NETWORK PROTOCOLS FOR UHF MULTIUSER TRAFFIC

QUALCOMM, INC. PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A NETWORK PROTOCOL FOR THE NAVY UHF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM WHICH WILL SUPPORT THE WIDE VARIETY OF CURRENT AND ANTICIPATED NAVAL UHF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS NEEDS AND WILL BE DESIGNED SO THAT FUTURE, CURRENTLY UNANTICIPATED, NEEDS CAN BE MET. THE TRAFFIC ROUTING WILL BE ABLE TO BE EITHER POINT-TO-POINT, MULTICASE, OR BROADCAST; THE TRAFFIC FORMAT CAN BE IN EITHER A STREAM OR A BLOCK FORMAT. THE PROTOCOL WILL SUPPORT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND FLOW CONTROL. THE NETWORK RESOURCES WILL BE POOLED AND CONTROLLED BY VARIOUS LEADER TERMINALS WHICH FORM THE NODES OF A HIERARCHICAL TREE. EACH LEADER TERMINAL WILL HAVE SOME RESOURCES THAT IT CAN DIRECTLY ALLOCATE AND, THROUGH COOPERATION WITH OTHER LEADERS, ADJUST RESOURCE ALLOCATION THROUGHOUT THE NETWORK. THE RESOURCE ALLOCATION PROCESS WILL BE DESIGNED TO BE DYNAMIC AND WILL ALLOCATE RESOURCES ON A MESSAGE BY MESSAGE BASIS. SINCE LEADERS PARTIALLY CENTRALIZE THE DATABASE AND SINCE MANY TERMINALS IN THE NETWORK CAN BECOME LEADERS, THIS PROTOCOL WILL NOT HAVE THE DATABASE CONSISTENCY PROBLEMS OF A DISTRIBUTED PROTOCOL, NOR WILL IT HAVE THE SINGLE POINT VUNERABILITY OF A CENTRALIZED PROTOCOL.