Military applications for Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS)

This paper will discuss the three commercial Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS) systems that are currently, or soon to be, available, and the potential military applications of the different systems. XM Satellite Radio Inc., Sirius Satellite Inc., WorldSpace Corp, and potential future systems from Mobile Broadcasting Corp. and the European Space Agency system are DARS systems that each will provide approximately one hundred channels of radio content to different areas of the world to mobile and static receivers. The paper will be organized as follows. A technical background on the systems will be given, including an analysis of each system's orbits, ground coverage, and system architectures. The systems will be analyzed for potential military applications. Military applications for commercial DARS include moral enhancement for personnel, weather data broadcast to aircraft, propaganda dissemination, and testing and experiment support.