TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Electronics

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Joint Program Executive Office Joint Tactical Radio System, ACAT I

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: To develop an ad hoc mobile network capability that provides seamless secure Internet-Protocol data connectivity using a physical-layer-independent approach that can be adapted to military, emergency services (homeland security), and commercial applications.

DESCRIPTION: Commercial wireless networks such as 802.11 have established expectations for seamless connectivity with relatively static or slowly changing locations. Security forces, whether DOD, Homeland Defense, or commercial, need a network that can adapt to users that are moving in vehicles, running, hiding, or generally engaged in active movements that stress conventional network routing and address distribution. Additionally, the number of simultaneous users on a given network is likely to be in the hundreds due to the nature of military operations. Existing commercial network standards might provide adequate performance in many respects, but they are typically realized in Radio Frequency (RF) band specific implementations that are not suitable for relatively long-range line-of-sight or inter-building communications (e.g., 802.11). In addition, the ease of detecting and jamming these commercial RF systems by an adversary makes it imprudent to rely on their usage for defense or homeland security applications.

Since this application inevitably will result in an inferior RF physical-layer capability compared to that of a typical commercial wireless network (e.g., 802.11 in a hotel, airport, or office), the performance priority is data transfer reliability rather than data throughput. The near-guaranteed delivery of data messages is required, but the data throughput and message-delivery latency can be comparable to that of commercial cellular phone text or email messaging (e.g., GSM EDGE).

This capability should also support packetized voice, which imposes additional performance and interface requirements. Most networks presently in use do not necessarily have interface or performance characteristics that integrate well with tactical voice communications.

The objective of this project is to develop a physical-layer independent implementation of a wireless networking capability that is based upon a proven commercial or military standard but is modified to meet the needs of disadvantaged mobile users in a hostile environment, as described above. The concept is to develop a thin software layer between the Physical Layer (PHY) and the commercial open-standard networking waveform. A robust PHY achieving military requirements can then be substituted but with the networking waveform still providing the expected open-standard interfaces. The intent of this project is to produce reusable and maintainable code that can be ported into military and commercial Software Defined Radios (SDRs) and also potentially implemented as an inexpensive commercial chipset.

PHASE I: Perform a study of applicable commercial and military network standards and their expected performance when used in the environments typically encountered by defense, homeland security, and emergency services users. Identify the primary network attributes for this application and a Modeling and Simulation (M&S) methodology for validating performance. Develop a preliminary architecture for a network that is optimized for security forces, provide preliminary M&S results derived from the modified network design, and propose an approach for the development and implementation of the capability.

PHASE II: Building upon the results of Phase I, continue the development of the improved network. Complete protocol and architecture definition of the network design begun in Phase I and perform detailed communications modeling and simulation Compare M&S results of the modified network to those of the original. Create a prototype capability using an available Software Defined Radio platform. Demonstrate capability and improvement to the original network with a small-scale field experiment using a minimum of five nodes operating in a military frequency band at a transmit power level appropriate for a battery-powered tactical device.

PHASE III: Develop a complete implementation of the new network protocol on a JTRS or commercial SDR radio platform. Demonstrate and document network performance. Transition software upgrade into the JTRS programs of record.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: There is an increasing demand for a ubiquitous ad hoc mobile wireless networking capability in the business, consumer, and commercial markets. The product of this project is directly applicable to next-generation versions of commercial wireless networks (e.g., 802.11) and public networks. This technology could potentially enable IP connectivity in remote, rural, or heavily forested areas that cannot practically obtain wireless coverage using currently available network systems. It could also enable new capabilities for emergency services (e.g., the transmission of voice, video, data, personnel identification, and navigational coordinates) in locations where access to conventional line-of-sight communications systems or satellites is unavailable.

REFERENCES:
1. Corson, S. and Macker, J., Mobile Ad hoc Networking (MANET): Routing Protocol Performance Issues and Evaluation Considerations, RFC 2501, January 1999, http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2501.txt

2. Khosroshahy, M., Turletti, T., Obraczka, K., Snapshot of MAC, PHY, and Propagation Models for IEEE 802.11 in Open-Source Network Simulators, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), September 2007, No. 6310, http://hal.inria.fr/docs/00/17/54/56/PDF/RR-6310.pdf

3. Tuttlebee, Walter H. W. (Editor) Software Defined Radio: Enabling Technologies, (Wiley, 2002), ISBN: 978-0-470-84318-5

4. Reed, Jeffrey H., Software Radio: A Modern Approach to Radio Engineering, (Prentice Hall, 2002), ISBN: 978-0130811585

KEYWORDS: radio; SDR; JTRS; software; wireless; communications; network

TPOC: Alan Sweeney
Phone: (619) 524-0022
Fax:
Email: [email protected]
2nd TPOC: Paul Haggard
Phone: (619) 553-9979
Fax:
Email: [email protected]