Distributed TACS Communications

The Center for Advanced Planning and Analysis recently completed an examination of C² communications for a distributed Tactical Air Control System (TACS) which consisted solely of ground based C² nodes separated by hundreds of kilometers. A traffic requirements data base previously developed for the TACS, was matched against the capabilities of a 119 KBPS JTIDS net using one relay aircraft. Results of this comparison indicated that such a JTIDS configuration can meet the voice and data needs of a distributed TACS. Erlang analysis established message queuing times on the order of 20 seconds and 97% availability of the voice channels.