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ORTHROS was a small leight-weight handset with built-in encryption and
decryption, developed by Philips Usfa in Eindhoven
(Netherlands) around 1987.
Being half-duplex, it was intended for use in combination with mobile VHF
radios. Unfortunately, it was never taken into production.
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ORTHROS was an attempt by Philips Usfa
to produce equipment for civil applications, based on their extensive
experience in the military market.
Using advanced in-house developed cryptographic algorithms, ORTHROS would
have posed a real threat to eavesdroppers on mobile radio channels [2].
The device measured 75 x 100 x 300 mm, which is roughly the size of a
telephone handset with a large 'blob' at the bottom.
It weighted 600 g and was available in either black or white.
It could be powered either from the radio (6 to 16V),
or by internal penlight batteries. Speech was processed by a digitally
controlled delta modulator (DCDN) before it was encrypted at 9,600 to
64,000 bits per second by the military-grade crypto unit,
making it suitable for VHF/FM radio with 25 kHz channel spacing [2].
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The unit has 4 control buttons at the bottom and a push-to-talk (PTT) button
at its side. Above the 4 control buttons are 5 indicator lights. The first
three lights show which encryption key is selected. The upper left button is
used to select the required key. The upper right button is used to turn the
unit off. The device can be turned on by pressing either volume-up or
volume-down.
ORTHROS could hold up to 3 encryption keys, but at present it is
unclear how the keys were loaded into the device. Whenever security was
compromized, the keys could be destroyed by pressing 3 buttons simultaneously
(PTT, KEYSEL and volume-up). This is called: ZEROIZING.
The keys were also destroyed automatically, whenever the unit was opened
(tamper-proof).
It was the aim of Philips Usfa to develop a family of secure voice devices
of which the radio version (ORTHROS) was planned to be released first.
The complete product was developed and a
full-colour leaflet was released,
but the unit was never taken into production.
This was partly due to the fact that the Dutch government didn't want advanced cryptography to be available to the general public at the time [3].
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As far as we know, there are no ORTHOS units left. The only item that
has surfaced in 2011, is the keyboard of this unit.
It is a plug-in unit with 4 PCB-mounted switches and 5 LEDs,
made by Fela Switch Panel in Switzerland. If you know a surviving ORTHOS
unit, please contact us.
In Greek mythology, ORTHROS was the two-headed guard dog,
brother of the three-headed Cerberus. Orthros was charged by the giant
Eurution with guarding his purple herd.
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© Copyright 2009-2012, Paul Reuvers & Marc Simons. Last changed: Mon,14 May 2012.09:41:16
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![All photographs on this page courtesy Philips Usfa [1]](img/301295/001/full.jpg "All photographs on this page courtesy Philips Usfa [1]")
