Missile Communication Alternatives and Trades

End-to-end communications systems are often so complex that system designers have difficulty keeping track of the constraints, trades, interface requirements, and interdependencies among components. The Communications System Taxonomy (CommTax) and Toolkit proposed herein represents further refinement of an innovative tool that Infinite Global Infrastructures has recently developed internally to assist their own customers and stakeholders. The taxonomy (model) features three distinct views of the information system; providing physical views, logical views, and views of interdependencies among components, interfaces, and protocols. The CommTax Toolkit would be ideal for future MDA Communication designs, or to evaluate existing designs for upgrades or changes. The taxonomy conforms to the universally recognized Seven-Layer ISO model of describing networked information systems. This simple and visual design aid can improve the quality of future MDA communications system designs and shorten the design/evaluation timeline. Once the Phase I CommTax has been defined in terms of operational MDA systems, IGI proposes to refine the design in Phase II, focusing on two capabilities - first, the automation of system functionality yielding a graphical tool to support the analysis of complex tradeoffs associated with MDA systems, and next to implement the taxonomy in a physical testbed featuring operational RF and network components.