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Calgary, August 7th, 2026. We are pleased to announce the near completion of the third phase of the IP400 project, which adds support for new hardware and modulation schemes. “There was a good initial response to the concept of mesh networking in the amateur bands, which is what was accomplished in the two phases using off the shelf hardware. This did not address the broader perspective of being compatible with existing transceivers or fulfill the goal of revitalizing older repeater systems. For phase three we decided to focus on a new transmission scheme that would be more ubiquitous, not limited to specific frequencies and be compliant with current regulations”, says Martin Alcock, VE6VH, Chief Technology Officer.
After receiving a grant from ARDC, the society engineering team set to work to design new hardware and firmware that could be interconnected with virtually any radio and would also raise the bar of existing data rates significantly. In addition, it would include forward error correction, a scheme that ensures correct delivery of data, and reduces the number of retransmissions, particularly in low signal to noise conditions.
The hardware, called the Advanced Mesh Network Controller, consists of a single printed circuit board, that can run in a standalone mode using a USB connection and a PC or as a PI HAT, which also provides an ethernet connection for higher speeds. It can enable the duality of voice and data modes concurrently as an upgrade for existing repeater systems, specifically those based on Allstar, using a custom software driver.
The firmware, now known as the Unified Firmware Platform (UFP), adds Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), a modern-day technique that is used in cellular telephony, cable modems and digital subscriber lines. Although in those applications is uses direct on-air modulation, for amateur use it was implemented to operate within the bounds of the audio range of FM transceivers, therefore designated as OFDM-AB. By selecting a bandwidth that is matched to the radio capabilities, coupled with various data constellations, rates from as low as 2600bits/second up to as fast as 57000 bits/second have been realized.
The UFP preserves all the features previously developed in the previous phases, including mesh networking, support for KISS modes as well as a higher speed SPI interface, and some built-in applications. The data buffering method has also been reworked for better throughput, and on the new hardware platform it runs on a higher end processor, that has more speed and memory, and all are fully field upgradeable. It is available for the legacy hardware now and it will be released in due course when the new hardware is in generally available. It is currently in pre-production and is expected to be available in volume in the last quarter of this year, at which time the distribution channels will also be announced.
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For an independent opinion of the project, please see Zero Retries 259, written by society member Steve Stroh, N8GNJ.