An innovation group at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas has produced a solar-powered communications system designed for facility operations, security and civil engineering use, among other applications.
The base’s plans and programs innovation team collaborated with Wichita State University’s GoCreate Lab to build the portable communications platform through the use of a 3D printing method, the U.S. Air Force said Thursday.
U.S. Strategic Command requested the system consisting of a Harris-made radio technology, casing, antennas, solar panels and a battery designed to work with solar energy, as well as harnesses and gauges.
Senior Airman Aaron Walls, a member of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing XPX innovation team, said the platform is configured to communicate with pilots.
The team worked more than 400 hours to conceptualize and design the platform.