Northrop Grumman and Digital Fountain Fortify Airborne Network With Increased Range and Throughput

Northrop Grumman and Digital Fountain Fortify Airborne Network With Increased Range and Throughput

U.S. Department of Defense Exercise Illustrates Improved Network Performance of Advanced Forward Error Correction Technologies

PATUXENT RIVER, Md., Oct. 22, 2008 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and Digital Fountain announced that they have again successfully demonstrated the ability to improve military data link range, reliability and throughput using advanced forward error correction (FEC) technology.

During last month's Airborne Networking Capstone II exercise at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Northrop Grumman deployed DF Raptor(tm) FEC technology to improve the performance of three different data links on six different test flights. The data links carried both real-time video streaming and file transfer applications running over the dynamically routed airborne network.

The exercise provided Northrop Grumman and Digital Fountain with yet another proof point that an airborne network can be used to support tactical information exchange requirements in an extremely efficient, reliable manner even under adverse conditions.

The flight tests included a combination of airborne and ground communication nodes operating in a mobile ad hoc network. Key to the exercise's success was a heterogeneous set of radio links including the Common Data Link, Tactical Targeting Network Technology and High band Networking Radio all connected and controlled by a common gateway software layer developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Labs.

"The ability of DF Raptor(tm) to be dropped into any network architecture and dramatically improve network performance is having a profound impact on how we architect the emerging airborne network layer for the Department of Defense," said Roddey Smith, Northrop Grumman's Airborne Networking Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (AN CRADA) technical manager.

As one of the key industry partners in Air Force Materiel Command's Electronic Systems Center AN CRADA, Northrop Grumman provides state-of-the-art modeling and simulation of the airborne network under evaluation, along with Digital Fountain's DF Raptor(tm) FEC technology that dramatically improves the efficiency and range of communications regardless of the particular data link, radio, bandwidth or waveform used. The DF Raptor(tm) FEC is an essential component that ensures reliable airborne networking and communications.

Digital Fountain, Inc., is a leading provider of advanced software solutions for optimizing digital media delivery. The company's proprietary DF Raptor(tm) technology redefines the science of forward error correction (FEC) and sets the standard for efficient and reliable transmission of digital media. Digital Fountain solutions and services are used today in advanced mobile broadcast, IPTV, streaming video, file transfer, and national defense applications, and are recognized by leading international standards bodies.

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