Integration of military and commercial SATCOM into the Defense Information Infrastructure

Military (i.e., DSCS) and commercial (i.e., CSCI) satellite communications plays a significant role in providing bandwidth and connectivity for the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN), which is part of the larger Defense Information Infrastructure (DII). However, in the past, this bandwidth and connectivity has generally been provisioned as dedicated, full period trunks providing OSI Reference Model layer 1 (physical) services. This severely limits the responsiveness of the SATCOM segment in servicing changeable, multimedia applications in a potentially stressed SATCOM transmission environment. DISA has taken steps to address this limitation, specifically with the development of the SHF DAMA standard (MIL-STD 188-166/167). This paper discusses additional efforts sponsored by DISA and by the USAF Research Laboratory to improve the seamless integration of the SATCOM segment into the overall DISN. Efforts discussed include: an evaluation of methods and protocols for internetworking ATM with DAMA-controlled SATCOM and network management methods for end-to-end service provisioning; evaluation of the impact of nuisance jamming and interference on commercial SATCOM links supporting ATM network services; evaluation of QoS-based provisioning for ATM services over DAMA-controlled SATCOM; the development of open systems gateways for integration of SATCOM management and control into the DII Control Complex.