The JTRS (JPO) Cluster 5 modem and Terminal suppliers have yet to be selected for this particular Contract..Canada,U.K. have similar projects under way with G.D. including most NATO Countries..They will select their own OEM's to supply JTRS (WCDMA)interoperable devices..
Military Explores Third-Generation Cellular
Adoption of third-generation technologies will enable DoD to draw on a well of COTS expertise designed to provide enormous information throughput.
By Adam Baddeley
Third-generation (3G) cellular networks, which have made streaming video, netted communications, and data and voice over IP networks an everyday occurrence for civilians around the world, are becoming key elements in the transformation of military communications as well.
Keen to reduce the cost of custom development on military programs, the Department of Defense is now including 3G cellular technologies in programs that will shortly reach frontline troops. These programs include such systems as the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) and the Warfighter Information Network Tactical (WIN-T), which are central to the vision for communications transformation.
The adoption of 3G technologies will enable DoD to draw on a well of COTS expertise designed to provide enormous information throughput. This can be used to provide dismounted soldiers in the field, on exercise, overseas and even at home, with the requisite communications capability. With its considerable “beachhead” in several key building blocks of the Global Information Grid, 3G’s importance in DoD communications is expected to grow rapidly.
MUOS, for example, is one of the key MILSATCOM programs being pursued by DoD today, and at its heart is a 3G cellular waveform. Together with Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) in the secure protected EHF domain, and the Wideband Gapfiller Systems constellations delivering X- and Ka-band MILSATCOM, MUOS will provide a triad of capabilities by the end of this decade.
Throughput of the new system will be considerable. In the UHF narrowband domain, satellite capacity and channel data rate will grow from 400 Kbps and 19.4 kbps, respectively, in today’s UHF Follow On (UFO) constellation, to 4000 kbps and 64 Kbps in the MUOS solution, according to retired Air Force Major General Robert Dickman, deputy for military space in the Office of the Undersecretary of the Air Force.
Put another way, while one UFO satellite can provide 106 simultaneous accesses at 2.4 Kbps, a MUOS satellite will provide 7,100 simultaneous accesses at the same rate. The MUOS satellite also includes a new UFO payload, and so will increase the UFO constellation capacity at first launch. MUOS will deliver video, voice and data simultaneously.
Mobile Users
Lockheed Martin Space Systems was awarded the $2.1 billion contract to build the first two MUOS satellites last year, with options for up to three more satellites. Operational turnover of the first MUOS satellite is planned for 2010. The second MUOS satellite is planned for turnover in 2011, with full operational capability planned for 2014.
The team, put together by Lockheed Martin, has a wide range of cellular expertise ranging from civilian to military uses.
Lockheed Martin leveraged its recent commercial cellular experience on the ASIA Cellular Satellite (ACeS) and N-Star c programs. Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems built N-Star c, which operates in the S-band frequency band with a C-band feeder link providing mobile telephony and data transfer services to Japan and its surrounding waters. The ACeS system was the first regional satellite-based, handheld mobile telecommunications system designed exclusively for the Asia-Pacific region.
General Dynamics C4 Systems (GDC4S) is the lead for the entire ground infrastructure. “There are numerous sites that will talk to the satellite, collect the signals coming down and then tie them into the various DoD networks. This infrastructure includes such functions as the radio access facility, which can be thought of as the antenna site, as well as the switching and network management facilities. There is also the satellite control facility that will send up the commands to the satellite and basically provide the overall management function,” explained John Weidman, vice president and director responsible for network systems and information services at GDC4S.
General Dynamics and Ericsson are also providing the waveform technology driving MUOS capabilities. “What we will do on the MUOS program is to develop a JTRS-compatible waveform that will be put into the JTRS library. We are developing the core set of software that can be put in a JTRS-compliant terminal that would allow them to talk through the JTRS network,” Weidman said.
GDC4S is developing the MUOS solution using commercial Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) cellular technology standards, instantiated with Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technology using Ericsson 3G technology.
Ericsson is supplying General Dynamics with core WCDMA software, which General Dynamics will then modify to operate over the satellite. Ericsson is also providing core switches and some core radio access functionality that will be integrated into the ground site.
General Dynamics is being aided by InterDigital in bringing 3G technologies to MUOS. Rip Tilden, InterDigital’s chief operating officer, explained that the company is providing its standards-compliant WCDMA modem technology in a subcontract valued at approximately $18.5 million.
“We have been marketing our 3G technology to DoD contractors for more than a year,” explained Mark Lemmo, senior business development officer for InterDigital. “Our business model is to provide commercial technology solutions to meet systems and waveform requirements for next generation communications systems. We are also in a position to customize COTS solutions as necessary. Other commercial companies are not so willing to do this. That’s why we think this approach is so attractive to the government.”
The company is responsible for ensuring that WCDMA technology is fully interoperable with the Ericsson WCDMA base station and infrastructure. InterDigital, which is one of the core inventors of TDMA and CDMA worldwide, will support General Dynamics as it ports the MUOS waveform to a JTRS-based Cluster 5 terminal platform, and possibly to other platforms or programs.
Weidman explained MUOS in commercial cellular terms. “We still have the base stations just like they do on the ground,” he said. “That is built into part of the satellite info-structure on the ground. Think of the cellular towers essentially as being a tower in the sky on the satellites. The network management control, switching, provisioning of users and who has access to what phone numbers is exactly the same process that is used with the cellular infrastructure on the ground today, except that ours will be housed in a satellite ground facility.”
In addition, user terminals will be provided by the services under JTRS, with an emphasis on handheld, soldier-worn units. For these users, the MUOS system will provide familiar cell phone-like services, with the satellites acting as very tall “towers,” enabling warfighters on the ground to communicate directly with each other and their commanders virtually anywhere in the world.
Also like a cell phone, the system will always be on. Using an approach known as Adaptive Power Control, the system only assigns bandwidth when the user needs it—again much like a cell phone, which only uses bandwidth when a call is being made.
Commercial Infrastructure
MUOS is not the only program that will use 3G technologies. WIN-T will use this technology to connect to commercial and military networks across the globe.
Until the merger of the competing WIN-T teams in 2004, the two teams led by General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin had adopted similar approaches to 3G from the outset. Lockheed Martin advocated a CDMA 2000 approach, selecting Qualcomm as its team partner in this area. General Dynamics opted for a UMTS-type approach, according to Bill Weiss, vice president of future force networks. From the perspective of the user, there was no difference between the technologies, he noted.
Weiss outlined why 3G lends itself to WIN-T requirements. “There is a requirement in WIN-T for the warfighter to have a single device [the Personal Communications Device] both in garrison with commercial infrastructure and while deployed with WIN-T infrastructure. That almost dictates that we use cellular technology.
“This is an area where we are able to leverage commercial investment and provide the warfighter with features and services they are accustomed to getting on their cell phone at home. In essence, the telephone is able to use commercial as well as the WIN-T infrastructure. That is what is driving us toward a cellular implementation of WIN-T,” Weiss said.
Although there is a consensus that 3G is the way to go, the details of how that is to be delivered in programmatic terms is now being decided. Selection of team members for the converged solution has required suppliers to re-compete.
The new team must be in place before the beginning of the detailed design phase scheduled for October. “We will likely run a competition and choose the technology on a best-value basis,” Weiss said. “The competition would probably not involve a field test, although we are planning to demonstrate cellular technologies as part of the current WIN-T program.”
The JTRS Joint Program Office (JPO) is also due to acquire a Cellular Personal Communications Services (PCS) waveform for its library. This is currently scheduled to begin around March, subject to final budgetary approval, although detailed requirements and performance will be established subsequent to that time. The current operational requirements document lists compatibility with widely used standards such as CDMA, TDMA, GSM, 3GSM, 2.5G, 3G, WCDMA and CDMA-2000.
Industry has speculated on whether this waveform would be a civilian development or a custom development for the JPO. Weiss offered this perspective on what impact WIN-T might have: “I think that the WIN-T program will likely be the driver of what waveform it is, because WIN-T will probably be the first user of 3G cellular technology.”
The JTRS Cluster 5 program, responsible for provisioning the dismounted soldier with radios, will be a major user of this waveform. The timelines for the WIN-T program and Cluster 5 are such that the PCD for the first iteration of the former program will not be a JTRS set, Weiss said, while adding, “The target solution for the PCD itself is certainly Cluster 5.”
A COTS solution will probably be adopted for this first iteration, Weiss predicted. “There are a couple of 2G commercial handsets today that Qualcomm and General Dynamics build that are secure and have approved crypto and could be used. There will have to be some development done to adapt to 3G.
“The National Security Agency [NSA] is also looking at advancing the current 2G secure cellular to a 3G secure cellular and, if and when they produce handsets, we would certainly try to leverage that technology. However, a lot will depend on what the NSA has done when we get into the detailed design phase. There will almost certainly be some kind of customization of a commercial 3G cellular to add cryptography,” he continued.
Manpack Network
The Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) is also heavily involved in exploring 3G’s possibilities.
Lieutenant Colonel Kim Copeland, military deputy for the CERDEC Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate, attributed that interest to several advantages of the technology. “The biggest benefit is that it has voice and high-speed data capability and also video teleconferencing [VTC] through the phone. We do not have that VTC or the high-speed data rates right now, but 3G will give us that.”
Involvement in 3G by CERDEC is part of a continuum with the organization’s extensive work in 2G, explained Ed Erskine, chief of the center’s Advanced Wireless Branch. “We have done a lot of work in deployable cellular, and we got it down to a transit case-sized network on the 2G side. We think we can do the same with 3G. In the future, we could even get the base station down in size to where it would sit on the back of a soldier: a manpack-sized network.
CERDEC’s 2G solution was used by the 10th Mountain Division in the Advanced Warfighting Experiment in 2001, at Fort Polk, LA. This used regular commercial handsets and a downsized, but full capability, 20W base station with a range of five to eight kilometers.
CERDEC has taken an interest in the Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) work on the Deployable Cellular Network (DCNet) initiative to look at 3G technologies. A Foreign Comparative Testing program, DCNet, is being examined as a potential solution for the Special Operations Forces Tactical Assured Connectivity System for use in austere environments. DCNet uses Ericsson UMTS 3G technology. This solution enables Piconode cell applications of 2 Mbps, micro cell applications of 384 Mbps and macro cell throughput of 144 Kbps and 64 Kbps.
“Our goal is to look at the various 3G waveforms and assess their capabilities,” Erskine said. “We partnered with SOCOM on the FCT because UMTS and wideband CDMA waveforms are going to be two of the primary 3G waveforms. That was the intent of our program, and SOCOM had similar interest in deploying cellular networks. We were able to partner up on that program.
“There are also some ongoing efforts with Qualcomm on CDMA 2000 along the lines of supporting WIN-T from the Army’s perspective. This is in order to act as the ‘honest broker,’ to identify the capabilities of the waveforms and what they can bring to the tactical warfighter. We have also worked with InterDigital, which has a time-division duplex version of a 3G waveform. The Ericsson system we have used is a frequency division duplex solution. I would classify the InterDigital network as more of a proof-of-concept system. What we are getting from Qualcomm and Ericsson are commercial networks.”
“We are trying to leverage what industry has today and to put the pieces together,” said John Nunziato, program director for wireless systems at CERDEC S&TD. “What we are pursuing is a software definition of all these commercial cellular telephone waveforms so that they are not hardware dependent and are built all on software.”
Future Steps
CERDEC is progressing on international initiatives with Korea and Sweden. Copeland cited CERDEC’s interest in “3.5G” networks being deployed commercially in Korea. “We are already in the process of establishing what technology both parties are interested in so that we can do some type of exchange and work together through program arrangements to test each other’s equipment,” he said.
CERDEC is working toward establishing an Advanced Technology Objective Program with the fundamental goal being to implement the various cellular waveforms into the software. “The user will be able to take his device and go anywhere in the world, download the appropriate waveform and operate over a commercial network or follow on and operate over a tactical network when that becomes available,” said Erskine.
Nunziato added that CERDEC expects this process to begin in 2006. The center will leverage programs such as DCnet, several pooled Small Business Innovative projects in this area and a number of co-operative research and development agreements with various sources such as InterDigital, Ericsson and other commercial companies in this cellular technology area.
The Advanced Technology Objective Program will be similar to a JTRS network, explained Nunziato. “It will be a cellular network that will be JTRS-like in a software-defined fashion. However, our target is to not necessarily be JTRS-compliant, our target is to provide the concept in software.”
Developing software implementations will not be without its technological challenges, Erskine acknowledged. “Part of the issue with software implementation of waveforms is the processing speed has to catch up to be able to process a 3G-type waveform. It is not quite there on the handset side.”
He added that CERDEC’s work could support the JPO’s requirement for a PCS waveform. “There is a requirement for a cellular waveform to be developed by the JPO for JTRS. It would be a byproduct of our development.”
Copeland related the relevance of this future work to current events. “We know that GSM is in use in Iraq and that Type 1 encrypted phones are in use in by U.S. forces in the area of operations. The GSM network is being used rather than the UMTS network. In the future, we would like to bridge both networks with cell phones with various different waveforms.”
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