| Summary: | The C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence) system is the integral part of soldier’s Individual Combat System. This subsystem establishes new standards by providing soldiers with supporting information and therefore improving their knowledge. For that reason, the C4I system integrates all radio, electronic and optoelectronic & IT components, which are a part of the soldiers equipment. The C4I system ensures exchange of data, imagery, and audio between its users and elements of its environment. For the above functionality to be implemented, the C4I subsystem needs a device which will integrate the above-mentioned functionality in its configuration. The Modular Integrator is this kind of device. This paper describes the design and the functionality of the Modular Integrator used for soldier’s C4I system management. The paper focuses on the design of the device and on the set of functions it can perform in the C4I system.
An innovative concept, involving integration of three separate devices in a single enclosure, i.e. a personal radio, a portable digital assistant and a mobile phone with a power supply system allows the Modular Integrator to be referred to as a device with “functional multiformity”. A key aspect of the project implementation was also the adaptation of the device to psychological & physical attributes of its future users. This adaptation was accomplished through evaluation of the Modular Integrator in terms of ergonomics, technical aesthetics, anthropometrics and customization, user interaction, pressure force, thermal comfort and lateralization. This “3-in-1” researched and tested solution, developed to the 9th technology readiness level, has no match on national and on international markets.
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