Air Force UHF SATCOM DAMA System Concept

Increasing demands for ultra high frequency (UHF) satellite communications (SATCOM) service within the Air Force will require improved control and resource utilization. Satellite communications may be extended to more nets and to larger user communities through the use of time division multiple access (TDMA) systems with demand assignment protocols. This paper describes a demand assignment multiple access (DAMA) system applicable to users not included in the Single Integrated Operations Plan (SIOP) who must share UHF SATCOM resources managed by the Department of Defense (DoD). The concept will serve Air Force non-SIOP user needs and applies to all DoD communities with similar requirements. The proposed DAMA concept calls for creation of a DoD tri-Service master controller and separate but functionally similar Service controllers to manage satellite resources assigned to each Service. The operating principle is that each Service is assigned a portion of satellite capacity that is autonomously managed. The master controller allocates satellite capacity among the Service controllers according to changes in anticipated traffic demand and satellite capacity requirements.