ARRC JOURNAL
USING WIRELESS
TECHNOLOGIES TO ENABLE
AGILITY IN THE ALLIED RAPID
REACTION CORPS
Captain Jonny Dale, British Army
Throughout history technological advances have defined the success or failure of
empires and their armies. Inventions such as the longbow and gunpowder enabled
military dominance and significantly enhanced the fighting prowess of those who
possessed them. In the information age this is no different. Modern militaries advance or
stall on their ability to widely share vast quantities of information securely and quickly.
The modern headquarters features a vast
array or communications and information
systems (CIS). These provide staff
officers with the situational awareness
required to advise decision makers and
to disseminate their direction across the
battlespace. Each staff officer has got
one, two or sometimes three laptops
on their desk, each of which requires a
The modern market
is not limited to
WiFi. An interesting
alternative is Light
Fidelity (LiFi), which
transmits information
via light. Where WiFi
uses radio waves to
connect, LiFi looks at
an alternative area of
the electromagnetic
spectrum – visible
light – to turn every
light source into a
potential router.
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ALLIED RAPID REACTION CORPS
wired connection to a network. When
setting up a headquarters it is these
wired connections that take the longest
to set up. Consequently, the larger the
headquarters, the more CIS infrastructure
it requires and the less manoeuvrable it
becomes. The commander of the Allied
Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) has
made clear that to command a force its
headquarters must survive. By deduction,
this requires smaller headquarters and
regular manoeuvre to avoid detection by
an adversary. For the Signals community
the exam question is, “ How do we
reduce the CIS infrastructure without
diminishing capability?” The answer
in this case could be through wireless
(WiFi) technology.
WiFi seems to be an obvious solution
and has been around for years. We use
it at home, in hotels and even on public
transport. The key concern is that security
issues could put a headquarters at risk.
For example, any keen IT enthusiast
with a good quality receiver could detect
a WiFi signal at a range of several
kilometres and it requires a relatively low
level of cyber knowhow to hack a WiFi
network. In addition, a headquarters can
be identified by its emissions and adding
a large WiFi network to the picture would
cause it to ‘light up like a beacon’ on any
detection system. Despite this, it has its
advantages, too, such as ease of use and
fast set up speeds. A simple encrypted
WiFi network would undoubtedly
improve a headquarter’s agility through
the reduction of cabling. Given the
above, the use of WiFi in deployed areas
depends on the environment (i.e. is it
one amongst many WiFi networks?),
the classification and durability of the
information being exchanged and the
capabilities of the adversary.
The modern market is not limited to WiFi.
An interesting alternative is Light Fidelity
(LiFi), which transmits information via
light. Where WiFi uses radio waves to
connect, LiFi looks at an alternative
area of the electromagnetic spectrum –
visible light – to turn every light source
into a potential router. The light source
dips and dims extremely quickly, faster
than the human eye can detect, to pass
information in its beam. This information
can be collected by a photodiode
connected to your computer and
translated into a language understood by
the user. The benefits of this system are
similar to WiFi, but potential connectivity
speeds of up to a hundred times faster
and it is not detectable to anyone
including adversaries if the light is
blocked. This means that within a closed
building or tent the information is secure.
On the downside, the technology is still in
its relative infancy. This means it comes
at a far greater cost when compared to
WiFi and is less reliable. This should not
rule it out, however, and it is one to watch
in the future.