The United States Army is the world prime security force, which is only equipped by the state with the art equipment and weaponry and is fully capable of deploying and engaging itself in a wide range of combat scenarios within a very short time. In the current structure, the US Army has several divisions. Apart from having the central command and control authority, it further branches out in several specialized units, each capable of performing a unique function to support functionalities of other units within the army. These units include Army Aviation, Reconnaissance and Intelligence, Engineering, Specialized Combat Groups, Ground Command Units and Logistics.
It is capable of operating in all environments successfully and making efficient use of IT and Communication Technologies in order to coordinate the activities between its different units and to make them operate successfully. Some of the technologies currently under use by the US Army include the Global Positioning System, handheld laptops and computers, wireless communication links between soldiers and vehicles on the ground and with other intelligence equipment ( such a predator drones).The US Army constantly undergoes technological reviews to evaluate its current and future needs which not only play a part in improving the capabilities of the force, but also emphasize the reduction of the danger to the life of soldiers. At present, the US army is experiencing an increase in demand for its communication capacity as a result of its transition toward a new force structure which would be network-centric and knowledge-based. The purpose of this report is to identify and evaluate the needs of the communication bandwidth of the US Army and put forward recommendations which would be used to address those needs successfully (How Stuff Works, 2010).
Future Combat System
The US Army is currently in the transition mode to transform itself into a force which would be well capable of dealing with the future threats resulting from the use of advanced technologies by rogue elements. This transformation called the Future Combat Systems (FCS) sets the road map for a modified technological structure which include terrestrial networks to support mounted as well as dismounted troops an airborne network unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and fixed winged aircrafts at various altitudes and a network of space satellites. It is envisioned to be a system-of-systems consisting of multi-function vehicles operating in harmony, ad-hoc communication networks which would be capable of transmitting data and information in real-time. The basic unit of deployment in FCS will be a Unit of Action, which will consist of combined arms detachments along with an aviation detachment, a forward support battalion, a non-line-of-sight battalion and a brigade intelligence company which would provide network management and signaling functions. However, the use of networks and communication technologies would tremendously increase the demand for bandwidth as the traffic travelling in these network would include data from a number of sources such as voices, situational awareness sensors, ground robotics control and sensors, UAV intelligence information as well as firing data. This would mean that challenges would be introduced in all networks that would make up the Future Combat Systems (Joe III, 2004).
Identification of the Issues
Issues in Terrestrial Network
Considering the composition and working of FCS, it can be said that its tactical communication networks, will certainly be mobile and ad-hoc. Ad-hoc networks can be defined as self-configuring communication network that do not have a central controller. The need of ad-hoc networking would be in the transmitting and receiving nodes of the C4ISR architecture in the FCS and the future force. Since Ad-hoc networks do not require on a fixed architecture, the nodes of the network are required to store and forward the data themselves between a source and a destination. This hop-based nature of data transmission not only results in the waste of the bandwidth through set up of links between nodes as well as for data routing. However, being a tactical network it would require to be fault proof hence a larger bandwidth would be required for efficient operation of such as a network (Joe III, 2004).
Soldier Network
Being a part of the terrestrial network, the soldier network will be used to cater to the most essential communication requirements of the dismounted soldiers which are to know their location, the locations of their friends and the location of the enemies. Also, the size of the antenna, as well as the transmission power of the device, would also be limited to what practically can be work and sustained by batteries. This network would also be required to maintain connectivity to the main terrestrial network even in closed environments, such as inside tunnels buildings and similar location where other communication networks are have limited functionality (Joe III, 2004).
Airborne Network
The airborne network in FCS will be able to provide connectivity over the rough terrain in order for real-time situational awareness in scenarios where ground-to-ground communication is difficult. The use of the airborne network increases the connectivity of the terrestrial network which translates into the additional capacity-carrying link. This would be implemented in the FCS through the use of UAVs. One of the key challenges with regard to relying on UAV as a capacity multiplier or vertical node is the number required to ensure constant connectivity for a given force size. There is also a probability that airborne nodes can unintentionally limit the message traffic (Joe III, 2004).
Space Network
A major disadvantage of the airborne platform is the inability of operate in all weather and the requirement of some deployed infrastructure which could support operations. On the other hand, the satellites are pre-deployed at all times and available everywhere, which adds to the advantage of uninterrupted connectivity. A proposition already made in this regard is the use of laser communication for meeting the future capacity needs. Though the communication between different satellites is easier to implement due to their relatively stable path, however, one of the key challenges is the link from space to ground and the optical links that are involved in between. This proposition has been justified by the fact that optical links perform much better than microwave links, because they have the ability to achieve very narrow bandwidth and high gains with a considerable size. Furthermore, optical transceivers require much smaller antenna diameters than radio frequency links. However, the performance of the optical links degrades in the atmosphere quite quickly and transmitting data through optical links in cloudy or misty environment could result in attenuation that is unaffordable high (Joe III, 2004).
Solution to the Issues
There are three general approaches which can be suggested to increase the network capacity is to get most out of the hardware and software that will be used for FCS using improved equipment, to get most out of the network architecture by employing options, such as vertical nodes and to constantly try to keep the capacity demands down to only what is required. However, specific recommendations to address the issue discussed above can be found in the following lines
Solution for the Terrestrial Network
The key challenge in the work of the tactical terrestrial network is its ad-hoc nature which increases it demands for capacity due to hop-by-hop transmission of data in the network. The improvement can be made to a number of factors in order to address the issue of capacity in the terrestrial network. First of all, new message routing algorithms that use fewer hops and incur much less overhead can be used to route the data on the network. Furthermore, power management scheme or power based routing can be implemented to allow the nodes to automatically manage the power for longer lasting of battery. Also, directional antennas can be used to direct the energy to specific receive, thus reducing the chances of interference elsewhere in the network while also reducing the energy that is required for a particular data transmission (Joe III, 2004).
Solution for the Soldier Network
In order to develop technologies which could allow soldiers to remain in contact with the main grid of network, special research project should be conducted in order to develop radio technologies which not only allow soldier wearable devices to connect to each other and with the grid based on the requirement (ad-hoc networking) while hardware and software should also be developed alongside which would not only support the new radio technologies, but would also facilitate continuous position and ranging ability. There is also a requirement for tools to be developed in this regard which can smartly manage the amount and type of information being displayed to each soldier. Additional resources such as airborne relays should also be used to maximize the connectivity of the soldier network (Joe III, 2004).
Solution for the Airborne Network
Several studies have been carried out in order to study the affect of adding mobile agents in a group of the total information exchange ability of the group. An acknowledged research in this regard is the work done by Helmy. Through experiments which consisted of simulations of 1000 nodes over an area of one square kilometer, he observed that the effect of the creation of only 150 additional paths reduced the average paths of messages considerably by up to 70 percent. Helmys work can be relied upon in this regard as an initial value for simulations in order to understand the effects of using a vertical node in a combat zone (Helmy, 2002).
Solution for the Space Network
In order to resolve the challenge associated with the use of optical links in space networks, several technologies are available which have demonstrated the successful transmission of data over medium to large distances. Free Space Optical (FSO) technology is one of such example. Commercial FSO systems available in the market have ranges from 1000-4000 meters. These systems are also able to operate in fog with reduced range. A 4000 meter FSO system is able to transmit data up to 440 meters in thick fog and up to 140 meters in dense fog (Korevarr Kim, 2001). Another solution that can be suggested in this regard is the use of multiple wavelengths to increase the chances of information getting through on at least one channel, by taking advantage of diversity in light dispersion and noise level across visible spectrum. Multispectral optical communication links can also be made to use additional wavelengths to increase the capacity of the link. Furthermore, in order to deal with the problem of atmospheric turbulence, multiple beams that are physically displaced can be transmitted simultaneously. Each of the beam would then experience different turbulence cells in the atmosphere making it very likely that at least one beam will be able to deliver the data successfully (Forestieri, 2005).
Recommendations for the Executive Committee
A gap is present between the expected available capacity and the capacity that is required for the full implementation of FCS. As a result, a number of recommendations are made to the executive committee, which can be implemented to deal with the issues. These recommendations are as follows.
Reassessment of Information Demands and Needs
It is recommended that the Army must perform additional studies and experiment to understand the real world information demands as there is only a small amount of data available on the details of the real-world demands and analysis of the necessity and value of information flow at various points in the FCS architecture within the future force. Whatever little testing has been done in this regard has found shortfalls in the supply of the bandwidth and it is required that the Army must reassess its need for the information request.
Change Structure of the Applications
The applications, in any environment, determine the amount and timing of a large part of informational flow. Hence, improvements, such as compression and data fusion should be applied to all application data requiring transmission in an attempt to reduce the transmission of raw sensor data. However, specific performance assessment should be carried out in order to maintain the quality of transmission with respect to compression and data fusion.
Changing Operational Demands to Cater Information Needs
The changing of information needs of the users will require a dynamic approach for the network management which could prioritize and smooth the flow of information through the network.
Improve Efficiency of Data Routing in the Network
It is important to address the issue of capacity in the FCS as it will be required to deal with the demands of an ever growing traffic. For this purpose efficient routing algorithms and protocols, specifically developed for use in such scenarios should be adopted and used. The US Army Communications-Electronic Command (CECOM), Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and member of the commercial industry are working in this regard to develop efficient routing techniques which take advantage of the knowledge of the network state to improve the efficiency of the routing.
Enhance Capacities of the Links
Wide efforts should be made to keep the traffic generated by any node to a minimum the capacities of the links should also be increase. Higher frequencies and directional antennas can be used in this regard to not only increase the available bandwidth of a link, but to also reduce the interference in the network which would also make available the bandwidth used for interference mitigation (Joe III, 2004).
It is capable of operating in all environments successfully and making efficient use of IT and Communication Technologies in order to coordinate the activities between its different units and to make them operate successfully. Some of the technologies currently under use by the US Army include the Global Positioning System, handheld laptops and computers, wireless communication links between soldiers and vehicles on the ground and with other intelligence equipment ( such a predator drones).The US Army constantly undergoes technological reviews to evaluate its current and future needs which not only play a part in improving the capabilities of the force, but also emphasize the reduction of the danger to the life of soldiers. At present, the US army is experiencing an increase in demand for its communication capacity as a result of its transition toward a new force structure which would be network-centric and knowledge-based. The purpose of this report is to identify and evaluate the needs of the communication bandwidth of the US Army and put forward recommendations which would be used to address those needs successfully (How Stuff Works, 2010).
Future Combat System
The US Army is currently in the transition mode to transform itself into a force which would be well capable of dealing with the future threats resulting from the use of advanced technologies by rogue elements. This transformation called the Future Combat Systems (FCS) sets the road map for a modified technological structure which include terrestrial networks to support mounted as well as dismounted troops an airborne network unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and fixed winged aircrafts at various altitudes and a network of space satellites. It is envisioned to be a system-of-systems consisting of multi-function vehicles operating in harmony, ad-hoc communication networks which would be capable of transmitting data and information in real-time. The basic unit of deployment in FCS will be a Unit of Action, which will consist of combined arms detachments along with an aviation detachment, a forward support battalion, a non-line-of-sight battalion and a brigade intelligence company which would provide network management and signaling functions. However, the use of networks and communication technologies would tremendously increase the demand for bandwidth as the traffic travelling in these network would include data from a number of sources such as voices, situational awareness sensors, ground robotics control and sensors, UAV intelligence information as well as firing data. This would mean that challenges would be introduced in all networks that would make up the Future Combat Systems (Joe III, 2004).
Identification of the Issues
Issues in Terrestrial Network
Considering the composition and working of FCS, it can be said that its tactical communication networks, will certainly be mobile and ad-hoc. Ad-hoc networks can be defined as self-configuring communication network that do not have a central controller. The need of ad-hoc networking would be in the transmitting and receiving nodes of the C4ISR architecture in the FCS and the future force. Since Ad-hoc networks do not require on a fixed architecture, the nodes of the network are required to store and forward the data themselves between a source and a destination. This hop-based nature of data transmission not only results in the waste of the bandwidth through set up of links between nodes as well as for data routing. However, being a tactical network it would require to be fault proof hence a larger bandwidth would be required for efficient operation of such as a network (Joe III, 2004).
Soldier Network
Being a part of the terrestrial network, the soldier network will be used to cater to the most essential communication requirements of the dismounted soldiers which are to know their location, the locations of their friends and the location of the enemies. Also, the size of the antenna, as well as the transmission power of the device, would also be limited to what practically can be work and sustained by batteries. This network would also be required to maintain connectivity to the main terrestrial network even in closed environments, such as inside tunnels buildings and similar location where other communication networks are have limited functionality (Joe III, 2004).
Airborne Network
The airborne network in FCS will be able to provide connectivity over the rough terrain in order for real-time situational awareness in scenarios where ground-to-ground communication is difficult. The use of the airborne network increases the connectivity of the terrestrial network which translates into the additional capacity-carrying link. This would be implemented in the FCS through the use of UAVs. One of the key challenges with regard to relying on UAV as a capacity multiplier or vertical node is the number required to ensure constant connectivity for a given force size. There is also a probability that airborne nodes can unintentionally limit the message traffic (Joe III, 2004).
Space Network
A major disadvantage of the airborne platform is the inability of operate in all weather and the requirement of some deployed infrastructure which could support operations. On the other hand, the satellites are pre-deployed at all times and available everywhere, which adds to the advantage of uninterrupted connectivity. A proposition already made in this regard is the use of laser communication for meeting the future capacity needs. Though the communication between different satellites is easier to implement due to their relatively stable path, however, one of the key challenges is the link from space to ground and the optical links that are involved in between. This proposition has been justified by the fact that optical links perform much better than microwave links, because they have the ability to achieve very narrow bandwidth and high gains with a considerable size. Furthermore, optical transceivers require much smaller antenna diameters than radio frequency links. However, the performance of the optical links degrades in the atmosphere quite quickly and transmitting data through optical links in cloudy or misty environment could result in attenuation that is unaffordable high (Joe III, 2004).
Solution to the Issues
There are three general approaches which can be suggested to increase the network capacity is to get most out of the hardware and software that will be used for FCS using improved equipment, to get most out of the network architecture by employing options, such as vertical nodes and to constantly try to keep the capacity demands down to only what is required. However, specific recommendations to address the issue discussed above can be found in the following lines
Solution for the Terrestrial Network
The key challenge in the work of the tactical terrestrial network is its ad-hoc nature which increases it demands for capacity due to hop-by-hop transmission of data in the network. The improvement can be made to a number of factors in order to address the issue of capacity in the terrestrial network. First of all, new message routing algorithms that use fewer hops and incur much less overhead can be used to route the data on the network. Furthermore, power management scheme or power based routing can be implemented to allow the nodes to automatically manage the power for longer lasting of battery. Also, directional antennas can be used to direct the energy to specific receive, thus reducing the chances of interference elsewhere in the network while also reducing the energy that is required for a particular data transmission (Joe III, 2004).
Solution for the Soldier Network
In order to develop technologies which could allow soldiers to remain in contact with the main grid of network, special research project should be conducted in order to develop radio technologies which not only allow soldier wearable devices to connect to each other and with the grid based on the requirement (ad-hoc networking) while hardware and software should also be developed alongside which would not only support the new radio technologies, but would also facilitate continuous position and ranging ability. There is also a requirement for tools to be developed in this regard which can smartly manage the amount and type of information being displayed to each soldier. Additional resources such as airborne relays should also be used to maximize the connectivity of the soldier network (Joe III, 2004).
Solution for the Airborne Network
Several studies have been carried out in order to study the affect of adding mobile agents in a group of the total information exchange ability of the group. An acknowledged research in this regard is the work done by Helmy. Through experiments which consisted of simulations of 1000 nodes over an area of one square kilometer, he observed that the effect of the creation of only 150 additional paths reduced the average paths of messages considerably by up to 70 percent. Helmys work can be relied upon in this regard as an initial value for simulations in order to understand the effects of using a vertical node in a combat zone (Helmy, 2002).
Solution for the Space Network
In order to resolve the challenge associated with the use of optical links in space networks, several technologies are available which have demonstrated the successful transmission of data over medium to large distances. Free Space Optical (FSO) technology is one of such example. Commercial FSO systems available in the market have ranges from 1000-4000 meters. These systems are also able to operate in fog with reduced range. A 4000 meter FSO system is able to transmit data up to 440 meters in thick fog and up to 140 meters in dense fog (Korevarr Kim, 2001). Another solution that can be suggested in this regard is the use of multiple wavelengths to increase the chances of information getting through on at least one channel, by taking advantage of diversity in light dispersion and noise level across visible spectrum. Multispectral optical communication links can also be made to use additional wavelengths to increase the capacity of the link. Furthermore, in order to deal with the problem of atmospheric turbulence, multiple beams that are physically displaced can be transmitted simultaneously. Each of the beam would then experience different turbulence cells in the atmosphere making it very likely that at least one beam will be able to deliver the data successfully (Forestieri, 2005).
Recommendations for the Executive Committee
A gap is present between the expected available capacity and the capacity that is required for the full implementation of FCS. As a result, a number of recommendations are made to the executive committee, which can be implemented to deal with the issues. These recommendations are as follows.
Reassessment of Information Demands and Needs
It is recommended that the Army must perform additional studies and experiment to understand the real world information demands as there is only a small amount of data available on the details of the real-world demands and analysis of the necessity and value of information flow at various points in the FCS architecture within the future force. Whatever little testing has been done in this regard has found shortfalls in the supply of the bandwidth and it is required that the Army must reassess its need for the information request.
Change Structure of the Applications
The applications, in any environment, determine the amount and timing of a large part of informational flow. Hence, improvements, such as compression and data fusion should be applied to all application data requiring transmission in an attempt to reduce the transmission of raw sensor data. However, specific performance assessment should be carried out in order to maintain the quality of transmission with respect to compression and data fusion.
Changing Operational Demands to Cater Information Needs
The changing of information needs of the users will require a dynamic approach for the network management which could prioritize and smooth the flow of information through the network.
Improve Efficiency of Data Routing in the Network
It is important to address the issue of capacity in the FCS as it will be required to deal with the demands of an ever growing traffic. For this purpose efficient routing algorithms and protocols, specifically developed for use in such scenarios should be adopted and used. The US Army Communications-Electronic Command (CECOM), Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and member of the commercial industry are working in this regard to develop efficient routing techniques which take advantage of the knowledge of the network state to improve the efficiency of the routing.
Enhance Capacities of the Links
Wide efforts should be made to keep the traffic generated by any node to a minimum the capacities of the links should also be increase. Higher frequencies and directional antennas can be used in this regard to not only increase the available bandwidth of a link, but to also reduce the interference in the network which would also make available the bandwidth used for interference mitigation (Joe III, 2004).
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