DIStributed COherent communication system (DISCO)

Tactical networks need to support high data rate communications, situational awareness and connectivity over long distances possibly between disaggregated groups of communications nodes, e.g., in airborne networks. Therefore, it is essential to design a coherent communication solution to achieve high power gain and improve signal quality at receivers. Since communication nodes are not physically connected, they need to coordinate with each other for distributed coherence communications between self-organizing transmitter and receiver clusters. The significant power gain offered by coherent communications will improve the tactical network performance (even for single-antenna systems), including throughput, reliability, communication range, and energy efficiency. To address the critical need, we need to design and implement the DIStributed COherent communication system (DISCO) that provides a unified framework with novel protocols: 1) the synchronization, channel sensing and prediction protocols, 2) the distributed transmit beamforming protocol, and 3) the distributed clustering protocol. Protocol design and analysis will be followed by radio implementation, test and evaluation of the DISCO system in relevant airborne network scenarios.