Operational Considerations of Deploying Wimax Technology as a Last-Mile Tactical Communication System

With the recent finalization of the IEEE's 802.16e-2005 standard and the upcoming test and certification of WiMAX products, mobile broadband services are becoming a reality. As an IP-based solution, mobile WiMAX technology will provide converged video, voice, and data services to mobile users. For future Department of Defense (DoD) operations, this emerging technology has the potential to significantly increase situational awareness and collaborative communications in tactical environments where users are typically constrained to low data-rate tactical networks or bandwidth-constrained terrestrial circuits for last-mile communication. Increasing the bandwidth capabilities of these tactical networks will support the dissemination of real-time streaming video and high-resolution imagery and maps, as well as collaborative communication including messaging, voice, and white boarding between users. Although WiMAX technology can significantly enhance the capabilities of forward-deployed Warfighters, deploying a Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) solution in a tactical environment faces several unique implementation challenges. To investigate the capabilities and challenges of deploying a tactical WiMAX network, DISA is developing a live pre-WiMAX demonstration and test network using currently available, unlicensed broadband wireless equipment. Leveraging DISA's market analysis and demonstration effort, this paper addresses the operational considerations of deploying WiMAX technology in a tactical environment. Examining different network deployment scenarios, this paper addresses the challenges these deployments will face and describes how they will be addressed. Finally, this paper discusses how the WiMAX network will support additional services including locality-based communication and tracking services as well as the backhaul of video, imagery, and sensor data.