Airborne Beyond Line-of-Sight Communication Networks

As information technology advances, the need for distributed communications on the battlefield continues to grow. Moreover, NATO activities are multi-nation engagements, and necessitate communications between member countries and from the theater of operations back to command centers. The NATO IST-172 research task group is investigating non-satellite and non-high-frequency methodologies for beyond line-of-sight communications, creating links between disparate battlefield nodes. The study, which has yet to have conclusions and recommendations, is examining existing and emerging capabilities within the NATO member nations, and considering their applicability to six representative communications scenarios. Link budgets, ease of interoperability between member nations, frequency coordination considerations and existing radio hardware are all to be included in the analysis.