U.S. military sees its future in wireless
Source: Network World
Publication date: 2001-07-02
Arrival time: 2001-07-06
IN-SITE: Lessons from Leading Users
The U.S. military has long used proprietary private radio equipment, but the Pentagon now wants to put off-the-shelf wireless voice and data technologies in the hands of American soldiers as well.
To that end, the military has begun large-scale purchases - in the millions of dollars - of wireless LANs, cellular PCS systems as well as customized voice and data handsets for use with commercial and military wireless services.
The "Universal Handset," as the Pentagon calls it, will be a 1.5- pound device intended to do it all: cellular and mobile satellite communications for voice, Internet access and full-- motion video; short-distance data exchange via the Bluetooth wireless protocol; plus as an option for operating in a peer-to-peer mode for group services on a LAN.
AT&T and Qualcomm are the contractors for the handset, which is expected to be delivered to the military next year. Its prototype looks like a lightweight computer notepad with a phone.
"The military needs more ad hoc networks, more mobile ones," said Ed Erskine, the Army's PCS program manager at Fort Monmouth, N.J., speaking at a recent Washington, D.C., conference on wireless."The problem is commercial requirements are completely different from our military requirements."
The military will require that the Code Division Multiple Access- based PCS system supplied by AT&T and Qualcomm use encryption and other security features defined by the National Security Agency through its secretive "Condor" program.
Universal Handset
The military also wants to be able to set up and tear down its PCS network quickly and transport it by plane or ship in the U.S. or around the world. Commercial PCS networks consist of stationary, preconfigured base stations owned by service providers.
The Pentagon is going to buy full-- scale PCS mobile network systems, base stations and all, that will have network autoconfiguration, mobile address management and multicast routing. Early versions of this "deployable PCS network" were flown to Italy to test in rescue operations, according to Erskine."The basic building block is the commercial cell phone," he said.
Landline networks will remain the communications backbone for the military, which is slowly replacing a mix of proprietary systems with IP-- based routers and switches, mostly from Cisco, says U.S. Army Major General Steven Boutelle, program executive officer for command, control and communications.
Where the landline network won't reach, the military wants to deploy 802.11b commercial wireless LANs, which run at up to 11M bit/ sec in the 2.4GHz microwave band and will feature satellite uplinks.
The military, which has been testing wireless LANs, hopes to award a contract by next spring to a vendor for wireless LANs that will support up to 300,000 soldiers.
While the military is interested in handheld devices such as Palms, too, Boutelle said major purchases of such devices aren't likely until the Army selects specific biometric authentication technologies, which are now undergoing testing at a laboratory in West Virginia.
The goal, although still far off, is interoperable wireless on the ground and in the air that will work with allies' wireless gear as well.
"If you think of the F-15 [airplane] as a node in the network, you'll have the right reference for wireless technologies," said U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Bud Bell during a recent presentation.
There are, of course, downsides to using wireless networks, including the fact that some can be subject to jamming or interference. Also, outside the U.S., the military will need to get permission at times to operate on certain frequencies.
"This is not a trivial problem," Bell said.
Copyright Network World Inc. Jul 2, 2001
Publication date: 2001-07-02
© 2001, YellowBrix, Inc. |
