Talking Heads
Written by Adam Baddeley
CGF 2010 Volume: 2 Issue: 4 (August)
How Intercom and Headset Technologies
are Streamlining Mission Execution
The last foot in voice communication is not from one radio or intercom to the other but from headset to headset. Ensuring that coherent conversations can occur above the sound of engine noise, gun fire or other ambient noise while also providing protection against long term hearing loss is vital. So too is the ability to cut the physical tether of headsets wired to an intercom and radio in favor of wireless links, enabling the wearer to move around the platform and carry out missions that may require boarding a suspect vessel or working around a helicopter in a complex rescue operation.
ESTERLINE RACAL ACOUSTICS
Esterline Racal Acoustics, created with the acquisition of Racal Acoustics last year, provides its Raptor 25 headset to the U.S. Coast Guard and is operated as part of the Gentex LVIS (Littoral Vessel Intercom System) used on the Coast Guard’s medium response boats.
According to North America Business Development Vice President Ty Manns, the Raptor 25 headset provides hearing protection against medium noise levels achieved through the use of active noise reduction technology, which significantly improves speech intelligibility and delivers clear communications.
“The headset is compatible and interoperable with other head-worn equipment and personal protection equipment, and is designed for comfort,” he said. “With good protection against medium noise like engine whine, speed, wind and weaponry, Raptor is a key component in the fight against hearing loss. We have been a partner in this program since Raptor was introduced in 2007, and are now the incumbent headset provider to that program.”
With a 100-year pedigree of designing and manufacturing headsets and communication equipment, Esterline Racal focuses only on military grade products, understanding this market and its requirements very well. The company continues to create new solutions to meet ever-changing customer needs. Research in the fields of active noise reduction using advanced digital techniques, new materials technology and human factors is leading to improved noise attenuation performance in smaller, lighter and more comfortable headsets. This will result in future medium to high noise headsets that could be used on some of the Coast Guard’s larger vessels.
Beyond the Raptor 25, which is a circumaural (over the ear) design with a noise cancelling boom microphone, Esterline Racal Acoustics has developed the Frontier series, a range of in-ear headsets that enable voice communications to be sent and received via the ear. The initial customer community is expected to be the military. As part of the development process with the Army, Esterline Racal Acoustics worked with personnel in the National Guard to understand the user requirements and expressed an interest in developing a Frontier variant for that community.
“We are now looking at integration onto a range of radios, including the Motorola style radios being used by some ground combat soldiers who are using those style radios today,” added Manns. “We are also looking at evolving the Frontier so it can transition into the Coast Guard community. The Frontier works in the vast majority of Coast Guard roles, such as those in low and medium noise and salt spray environments. Most requirements don’t put users into high noise environments, but medium noise protection is required at all times, such as when in port. It is lightweight and its power requirements are low, so it is perfect for the Coast Guard when they move on or off boats. One area where this would be great product for them would be in their drug enforcement missions where they have a requirement to mount other vessels.”
Esterline Racal Acoustics have begun briefing the Frontier’s capabilities to Coast Guard. The headset is only one part of the critical audio ancillary equipment chain, and the company is already delivering innovating modular press to talk (PTT) units that enable a single headset to be connected to more than one communication platform. Several dual communications solutions are already available, allowing users to connect to an intercom and one radio simultaneously, while a three-channel unit is planned for the end of the year.
AVCOMM INTERNATIONAL
Avcomm International’s product line illustrates the trend to tie headsets more closely into an integrated platform intercom, as well as ending the physical tether of a wired interface and substituting it with a wireless link via the firm’s Ultimate Freedom Wireless Adapter (UFWA).
“The UFWA is a versatile box that we mount on your hip which links wirelessly to an intercom or mobile radio,” explained Tom Barber, an account representative at AI. “The nice thing about the UFWA box is that it will make any other headsets on the market, whether it’s Avcomm’s, David Clark’s or anybody else’s design, into a wireless headset.”
The headset is wired to the UFWA box and then links to the external radio or intercom. Barber went on to illustrate how it works with the following scenario: “Let’s say a David Clark headset is hardwired in. What you would do is to take the David Clark headset, which is either a Nexus or quarter inch plug, and you would plug that into your hip UFWA box. That is all you have to do. Now that headset is wireless because it is transmitting from the box that is on your hip to the transceiver.”
The UFWA transmits using standard 802.11 Wi-Fi at 2.4 GHz. “The versatility of that alone is phenomenal,” added Barber. “If somebody already has a bunch of headsets that they like, they can keep them but can now move 300-500 feet from their platform wirelessly. Say you work at the pump of a fire truck. With the wireless headsets you have freedom of movement around the truck and beyond. That is why we called it Freedom wireless. It makes total sense. It is hands-free safety, without having to use a PTT capability.”
The Freedom normally offers 24dB of protection with a standard ear seal. With a gel seal, that increases to 26db. Users speak through a standard boom mike that is voice activated. Multiple boxes can be placed on a vessel to ensure coverage, with the design of 802.11, which means that interference between multiple boxes within range is avoided by the use of Spread Spectrum technology. The UFWA hip boxes have a battery life of approximately 24 hours and with a battery charging time of three hours.
The project began life with a request to Avcomm for such a capability from the Union Pacific Railroad. “They approached us,” recalled Barber. “From there we have expanded into the Coast Guard, fire safety, industrial and we are now starting to get into the racing sector.”
The U.S. Border Patrol currently uses the Freedom wireless headsets on its “sand cars” around the Mexican border. In Florida, the Department of Homeland Security uses Freedom on their Orion bullet boats. Burn reported that the Freedom headsets have also been used by the Coast Guard in their rescue boats. About five intercoms and about 15 headsets are currently in service. The U.S. Army has also acquired a number for use with HMMWV crews.
The next step for the Freedom headset is to be more closely tied to the company’s intercom system and to boost performance with built in features such as digital sound processing. “All of our intercoms have that,” noted Barber. “If you can take the noise from those engines or gunfire out, you can have a normal conversation without the noise coming in.”
The intercom also works with worn radios, allowing users to switch between personal radios to boost range back to the vessels. “If you go outside of 500 feet of range and you have a longer range handheld radio, you can use that as your link back,” he pointed out. “As you are walking back onto the boat, the headset automatically pairs back into the intercom. You don’t have to do anything with it, it ties in automatically.”
TIGER PERFORMANCE
Tiger Performance has a number of Coast Guard sales and has worked with them to develop the company’s latest marine radio intercom system, a modular system that is IP67 and IP68 for water submission. Sonny Hawkins, the owner of the company, has invented several of the patented technologies used by the firm. “We pride ourselves on our intercom systems being water and corrosion proof and ruggedized for long-term use with 24/7, three shift operations,” he said. “The system is voice activated and modular. You can choose a wide variety of headset types.”
The company’s three main headsets are the Passive Noise, Active Noise and Noise Suppression; the latter design is commonly referred to as tactical. “The high quality noise suppression headset cuts off noise at anything over 85dBs,” said Hawkins. “If somebody fires a gun next to your head, it will not work its way into the intercom, it cuts out at 85dB. We also have wireless headsets.”
The typical customers for Tiger’s headsets are from the military and law enforcement sectors. “We sell a modified version of the Peltor Noise suppression headsets known as SWAT Tac, which is black in color, and then ComTac, which is the military green color.”
Tiger takes the Peltor headsets and modifies them in two main ways: introducing additional noise cancelling features and installing a non-corrosive, waterproof breakaway plug rather than a helicopter style plug, which is installed as standard by the manufacturer. “If someone gets thrown overboard, they wouldn’t get hung up on their helmet or headset,” Hawkins explained.
Tiger can also add a Bluetooth capability to the headset. “Part of the modular aspect of the intercom system is that any station can have Bluetooth wireless via a plug in transmitter receiver box,” recognized Hawkins. “Then the end-user would use either a wireless headset or a conventional headset with a wireless belt box, with either the headset or the helmet plugging into the belt box. The range is phenomenal—it’s up to 2,000 feet for somebody doing a boarding a distance away from the mother ship.” The wireless headsets and belt box are splash resistant, but not waterproof.
The Coast Guard have aided in the development of the intercom, Hawkins said. “We provided prototype intercom systems to the Coast Guard for testing purposes, which helped the evolution of the production product that we now offer.”
A recent addition to the feature set on the intercom is digital sound processing, which cancels out wind noise, high breathing or and other ambient noise. Active form tip ear pieces can also be used with the headsets for additional protection. “We also have custom molded ear pieces that are inserted into the ears and are plugged in with the speakers in the helmet or the headset,” Hawkins said. “This is an approach that has been commonly used by military for some time and takes noise cancelling capability all the way up to about 150dB.”
On the aviation side, Tiger Performance’s Bluetooth wireless headsets, or wireless belt boxes, have immediate applications. “If they land the helicopter on a search and rescue operation, a crewmember can get out of the helicopter and get up to 2,000 feet away from the helicopter and still be in intercom communications,” Hawkins explained. “If they plug in a portable radio, they can have radio communications even further. For marine or aviation, we also have a BlueLink cell phone adapter, which plugs in with headsets or helmets. Whether it’s a marine or aviation operation, they have got three means of communicating wirelessly with the intercom, the portable radio or onboard radio, mobile as well as the cell phone.”
The system has been delivered to a number of sheriff’s offices and commercial utility companies that require the pilot to do lot of take off and landings during daily routines. “The way we have it designed, you can monitor radio communications and depending on what mode you select, you can reply back to the intercom voice activated or a via PTT, and you can unplug from the belt box,” said Hawkins. “We also have a multiple radio junction box so they can plug three different radios into it with a panel mounted selector switch.”
In June, Tiger Performance supplied these kits to support the clean-up operation in the Gulf. Tiger Performance is also the North American distributor for the MSA Gallet Jet Pilot and Helicopter Pilot helmet with an integrated headset and features that include emergency breathing systems. “We have a modified version of the Gentex MBU-20P helmet pilot mask that is adapted for marine use with emergency scuba breathing systems built into it,” Hawkins said. “There is a patented automatic ambient air valve to breathe on the surface, and if they submerge in water, the activated the scuba system kicks in.” ♦