Architecture and Concept of Operations for a Warfighter's Internet. Volume 1
Abstract
Military operations in the 21 century will be conducted in an increasingly information rich environment. But delivery of this information is difficult in the forward areas of the tactical theater where current communications equipment is slow to deploy and not matched to the mobility of forward forces. This report describes a 'Warfighter's Internet' that provides responsive data and voice communications to individual warfighters using hand held cellular like handsets that have a wireless connection to a backbone network of airborne communications nodes that are within line of sight of theater forces, within line of sight of each other, and are also connected to command and support centers through the Global Grid. The airborne nodes self deploy and the handsets arrive with the users, so the network can be available immediately. This report describes design approaches to meeting the technical challenges in this system, which lie in the adaptation of Internet data protocols to the mobile environment (commercial cellular systems do not have to deal with both mobile users and a mobile backbone) and to the efficient use of wireless capacity for bursty data transmission.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 28, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA336795
Entities
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology