Technology challenges in adapting commercial wireless technology to military applications

Abstract

A wide range of technologies contribute to the implementation of military wireless networks ranging from antennas and propagation, digital signal processing, electrochemical, cryptographic and network system control. Although these technologies are well developed in their own right in wireline based networks, there are particular constraints in the categories of mobility, connectivity and energy that make it highly expensive and difficult to implement affordable wireless systems. The advantages of mobility in portable systems are complicated by problems that do not present themselves to the same extent in wire based networks. Network realignment in a dynamic mobile environment, problems associated with mutual interference, the widely random variations in signal strength and distortion associated with such rapidly changing propagation paths, as well as consequent vulnerability to interception and jamming all contribute complications which may be resolved through the application of sophisticated signal processing techniques and antennas. These solutions however, impose additional complexity and power requirements on portable terminals. The motivation to keep these portable units as simple and cheap as possible limits the ability to support sophisticated techniques and consequently drives the requirement to increase network complexity in order to compensate. Systems must also be rapidly deployable on mobile platforms in diverse operating environments.