Mobile/Dismount Solutions on Display at IWCE 2009

The IWCE exhibition will be held again at the Las Vegas Convention Center from March 18 to 20. C4i will be present (booth 1833) with it's Switchplus IP products using the building block RIU, OIU and OCU products. Solutions start with a Mobile-Dismount configuration and scale up to support large multi-site command centers.


This year at IWCE there will also be a demonstration of the Bridging System Interface specification developed by the Public Safety VOIP Working Group. A number of manufacturers are participating in this demonstration which is designed to show how compliance to the BSI spec can enable interoperability between systems from different vendors. Demonstrations will be held in Room N206 in the Las Vegas Convention Center at various times on Wednesday and Thursday, the 18th and 19th of March. The VoIP Working Group is led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Institute of Standards and Technology and more information can be found at http://www.safecomprogram.gov/SAFECOM/currentprojects/voip/voip.htm

New C4i Website Launched

C4i is pleased to announce the launch of its new website, which has been redesigned to more accurately reflect our product offerings and markets.
Our Switchplus IPsolutions are completely scalable from Mobile/Dismount configurations through to Command Post and Operations Center solutions. These solutions are equally applicable to a variety of markets from Public Safety to Transportation to Defense.

New Initiatives in 2009

In early 2009 C4i will release new firmware for the RIU with an updated web browser and several new features. These include improved help pages and the ability to print the complete unit configuration on one page. Our data sheets have recently been updated to reflect the applicability of our Switchplus solutions to a variety of applications from vehicular communications to deployable and fixed operations centers. In the next few months we will be updating our web site for consistency and to make it easier to find relevant information. We will also be rolling out a scalable, interoperability package for 4 or more radios in 2009. This has all software embedded in the Radio Interface Unit and will also support IP telephones and multiple PC clients. By integrating the Commserver functions into the RIU, C4i is able to provide a powerful communications platform in a compact, rugged platform. Look out for more information on these and other new product initiatives.

Connecting the RIU to Cisco Call Manager

Surprisingly easy to connect the RIU using Cisco Call Manager....

I recently visited a client to integrate radio over IP into a system they were developing that provided telephone and video conferencing to a vehicle over satelite. Not knowing the exact configuration of the other equipment involved I brought my RIU for connection to the radios and also a VS-64, (see earlier entry), for push-to-talk access.

As often happens during customer tests and demonstrations plans changed upon my arrival. The customer had configured Cisco Call Manager in his vehicle and this was connected by a satelite link to a remote building which had another Cisco Call Manager installation. They wanted to add the radio as an extension on the telephone system so that they could make calls from phones in the vehicle or in the remote building and talk to a field worker with a portable radio.

I hadn't planned on this, but since the RIU has a SIP user agent I suggested we could possibly set up the radio as a SIP extension. After 10 minutes of configuration changes we had added the RIU to their network and set up a SIP dial peer on the Call Manager installation. We could make calls from the IP phones, and wi-fi phones on the network. I was quite surprised at how simple this was and how good the audio quality was.

We were using military SINCGARS radios and using voice detection within the RIU to generate the PTT signal.

Public Safety VOIP Working Group

C4i recently demonstrated its RIU with embedded SIP User Agent at a Public Safety Working Group "Plugfest" held at the Twisted Pair Solutions facility in Seattle. C4i demonstrated interconnection to WAVE, Sytech's RIOS, Raytheon/JPS, and Mutual Link. The event showed that the SIP based Bridging Systems Interface (BSI) specification is an efficient mechanism for linking interoperability systems across a network.

C4i, Inc. is Moving

C4i is moving its US office to larger premises in Reston, Virginia. The new location has larger lab, repair and demonstration facilities and will enable us to better meet the needs of our growing number of customers in North America.

The new facility is at 1840 Michael Faraday Drive, (Suite 210), Reston VA 20190 and the change of address will be effective from 22 September, 2008. Phone, fax and email contacts will remain.

C4i Demonstrates Radio Interface Unit at IDLS2008 in Sydney

At the International Data Link Symposium in Sydney from 19-21 August, C4i participated in an net-centric interoperability demonstration showing the ability of various manufacturers' equipments to work together to support a variety of missions. The RIU formed part of Ultra Electronics Tactical Communications Package for UAVs. The C4i equipment was linked by an IP connection to other WAVE partners demonstrating a command & control voice communications capability. The small size and rugged construction of the RIU make it ideal for mobile tactical communications packages involving reachback and radio relay.