The F-EMIDS terminal is designed to provide continuous, real-time data exchange and advanced interoperability for future air operations. It will replace existing Link 16-based systems carried by several major European military aircraft.
Those platforms include the Eurofighter, Rafale and Tornado IDS/ECR combat aircraft. The technology is also used aboard the A400M military transport aircraft and E-3F AWACS early-warning platform.
The programme is intended to give Europe greater technological control over a communications capability regarded as a critical element of modern military operations. Indra said only a small number of military powers currently possess comparable sovereign capabilities.
Indra will develop elements of both the F-EMIDS A.0 and B.0 terminal configurations. The A.0 model will validate software and new communications capabilities, while B.0 will become the first physical prototype.
The B.0 terminal will also feature segregated red and black processing for classified information. This architecture separates sensitive data processing from other communications functions.
A central feature of the new system is a dual cryptographic architecture designed to strengthen communications security. F-EMIDS will also incorporate new waveforms intended to increase connectivity in complex and congested electromagnetic environments.
Concurrent Multi-Netting will allow participating aircraft to operate simultaneously across several networks. Concurrent Contention Receive is designed to increase the volume of data that aircraft can receive when communications environments become saturated.
The terminal will also incorporate the broadband ESSOR waveform, based on common standards intended to strengthen interoperability. Indra said the waveform is designed to provide greater security while meeting requirements emerging from current operational environments.
F-EMIDS will use a software-defined radio architecture to provide additional flexibility over the system’s service life. Frequencies, modulation schemes and communications standards can be adapted through software updates instead of requiring major hardware replacement.
EMIDS-2 builds on the programme’s earlier phase, which established the ESSOR MIDS family of communications terminals. That architecture includes F-EMIDS for combat aircraft, H-EMIDS for helicopters, M-EMIDS for naval platforms and S-EMIDS for land applications.
For Indra, the programme provides access to expertise in a next-generation communications technology linked to its wider work on the combat cloud. The company views F-EMIDS as one of the building blocks required to support future European multi-domain military operations.
