PERSONAL NETWORKING NODE FOR TACTICAL OPERATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

A radio that provides communications and tactical situational awareness includes a screen, a communications module for establishing a link with a server, a knowledge management (KM) module for receiving alerts from the server and the communications module, and a map application that displays associated menu options on the screen for selection by the user. A communications interface operates to (i) initiate communications with the server through the communications module, (ii) handle information to be communicated to the server from the map application, and (iii) receive alerts from the server through the KM module. A user location module operates to (i) send data corresponding to the user's location and identified targets to the communications module for forwarding to the server, and (ii) provide data from the server corresponding to locations of other radio users, their availability to exchange messages and any targets they identify, to the map application in the radio.