Multi-Source Portable Tele-Conferencing System (MPTS) A Portable Tele-Training/Technical Assistance Tool for the NAVY

The U.S. Navy has already achieved dramatic cost savings using teleconferencing technology in its Chief Electronic Schoolhouse Network (CESN) project. Even greater cost savings could be achieved if teleconferencing technology were portable and reliable enough to be used from any geographic location (ship or shore), in the world. At the same time, experiments like the Defense Information Services Agency's cellular telephone communications trial on the USS Saipan, and the Department of Defense SCAMPI system fielding (capable of providing 1.544Mb T-1 access across global satellite links), indicate the global communications infrastructure may already be capable of supporting globally-portable, highly-reliable, video teleconferencing. We propose to survey the global communications infrastructure and teleconferencing capabilities and standards. Then, we will analyze both to determine the feasibility of developing a new generation of ultra-portable, highly reliable video-teleconferencing technology. The result will be development of the technical and architectural requirements needed by engineers in a Phase II effort to build a suitcase-portable, miniaturized system complete with integrated computer multi-media sharing capacity.