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RTX BBN Technologies has demonstrated a self-healing communications system designed to keep data flowing for combat air support when networks are jammed, fragmented or unavailable. Funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, the system was shown operating across a mix of military and commercial pathways, from satellite links to low-power tactical radios.
Built on the Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency for Agile Combat Employment (PACE4ACE) architecture, the technology automatically selects the best available link and reroutes traffic without operator input.
“For warfighters on the ground and in the cockpit, PACE4ACE helps ensure critical data never disappears, even under jamming,” said Dr. Sam Nelson, principal investigator at RTX BBN Technologies. “The network self-heals, so crews can focus on the mission instead of troubleshooting communications.”
In a recent exercise, four geographically dispersed sites remained connected. When high-capacity links were jammed, the system switched to the next viable waveform, maintaining situational awareness and keeping Open Mission Systems and Team Awareness Kit applications synchronized.
Capabilities highlighted for PACE4ACE include resilient, self-healing communications if a link is disrupted; a compact, low size, weight and power footprint suited to constrained platforms; multiband support across diverse channels; plug-and-play integration with common mission systems; and dynamic, real-time routing to sustain performance as conditions change.
The demonstration supports the Agile Combat Employment concept for the U.S. Air Force, indicating that dispersed units operating in contested environments can sustain secure communications across combinations of satellite, radio and low‑power links.
Work on PACE4ACE is taking place in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Long-range radios used in the test were provided by the Institute for Human & Machine Cognition in Pensacola, Florida, and high-frequency support came from Collins Aerospace, an RTX business, in Ottawa, Canada.
The effort is supported by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command under Contract No. FA8750-20-C-0544. The organizations note that any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Air Force.
RTX BBN Technologies, founded in 1948, conducts advanced technology research and development with a focus on national security priorities.
