Added: Nov 18, 2014 11:25 am
RFI abstract due date is December 12, 2014.
AFRL - Rome Research Site, AFRL/Information Directorate,
26 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY, 13441-4514
AGENCY CONTACTS
Verification of government receipt or questions of a technical nature can also be directed to the cognizant TPOC.
Primary TPOC Secondary TPOC
Nathaniel Rowe Gregory Hadynski
Telephone: 315-330-7047 Telephone: 315-330-4094
Email: nathaniel.rowe.1@us.af.mil Email: gregory.hadynski@us.af.mil
 |
| Recent Developments in Aircraft Wireless Networks |
Technical Challenge:
Directional networking allows the focusing of a greater amount of radiated energy on an intended receiver through a combination of transmitter and/or receiver aperture gain. The increased SINR improves jam resistance from intended or unintended interferers and increases the potential capacity of the link. Additionally, if one considers noise and interference at receivers other than the intended receiver, narrower transmit beams reduce SINR (signal to interference-plus-noise ratio) to receivers outside the transmit beam, thus potentially increasing network capacity, spectral efficiency, and reducing observability by passive threats outside the radiated energy pattern.However, the pointing, acquisition and tracking (PAT) required to maintain a network of directional links adds complexity over omnidirectional systems. Initial link establishment between two aircraft may be difficult when their relative positions are not known to one
another (e.g., discovery phase), and additional challenges exist when re-establishment of a directional link is required once that link has been lost. With advances in multi-element multi-beam apertures, the switching from one transmitter/receiver pair to another in an orderly manner may enable reestablishment of links and link-state maintenance more efficient.
Furthermore, airborne directional networks present several operationally-driven technical challenges over terrestrial mobile ad-hoc networks including greater mobility, greater distances and different loss characteristics among air-to-air and air-to-ground geometries.
Trade-Space Considerations:
There are several technical objectives that must be balanced to create future aerial directional networking capabilities including, but not be limited to:
- Antennas and power amplifiers: multiple antenna configurations (potentially
including collections of omnidirectional apertures coupled with digital signal
processing that can serve as lower cost alternatives to phased arrays),
flexible pattern antennas, and packet-rate controllable transmit power.- Radios and modems: multi-band frequency hopping/agility, data rate & coding diversity, and multi-transceiver support.
- Link and topology control: fault-tolerant distributed topology control and
context controlled Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ).- Network and system control: low overhead routing and network management,
dynamic load balancing, flexible quality of service (QoS) and admission
control.- Multi-mission/multi-function RF subsystems: ability to reuse apertures, signal
processing, and control to support multiple RF functions (e.g., comm, radar,
EW)- System architecture: readily extensible & evolvable architecture, distributed fault-tolerant network interoperability, and synchronized operations across multiple missions.
Some References
Air Force wants to toughen up aerial layer communications -- Defense SystemsAerial Layer Communications - Federal Business Opportunities: Opportunities
AFRL is looking to upgrade current aerial layer networks. The main concern is that current networks have limited combat effectiveness in contested, degraded, operationally
limited and anti-access area denial environments where communications may be unavailable. Additionally, the Air Force is preparing for situations in which U.S. and allied forces are outnumbered and outgunned.Network management is also a concern in planning and managing multi-information, link-based airborne networks and in planning future heterogeneous architectures. Current network management and recovery mechanisms are unable to maintain a requisite level of network survivability and reliability in battle.The upgrades would require significant changes to the attributes of the current network, taking the network:
- From platform- and link-centric network to network-of-networks centric.
- From self-contained to open.
- From preplanned to flexible and ad hoc.
- From components for wired and static applications to those designed for wireless and dynamic uses.
- From demos done on specific platforms to demos performed on PODs
Next generation Aerial Directional Data Link & Networking (NADDLN)
John Matyjas, Nathaniel Rowe
The_airborne_internet.pdfGiven the scarcity of spectrum, there is a desire to develop
self-forming, self-managing directional tactical data links operating at higher
frequencies. Directional networking provides an opportunity to increase
spectral efficiency, support ad-hoc aerial connectivity, improve resistance to
intended/unintended interference, and increase the potential capacity of the
link. However, complexity is added to the pointing, acquisition and tracking
(PAT) required to establish and maintain a network of directional links over
omnidirectional systems. Research interests reside in
- the ability to make real-time content/context-aware
trades involving capacity, latency, and interference tolerance;- mission-aware link and network topology control; and
- affordable apertures and PAT systems; ultimately, to
deliver new capabilities for next generation aerial directional data link & networking (NADDLN).
Program:
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SBIR
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Topic Num:
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AF121-041 (AirForce)
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Title:
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Directional Partial Mesh Airborne
Networking |
Research & Technical Areas:
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Information Systems
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Objective:
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Develop an Airborne Mesh Network capability that; Utilizes directional antennas,utilizes Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and potentially Frequency Division Multiple Access
(FDMA), maintains backward compatibility with legacy terminals. |
Description:
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Within airborne networks, directional links are desirable due to their increased range, capacity, and Low Observable (LO) capabilities. In order to form a network from these point-to-point links, past waveforms have utilized a linear network topology with each network participant having just two links (i.e. MADL, CDL). This topology is well suited for a network with a limited number of nodes. However as the network size increases, this topology is undesirable due to the linear
increase in latency and the amount of bandwidth consumed by relaying traffic over multiple hops. Additionally because each point-to-point link is critical in preventing network degregation, a linear topology can pose network reliability issues. There is a push to create a more fully connected airborne network. However, it is unfeasible for all platforms to simultaneously abandon their existing air-to-air communication capabilities in favor of a more scalable directional mesh waveform. Therefore, it is desirable to explore methods to evolve current linear topology networks into partial mesh networks. A critical part of this evolution is backwards compatibility with existing terminals which are only capable of linear networking. These existing terminals should be capable of existing anywhere within the partial mesh network and not be limited to the network edge. |
Mesh Enhanced Tactical Airborne Link (Metal)
Amount: $750000
Institution: Intelligent Automation Inc.
Start:Aug. 26, 2013--Expire: Aug. 25, 2015
Boeing Develops Directional Network Waveform (DNW) for Fast Links ~ Converge! Network Digest
Boeing: Boeing Successfully Demonstrates Directional NetWork System for US Fleet Forces Command
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., June 23, 2010 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] announced today that it has proven the capability of its Directional NetWork System (DNW), the next generation of 100 megabytes-per-second+ mesh networking, during the U.S. Fleet Forces Command's (USFF) Trident Warrior 2010 (TW10) experiment off the coast of Southern California. DNW was the core system used in the operational tests, conducted June 14-16 by Boeing and the U.S. Navy.
The experiment demonstrated Boeing's ability to sustain network connectivity without satellite communications by using an airborne mesh network. This type of network provides multiple communications links between several platforms at more than 100 megabytes per second, ensuring reliable routing between any two users.
Bow-Nan Cheng; Block, F.J.; Hamilton, B.R.; Ripplinger, D.; Timmerman, C.; Veytser, L.; Narula-Tam, A., "Design considerations for next-generation airborne tactical networks," Communications Magazine, IEEE , vol.52, no.5, pp.138,145, May 2014
doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2014.6815904
Abstract: Airborne tactical networks (ATNs) have provided protected air-to-airURL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6815904&isnumber=6815882
communications for military aircraft for several decades. To support
emerging and future warfighter needs, the next generation of systems
will require significant improvements to provide higher capacity, longer
range, greater flexibility, and increased interoperability. Governed by
domain characteristics such as long transmission ranges, low-to-medium
data rates, latency constraints, and link protection needs, the air
tactical domain poses several unique requirements on link and network
design. Developing next-generation ATNs requires an understanding of the
airborne tactical domain, including the design constraints and
challenges at various layers of the network stack. In this article, we
provide an overview of the unique domain characteristics of ATNs and
highlight the key design challenges and research areas associated with
the physical, link, and network layers.
Enabling next generation airborne communications [Guest Editorial]," Communications Magazine, IEEE , vol.52, no.5, pp.102,103, May 2014
doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2014.6815899
Abstract: Due to the increased needs for sharing information among airborne platforms (both manned and unmanned) as well as the desire to use an airborne infrastructure to rapidly deploy communications capabilities to ground-based users in disaster areas, there has been a renewed interest in the research, design, and development of airborne communications networks. Airborne networks are mobile networks characterized by their high aircraft speeds and platform dynamics, long line-of-sight transmission ranges, and significant cost of integration for communication systems. This Feature Topic, Enabling Next Generation Airborne Communications, considers several types of airborne communications systems including air traffic management (ATM) systems,URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6815899&isnumber=6815882
networks of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and military airborne tactical networks.
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