TeraTactics: Enabling Terahertz Communications in Army Tactical Environments
Abstract
In Army tactical environments, it is of utmost importance to achieve highly efficient communication among armed personnel and vehicles and to avoid messages being jammed by enemies in modern battlefield communications. With the variation of military missions with respect to physical conditions and the complexity of tasks, high-throughput and resilient wireless communication techniques are required not only in war, but also in catastrophe relief, peacekeeping, etc. This proposal focuses on the development of the next generation wireless communication systems in Army tactical environments, with a focus on utilizing Terahertz (THz) frequency bands in order to realize multi-hop ad-hoc networks, achieve covert communication based on a novel situation-adaptive frequency hopping technique, and enable portable multi-frequency transceivers. The research objective of this project is to study the fundamental principles and essential enabling technologies of THz frequency band communication in Army tactical environments, along with novel topology and control algorithms as well as multi-frequency transceiver design. To accomplish these objectives, the proposed work is divided into three interrelated thrusts. First, we propose to design a multi-hop THz-band network for Army tactical environments, with the consideration of realistic communication scenarios among infantry soldiers/squads/platoons, Army unmanned drones, and combat vehicles in terrains such as deserts, mountains, jungles and forests, etc. We will first characterize the THz-band end-to-end channel in three-dimensional space with a focus on the effects of polarization diversity and realistic terrain environments. Then, we analyze the transmission distance of the multi-hop network to study coverage probability and interference problem. Third, for a multi-hop network with numerous nodes available, we will also investigate the cross-layer routing/MAC/PHY protocol design in order to minimize delay and packet loss as well as maximize throughput and reliability. Second, military communication systems must have high immunity to enemy jamming and should also prevent enemy spoofing of the communication process. Based on the unique characteristics of THz frequency signals with respect to common molecular absorption, we propose a situation-adaptive frequency hopping technique to enhance the anti-jamming performance. Finally, with the diversity of combat missions, the mobility of wireless communication equipment becomes challenging. We propose to design a set of portable multi-frequency transceiver that can satisfy diverse communication needs from microwave to THz frequency bands. This design lays out the approaches to generate multi-frequency signals, multi-frequency transceivers, and multi-frequency antenna arrays.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 14, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1910043
Entities
People
- Ian F. Akyildiz
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Georgia Tech Research Corporation
- United States Army