A&A Equipment:Secure Communicator

Secure Communicator

AKA: Secure headset or secure comm.

Designed by Travis Burton

Produced by Applied Science Fiction Inc.

Ear-piece customization available through Miracle Tech.

Physical and functional specification:

The purpose of this device is to enable secure, discreet communications for Infinite Solutions members. The device consists of an ear-piece the size of a modern hearing aid and a base unit the size of a pack of cigarettes. The ear-piece fits entirely within the ear canal and therefore easy to conceal. Both parts are sealed against water damage although wearing the ear-piece underwater is not recommended. The ear-piece has two level triggered microphones that will transmit vocalizations by the user and external sounds. The ear-piece communicates with the base unit using a low power encrypted signal with a range of 10 meters. The base unit looks like and can be used as a receive-only radio with headphones. The headphones work normally and also act as an antenna. It has a keypad and LCD screen that will operate the radio functions and, if the proper commands are known, activate the hidden features. The hidden features include the removal of normal frequency blocks, a scanner function, radio transmission on any frequency, listening to up to 12 frequencies at once and secure transmit and receive.

The base unit retransmits the signal from the ear-piece over a frequency multiplexed, encrypted, digital transmission with a high degree of error correction. This should make detection of the communication very difficult and decryption nearly impossible. The range of this transmission is 30 miles without the headphones and 50 miles with the headphones. The base unit also receives this same format signal and will reconstruct and retransmit it to the ear-piece. All of the units can dynamically switch the frequency used to talk with the ear-piece to get around interference and make sure that no two are on the same frequency. The secure transmit and receive options must be initially activated by entering a 6 digit code. The user gets 5 tries an hour but there is no indication that this limit has been exceeded. More than 20 tries in an hour will require the unit to be reset. After the code is entered it can be turned on and off by either the keypad or humming a note for a second. The notes can be learned by the unit in case a user has trouble with them. The activation code must be reentered periodically or the unit will stop transmitting and receiving securely. It will still function as a normal receive-only radio though. Each unit can be reprogrammed or reset by plugging in a serial link into the headphone jack and transmitting the proper codes while entering the proper command sequence on the keypad. Then a new set of encryption keys can be entered, the keep alive period set and new software loaded. The ear-piece will run for a year on its power supply and the base unit will run for at least a week on a set two AA batteries. It will also accept sets of higher TL B type power cells and run for months.

The base unit is also available in a simplified unit that simply has an on/off switch and a switch to toggle transmit mode on and off. The more complex versions can be set to exclude this version in the event one falls into enemy hands.

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