Army Spread Spectrum - Evolution or Revolution

The Army is currently developing a variety of ground based tactical communications systems intended to support the needs of the soldier on the automated battlefield of the 1990´s. These new systems employ wideband digital techniques to support requirements for speed and volume of data transfer, and have turned to spread spectrum for the Anti-jam (AJ) protection required for survivability under the electronic warfare threat anticipated over the next twenty years. This paper surveys the essential technical characteristics of CECOM´s current spread spectrum system developments for ground-to-ground communications, explains their historical and technical evolution, and explores the underlying rationale for selection of Frequency Hopping (FH) versus Direct Sequence (DS) spread spectrum techniques in each case. Observations and future directions conclude the paper.