This concept is adequate to any combatant from fast attack craft to a large frigate.
System sizing is depends upon ship type and operational requirements.
The generic system includes large number of radio links in HF, VHF, UHF and Satcom Bands in both navy-army and civil areas, as well as in the tactical and strategic fields, using fast, accurate and secure state of the art voice and data information.
The heart of the ICS is the communication management & switching subsystem (CMS) implemented by using ATM switches which integrate internal and external communications to provide maximum flexibility and optimal usage of the communication system resources: such as Radios, modems, cryptographic equipment, power amplifiers antennas etc. The CMS enables fast and reliable access to operators/users for, audio channels, via voice terminals and data sources such as electronic mail for external transmissions, Link-11 type messages, Comint, C4I etc. Video distribution capability is inherently embedded in the ATM network and is used for monitoring internal video sources at any operation post on board ship.
The system is operated by one to three operators due to maximum use of automation, depends on the state of operation. Three communication control consoles (workstations) are used for this purpose as well as for hosting the main management and control communication software enabling the following features:
Easy operation, with user friendly access to all communication channels.
Flexibility and rapid system configuration
Full monitoring and control of all communication equipment from a single-operator console
Redundancy and automatic degraded mode operation in the event of a major system failure