The Challenge
Plextek are leading a four-year research programme into an Adaptive Communications Transmission Interface (ACTI) on-behalf of UK Government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).


The Approach
Under the ACTI programme, Plextek are leading a team of experts from academia to investigate crosslayer processing to enable Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) radio systems to utilise directional antenna techniques. The key objectives of the programme are to create disruptive technologies that will improve the quality, reliability, data rates and range of military communications systems.
The Approach
Under the ACTI programme, Plextek are leading a team of experts from academia to investigate crosslayer processing to enable Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) radio systems to utilise directional antenna techniques. The key objectives of the programme are to create disruptive technologies that will improve the quality, reliability, data rates and range of military communications systems.

The Outcome
This is an important programme for the Ministry of Defence as MANET communication systems are currently limited by the range of an individual radio link and self-interference as messages are repeated through the network.
- Beam-steerable, directional antennas
- Ad-hoc connections and dynamic routing
- Cross-layer processing techniques
- Delivering operational advantage to military forces
