Mission utility evaluation of the AEHF system

Mission utility analysis has been utilized to provide a systematic link between the performance requirements for a protected satellite communications system and the outcome of a two major theater war military campaign. The results of this analysis are consistent with the findings of the Defense Science Board report on DoD communications. The mission utility analysis links communications message needs to individual military missions. It provides an evaluation of the sensitivity of key threshold to objective requirements to utility. Key performance areas with impacts on mission utility include system capacity and network architecture approaches, such as packet switching. The analysis identifies the impact of increasing demand for time critical messages on mission utility.