ATM Compatible HF Radio Link

A systematic approach to achieving an order of magnitude increase in HF data communications rate is proposed. The object of the proposed effort is to demonstrate that standard DS-0 (64 kb/s) level service can be transmitted successfully over the HF channel and that, by doing so, HF can be effectively integrated into an ATM backbone. The proposed effort will investigate several innovative modulation and antenna techniques for high speed HF data communications. The effort will benefit from several previous studies by Signatr on on advanced HF communications and from similar past "order of magnitude" advanced created by Signatron for troposcatter and underwaqter communications. THe high proposed data rate makes complexity of the implementation a key issue since intersymbol interference can span many symbols and since the fast fading of the HF channel eliminates the most simple approaches. We have identified several potential modulation waveforms that are candidates for resolving this issue. THe Phase I effort will use computer simulation to guide the design choices for the design that will be recommended for prototype implementation and real-time testing in Phase II. Anticipated Benefits: Long range communications can be significantly cheaper using radio, and is certainly more flexible, than fixed cable or satellite. This radio resource can not be taken advantage of unless it is compatible with new standards such as ATM. Applications include mobile and quick reaction data links over ranges of many hundreds of miles, capable of multimedia communications (data, voice, fax, image, video,...).