Development of a Milstar MDR - Advanced Network Bridge

The effort described in this proposal will develop a hardware/softw are architecture for a Milstar MDR - Advanced Network Bridge, supporting connection of the NESP Terminal to advanced, high speed packet switched network architectures using ATM. This will allow ATM connections to be extended over EHF links. This Phase I effort will include investigation of alternative EHF link transmission formats to support the efficient transmission of ATM cell traffic over EHF links in both a multiplexed form, supporting WAN interconnection and multicast functions, and as a single-channel baseband data stream, supporting individual remote users. It will define the algorithms required to map between these link transmission formats and ATM cell formats using SONET and other physical la er standards. Finally it will present an architecture for implementing the bridge functions based upon commercial hardware. The results of this effort will provide the basis for a Phase II effort to develop a prototype bridge, demonstrating the EHF extension of ATM networks.