Battlefields networks from tip to tail.(Communication)

Militaries are still asking for what they have always needed: reliable, versatile communications. Whether dealing with peace support operations and civil defence roles or linking with other militaries, non-governmental organisations and emergency services as well as the more traditional war-fighting role, the need is for a coherent and reliable connection.

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To establish a single network with seamless connectivity between disparate battlefield units and to enable them to reachback to other users on the network, possibly anywhere on the globe--this is the goal of network centricity. However, evolving from today's basic interconnectivity base is a long-term prospect. The British route to Network Enabled Capability, for example, is defined in three stages: 'initial', a process lasting until 2007 and coinciding with the completion of the Bowman roll-out and delivering interconnections; Stage 2 or 'transitional', between 2007 and 2015, covering the integration of capability; and finally 'mature', from 2015 to around 2025, where effort will be placed on synchronising capability.

From the Bottom Up

The Battle Group and Brigade are becoming the nexus for battlefield communications, as high level and strategic communication management is being pushed down the chain of command while voice, data and even video capabilities are being afforded to dismounted soldiers.

These same dismounted soldiers are being brought into the network through the growing capabilities of their individual communications facilities. The Bowman Personal Role Radio (PRR) contract won by Marconi Mobile in 2001 with its 434 MHz UHF H4855 radio effectively brought this market to life. Other similar radios, such as the Tadiran Communication PNR-500 and the Saab SRR330, also enable users to form small networks within and amongst squads, sections and platoons--although today they are used almost exclusively as voice networks in the field. This equipment is certain, in the near future, to form the basis of data networks responsible for communicating low-level situational awareness across units. Data rates required for this role are relatively low--with an estimated 30 kbps requirement for many European solutions. However, the US is providing data rates similar to those required for battle management systems. The Land Warrior programme recently selected the EPLRSLight (Enhanced Position Location Reporting System) for the personal communications role. The EPLRSLight is capable of a 486 kbps data throughput.

At the Combat Net Radio (CNR) level the advent of software defined radios (SDR) is eliminating the physical separation and 'air gaps' between the existing networks. The multi-band, multimode radios that emerged in the 1990s, such as the AN/PRC-148 and AN/PRC-117, provided a similar capability but SDRs provide a more seamless link between bands and modes and offer many more waveforms and wider frequency bands. This is particularly true in the case of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), which will be the basis of the United States' tactical battlefield network from the next decade.

The initial versions of these radios will not replace their predecessors overnight but will form gateways between existing radios. The JTRS Cluster 1 effort led by Boeing, operates 23 waveforms, …