, DTA 142 and 143, power switch 144, modem 145, processor and traffic controller 146 containing FFT and IFFT units, user interface 147, memory unit 148, management, configure and regfile unit 149, general access Std I F unit 152, and Std oscillator 141.

The device could be installed into a dedicated case connected to the radio, into a handset, into a headset, in the radio itself, etc. The basic functions of the radio switch components are:

ATD (analog to digital): receives analog audio signal from a radio station, transforms message to digital signal using standard codec (note: modem receives same signal as ATD).

Processor & Traffic Controller (PTC): receives data from ATD, and forwards it to MEMORY for storing, receives "RX-Commands" from MODEM, performs the action that is required from the "Command", in Fl-Fl : return the date to Fl DTA, in F1-F2: return the data to F2 DTA, client may configure to start retransmission once a match triggered, manages MEMORY resources and user's interfaces. MODEM: fetch out data streams out of incoming messages, synchronize data signals, indicates the PTC with RX-commands, get TX-commands from PTC, and translate it to TX-header.

MEMORY: stores incoming date, respond to "read" requests from PTC with appropriate data, stores built-in-messages (BIM), manages data refreshment

Claims

1. Automated adaptive relay system comprising:

a) a method to broadcast low band IP over analog interfaces,

b) a digital protocol between analog radio systems in a low band frequency

network and an adaptive relay system.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a relay device with digital processing capabilities, that gives relay services to one or more radio networks at the same time, on-demand.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a remote controlled relay device, which is frequency and/or functionality controllable.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a relay device that can act as a passive relay, and wait to command from remote controlling device or manually by the user.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising a relay device that can act as an active relay, scan the networks in service in order to learn topology changes, and or, connectivity problems, and or to analyze interference, to report control center about the results, and wait for a further command.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising a relay device that can act as an active relay, scan the networks in service in order to learn topology changes, and give relaying services automatically, according to the results of the scan.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a relay device that in case of automated process is able to deactivate itself once service is no longer required.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a remote control unit (radio switch), having a unique IP address that interfaces with a radio and can issue activation / deactivation control command to a remote relay device as described in claims 4-7.

9. The remote control unit of claim 8 further comprising that if the remote relay device is in "passive" mode, the trigger command will order the remote relay device to change frequencies to the frequencies where the triggering unit needs to give service within current channel or to move to one or more channales.

10. The remote control unit of claim 8 further comprising that if the remote relay device is in "active" mode, to send the triggering command at the timeslot when the remote relay device should be "visiting" the trigger's frequency while scanning some networks.

11. The remote control unit of claim 8 further comprising the ability to deactivate the relay services once it's no longer required.

12. The system of claim 1 further comprising a relay device that manage white-list and black-list tables to control exactly who is getting service from the relay, and who can issue a relaying command, or a triggering command to the relay.

13. The system of claim 1 further comprising a relay device able to filter one or more messages from members out of the white list of the current network getting service, allthoug the message is on the same frequency.

14. The system of claim 1 further comprising a relay device, able to be remotely operated, and still protect itself from common electromagnetic phenomena such as: a. Electronic warfare attack on one or more of the channels,

b. Electronic warfare scanning, which seeks for active relay, c. Relay lock, when the relay's transmitting radio locks the relay's receiver radio,

d. Relays deadlock, where 2 or more relays applying an endless closed transmission circuit, e. Theft or un authorized movement of a remote relay.

15. The system of claim 1 further comprising an adaptive relay device able to provide Fl-Fl services to one or more networks, as described above in the application.

16. The system of claim 1 further comprising an adaptive relay device able to provide F1-F2 services to one or more networks, as described above in the application.

17. The system of claim 1 further comprising an adaptive relay device able to provide dual Fl-Fl services to one or more networks, as described above in the application.

18. The system of claim 1 further comprising an adaptive relay device able to provide Fl-Fl services between 2 different kinds of broadcasting methods, via a multiband radio attached to the relay device, as described above in the application.

19. The system of claim 1 further comprising an adaptive relay device able to provide

Relay services between analog and digital interfaces, using the method of claim 1 to convert IP digital data between digital and analog interfaces and vice versa, as described above in the application.

20. The remote control unit of claim 8 further comprising the ability to establish a virtual relay service using 2 remote control units connected between them, as described above in the application.

21. The system of claim 1 further comprising an adaptive relay device able to publish its own GPS and to share the network's users positioning data over 1 or more hops.

22. The system of claim 1 further comprising an adaptive relay device able to analyze location of one or more other relay device that do not have a navigation device using DRS, and to publish its results.

23. The system of claim 1 further comprising an adaptive relay device able to monitor location and connectivity status of network's users without a radio switch unit, using DRS system, as described above in the application.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising a customize IP messaging format for including: a. TCP-like data (MAC-DA, MAC-SA, PKT-TYPE)

b. Relaying Command: Radio- 1 frequency, and\or Radio-2 frequency, and\or Radio modes (clear, secured, frequency hopping), and\or Radios amplifier mode, and\or Relay modes

(Active / inactive, F1F1 / F1F2, Scanning networks, Report topologies, connectivity and interferences).

25. The system of claim 1, wherein said device could be implemented: a. into a radio device,

b. into a handset, headset or a PTT device, Integrated as a separate device between the radio and the handset, into a dedicated case .