Directional ad hoc networking technology (DANTE) performance at sea

SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific has spent several years developing directional wireless networks. These networks harness the power of highly directive antennas (range extension, higher data rates, lower power consumption, etc.) and have software to deal with the additional beam-steering complexity. The directional networking technology, DANTE, is outlined first. Three Trident Warrior at-sea tests of DANTE are then described, with summaries of each of their successes and limitations. Finally, we briefly relate ongoing DANTE-2 research efforts on the antennas and networking software.