Alternative architectures for brigade communications in the next decade

The demand for integrated digital voice, video and data communications is drawing the capabilities of circuit-switched and packet-switched technologies together. It is likely that by about 2005, commercially available services designed around both will be available. With ATM as the choice for the global grid, an issue is how to provide seamless full-capability communications down through brigade to the individual tactical platform on-the-move. The forward area battlefield operational environment is sufficiently different that an examination of its demands on communications is warranted. This paper reports on such an effort, which-starting with the tactical communication services desired-proceeded through the identification of traffic loads to bound the relevant basic candidate technologies among those projected for the next decade. Both connection oriented alternatives, such as cellular services, and connectionless alternatives, such as fast-packet radio, were then examined. Seven candidate architectures which appear to satisfy the operational constraints were proposed, and high-level descriptions of potential protocols and concepts of operations were provided for each.