The MANET radio problem
MANET (Mobile Ad-Hoc Network) radios are the current standard for dismounted tactical mesh. TrellisWare, Silvus, Persistent Systems. They work. They are also $15,000-25,000 per node, provide a single radio link type, consume significant battery, and require dedicated spectrum allocation.
For a squad of nine, kitting everyone with MANET radios costs $135,000-225,000 in hardware alone. That buys one link type at one frequency band. If the adversary jams that band, the squad loses its mesh entirely. There is no fallback, no alternate routing, no degraded mode that preserves some connectivity.
This is the fundamental limitation of single-link-type mesh. It is an all-or-nothing bet on one radio frequency band. And adversaries from Ukraine to the Pacific have demonstrated that jamming specific bands is cheap, effective, and getting easier.
Multi-link mesh changes the survivability calculus
EdgeLance Mesh is designed to route across multiple link types, including WiFi, LoRa, LTE, satellite backhaul, BLE, and other approved transports. The routing layer treats them as available paths and selects the best one for each packet based on tactical priority, link quality, and node power state.
If one path degrades, traffic can shift to another approved transport. A short alert may move over a low-bandwidth link while evidence clips wait for higher bandwidth. The goal is graceful degradation, not pretending any mesh is impossible to deny.
The hardware cost difference can be significant because phones and laptops already include useful radios. EdgeLance treats those radios as part of a managed transport mix rather than forcing every unit into one dedicated hardware path.
Power management determines operational endurance
Every dismounted operation is, at its core, a battery management problem. The gear that runs out of power first determines how long the squad can operate. MANET radios draw 5-15W continuously. That is a meaningful fraction of a dismounted operator's power budget, especially on a multi-day patrol.
EdgeLance Mesh co-optimizes routing for bandwidth and power consumption. As a node's battery drops, the routing layer shifts traffic toward lower-power links. WiFi (high bandwidth, high power) gives way to LoRa (low bandwidth, very low power) and BLE (minimal range, near-zero power). Critical alerts like threat reports and position updates get the lowest-power viable link. Bulk data like evidence clips queues until the node has power or bandwidth to spare.
Power matters as much as throughput. EdgeLance Mesh can prefer lower-power links for small alerts, defer bulk sync, and reserve high-bandwidth links for high-value data.
Store-and-forward versus always-on
Traditional tactical radios maintain a continuous link. If the link drops, you lose comms. You wait until it comes back or move to a location with better coverage.
EdgeLance Mesh uses store-and-forward as a core capability, not a fallback. Events captured while a node is disconnected are queued locally, tagged by priority, and uploaded when an approved link becomes available. Urgent alerts move first; full evidence syncs when bandwidth allows.
The snowball effect works in the patrol's favor. A detection captured in the dead zone starts as a 50-byte text alert over LoRa. When the node reaches a better link, the full 10-second clip with detection overlays and threat analysis uploads automatically. The TOC gets the alert immediately and the evidence when bandwidth allows.
Where does this leave MANET radios?
MANET radios still have a role. For high-reliability, high-bandwidth tactical voice and video in environments where spectrum allocation is guaranteed and power is not constrained, a dedicated radio outperforms multi-link mesh on raw performance.
But the number of operational scenarios where all three of those conditions hold is shrinking. Contested spectrum. Dismounted patrols. Multi-day operations. Partner forces who cannot afford $20K per node. Training exercises where budgets are tight. For all of these, multi-link mesh on consumer hardware is good enough to be useful and cheap enough to be fielded at scale.
The next generation of tactical networking will probably combine both: MANET radios for the most demanding links, consumer mesh for everything else. EdgeLance is designed for that hybrid world.