HIGH-DATA-RATE WIRELESS LAN FOR TACTICAL MULTIMEDIA NETWORKS

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR HIGH-DATA-RATE CONNECTIVITY IN TACTICAL ARMY DEPLOYMENTS CONTINUES TO EXCEED THE RATES AVAILABLE USING EMERGING COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS; THESE SYSTEMS, WHICH NORMALLY ADDRESS THE BATTLEFIELD SURVIVABILITY PROBLEM BY USING CONSIDERABLE SPECTRUM SPREADING, OFFER RELATIVELY LOW DATA RATES AND THEY ALSO ARE VERY EXPENSIVE. AN ALTERNATE ARCHITECTURE FOR ACHIEVING THE DESIRED HIGH-RATE CONNECTIVITY IS TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF PROTECTION OBTAINED THROUGH SPREAD-SPECTRUM SIGNALING, AND TO SUBSTITUTE A COMBINATION OF ANTENNA DIRECTIVITY AND ABSORPTIVE PROPAGATION BEHAVIOR. ON THE OTHER HAND, IT IS NOT DESIRABLE TO COMPLETELY REMOVE SPREAD-SPECTRUM SIGNALING FOR SEVERAL REASONS. BY INCLUDING A MODEST AMOUNT OF SPREADING, A HYBRID APPROACH TO REDUCED PROBABILITY OF DETECTION (RFD) CAN BE EFFECTED, AS CAN BE THE REDUCTION OF FADING AND/OR INTERSYMBOL INTERFERENCE. THIS APPROACH COULD LEAD TO ROBUST, SURVIVABLE LINKS WHICH SUPPORT 10-MBIT/SEC WIRELESS LAN OPERATION IN A MULTIMEDIA NETWORK.