A FEASIBLE ARCHITECTURE FOR LARGE AREA OTH C^2 AND DATA COLLECTION, LEVERAGING DEVELOPED COMMERCIAL TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract

Reliable System Services Corporation (RSS Corp.) presents the feasibility of a low cost, low power, high capacity, robust RF Communications Network using SATCOM and UAV relays. The developed architecture will be suitable for OTH Large Area Test and Training exercises as well as applications for OTH Digital Battlefield scenarios. A specific application is shown for the planned Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) missions, although the developed architecture will have broader applications for any surface combatant requiring an Over-the-Horizon (OTH) data link to distributed players and sensors. A conceptual design for the IP network radio system will implement RSS Corp. developed secure IRIDIUM global full duplex data links and Harris Corp. developed long range high bandwidth 802.11 full duplex data links. The results will be significant, and the developed system could be a cornerstone of the future digital battlefield combat communications architecture. The developed technology will also have significant use in any application for Test, Evaluation and Training Ranges requiring net centric, command/control and wide bandwidth TLM data collection from distributed remote players and sensors.