TACTICAL DIGITAL CELLULAR COMMUNICATIONS ARCHITECTURE

THE ARMY'S FUTURE TACTICAL TELEPHONE SYSTEM AT CORPS AND LOWER ECHELONS IS BASED UPON THE MOBILE SUBSCRIBER EQUIPMENT (MSE). MSE WILL PROVIDE A TOTAL TELEPHONE CAPABILITY TO INCLUDE: 16 KBPS TRUCKS, TRI-TAC, DSC AND NATO INTERFACES, DIGITAL SWITCHING, DIGITAL FACSIMILE, SECURE AND NON-SECURE SERVICE, CELLULAR MOBILITY, INTERFACE WITH SINGGRARS SNR. THE MSE ARCHITECTURE WITHIN THE CORPS CONSISTS OF 42 NODE CENTER SWITCHES, LARGE EXTENSION NODES, SMALL EXTENSION NODES, RADIO ACCESS UNITS AND MOBILE SUBSCRIBER TERMINALS. SUBSCRIBER WIRELINE LOOPS ARE THE PRINCIPLE ACCESS METHOD TO THE MSE. A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF WIRELINE MUST BE INSTALLED EACH TIME A UNIT DISPLACES. MSE IS NOT VERY MOBILE IN TERMS OF THE BULK OF THE USERS, AND ITS CAPACITY IS SOMEWHAT LIMITED. ANY SOLUTION MUST CAPATIIZE ON THE MSE CAPABILITIES AND IMPROVE THEM. COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE DIGITAL CELLULAR TECHNOLOGY COULD BE ADAPTED TO ENHANCE MSES. THIS PROPOSAL IS TO STUDY THE PRESENT PROBLEM, ANALYZE THE ARCHITECTURE, RECOMMEND METHODS FOR INCORPORATING DIGITAL CELLULAR AND HIGHLIGHT THE RATIONALE FOR INTEGRATING NEW TECHNOLOGY.