FEASIBILITY STUDY OF COMMUNICATIONS THROUGH INTERVENING MEDIA

A VARIETY OF ADVANCED-BASING CONCEPTS ENHANCE SURVIVABILITY BY COMBINING MISSILE MOBILITY WITH FIXED PROTECTIVE STRUCTURES (TUNNELS, GARAGES, ETC.). PROVIDING COMMUNICATION CONNECTIVITY BY INSTALLING VARIETY OF HARDENED ANTENNAS IS, HOWEVER, QUITE EXPENSIVE. A COMPLETELY PORTABLE, COMMUNICATION SYSTEM CARRIED ON EACH MOBILE LAUNCH VEHICLE IS THEREFORE DESIRABLE. COMMUNICATION THROUGH INTERVENING MEDIA IS DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF RESTRICTED ANTENNA SIZE, LOW SIGNAL LEVELS, MULTIPATH DISTORTION, FADING, AND HIGH LOCAL-NOISE LEVELS. EACH FREQUENCY BAND HAS UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS IN PENETRATING THE CONDUCTING MEDIUM AS WELL TO/FROM THE DESIRED RECEIVER. A PRACTICAL SOLUTION INVOLVES NOT ONLY SELECTION OF THE RIGHT FREQUENCY, BUT ALSO CAREFUL ATTENTION TO MODULATION AND SIGNAL PROCESSING. COMMUNICATIONSSHOULD BE POSSIBLE IN SEVERAL WINDOWS OF THE RF SPECTRUM, INCLUDING LF GROUNDWAVE, HF SKYWAVE, AND UHF SATELLITE COMMUNICATION. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL USE ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION TO DETERMINE THE CAPABILITIES OF EACH FREQUENCY BAND FOR EACH OF SEVERAL SHELTERS. MODULATION AND SIGNAL-PROCESSING OPTIONS WILL ALSO BE REVIEWED. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL PREPARE A CANDIDATE SYSTEM DESIGN AND A PLAN FOR EXPERIMENTAL TESTING.