Efficient use of SATCOM resources in MSE networks (DAMA for MSE)

The evolving AirLand Operations (ALO) concept of force deployment in the tactical arena significantly alters requirements for command, control, and communications. Communications must be maintained between widely separated groups of users (enclaves) who cannot be adequately serviced by traditional terrestrial networks. Satellite communications (both military and commercial) have been proposed as one possible response to this range extension requirement. The simple insertion of this technology into large wideband terrestrial networks such as Mobile Subscriber Equipment (MSE) or TRI-TAC can result in inefficient use of limited satellite resources, which in turn limits the operational effectiveness of the overall communication system. In addition, operational and technical constraints inherent in the switching network must be considered to ensure maximum flexibility of the integrated network. In this paper, GTE identifies the design constraints and issues associated with satellite range extension for the MSE network and describes several feasible Demand Assignment Multiple Access (DAMA) architectures. The authors describe the results of a performance analysis and simulation effort that uses GTE tools to develop models of ALO scenarios and then evaluate the relative efficiency and mission effectiveness of these different DAMA alternatives. Each alternative is shown to provide significant improvement over the non-DAMA case but a cost-benefit tradeoff indicates one approach to be preferred. Studies are continuing to characterize these results in more detail and to investigate the extension of these results to alternative satellite systems