QoS Assured Heterogeneous Airborne Network Technology (QAHANT)

Mayflower Communications Company Inc. (Mayflower) proposes an IntServ QoS technology, the QoS Assured Heterogeneous Airborne Network Technology (QAHANT), to meet the Air Force (AF) objective, namely design and develop protocols for providing Integrated Services-model (IntServ) Quality of Service (QoS) in an airborne network composed of heterogeneous network technologies. A novel Real-time Reservation Transport Protocol (RRTP) is the core QAHANT capability. The proposed Phase II effort focuses on the development, implementation and demonstration of the RRTP technology. RRTP incorporates innovative mechanisms to overcome the Airborne Network-specific challenges such as high-speed mobility, link variability and interoperability, and provides highly responsive and highly assured QoS transport. The QAHANT RRTP, which has been proven feasible in the Phase I study for the Air Force application, has enormous potential for military and commercial applications. Mayflower will develop RRTP prototype software in Phase II, and demonstrate its capabilities and performance on a heterogeneous radio test bed. Mayflower will, moreover, work with Airborne Network radio prime contractors to design RRTP interface with the Airborne Network radios in Phase II, and transition RRTP to these radios in Phase III. BENEFIT: Civilian Airborne Internet is a promising application for RRTP. First responders and the various agencies in homeland security are also potential users of RRTP. In both these applications, RRTP can provide IntServ QoS for real time and critical information flows. In the military arena, RRTP can provide QoS-assured communication between mobile airborne platforms as well as with space and terrestrial networks, which are components of the Global Information Grid (GIG). By providing QoS-assured communication for mission critical flows in the Airborne Network and for the GIG, the QAHANT technology would be a key enabler in Network-Centric Warfare.