Adapting commercial ATM technology into ACUS

The US military is looking for less expensive ways to procure the new systems it requires. One area that promises to provide cost savings within the military is the use of commercial off-the-shelf technology. Industry has made significant investment into these new technologies allowing the military to leverage these efforts into solutions that meet their specific requirements. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is a rapidly emerging information technology that promises to provide interoperable multimedia services to the soldier. The Army's Area Common User System (ACUS) modernization program aims to integrate ATM into the digitized battlefield. To accomplish this goal, certain aspects of ATM are addressed including: tactical transmission systems, dynamic bandwidth allocation, tactical ATM adaptation, maximum end-to-end delay, forward error correction, security, priority services and traffic aspects.