Communications and Networks -- Projects

3G CDMA2000 Cellular Simulator

Adaptive Array Processing for Ad Hoc Networks

Adaptive Joint C4I Node (AJCN) ACTD

Assured Network Delivery

Autonomous Network Management

Contact Center of the Future: Establishment of a Next Generation Laboratory Infrastructure

An Emulation Facility for Networking and Distributed Application Development

Enabling Anycast

Enabling Technologies for Mobile Communications

FCS Communications

Mobile Ad Hoc Networking for the Transformed Army (MANTA)

Network Aware ISR Nodes

Next Generation SATCOM Terminals

QoS for Tactical Link Layer Networks

Quantum Information Science Research Project

XG (neXt Generation communications)

Communications and Networks covers developments in LAN and WAN network protocols, system planning, management, traffic analysis, wireless technologies and high-bandwidth networks and the evolution of satellite communications to networks of low earth orbiting satellites.

3G CDMA2000 Cellular Simulator

D.J. Shyy, Principal Investigator

Washington

Problem
The second generation code division multiple access (2G CDMA) IS-95A cellular networks have been deployed for almost eight years. Although the system design rules and operating procedures for voice services (i.e., IS-95A services) are well established and understood, with the launch of CDMA2000 1x high-rate data service worldwide in year 2002, these rules and procedures need to be re-examined.

Objectives
The purpose of this project is to build a 3G CDMA2000 cellular simulator, which mimics the real operation of CDMA2000 protocols, using OPNET Modeler. The simulator will be used to investigate various design issues of CDMA2000 networks such as voice/data coverage, voice/data capacity and data performance.

Activities
This project has two major activities. The first is to develop the OPNET cellular simulator following CDMA2000 standards. The second is to integrate the physical layer cellular model (using Signal Processing WorkSystem) developed by industry into the OPNET cellular simulator to become a complete CDMA2000 cellular simulator.

Impacts
This project will advance MITRE and government knowledge in CDMA2000. The results are applicable to various military wireless networks that employ CDMA technology, such as the wideband networking waveform in the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), Near Term Digital Radio (NTDR), Small Unit Operation-Situation Awareness System (SUO-SAS), and USC-28.

Adaptive Array Processing for Ad Hoc Networks

Larry Thomson, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
The adaptive array processing techniques currently being considered for use in military ad hoc networks have serious shortcomings that include inadequate performance gains and/or insufficient adaptability to the rapidly changing conditions in military wireless ad hoc networks. New, computationally efficient adaptive array processing methods must be developed that provide performance gains without the shortcomings of other methods.

Objectives
The purpose of this project is to develop and apply advanced space-time adaptive signal processing methods to military mobile wireless ad hoc network architectures. The project will concentrate on transmit and receive space-time adaptive processing (STAP) methods that maximize the channel capacity and transmission range while minimizing co-channel interference and probabilities of detection and interception.

Activities
This project has three major elements. The first is a system-level analysis to provide reasonable expectations for performance improvements and system requirements. The second is the development of the algorithms themselves. Receive-only algorithms will be developed first, with transmit algorithms being considered later. Finally, the algorithms will be tested and demonstrated using real-world data.

Impacts
This project will advance the state of the art in STAP methods, and will build MITRE’s reputation both in the R&D community and with key DOD sponsors. The techniques we develop will mitigate multipath and co-channel interference and offer anti-jamming capabilities that are essential to ensuring the capacity and reliability of future tactical communication networks (e.g., FCS).

Adaptive Joint C4I Node (AJCN) ACTD

DARPA Office: ATO
DARPA PM: Dr. George Duchak

Joseph D. Kolesar, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
The military needs to replace the hardware-intensive designs of legacy radios with newer software-based designs to accomplish interoperability, communicate beyond the line of sight, and relieve over-reliance on SATCOM. High-demand, low-density signals intelligence (SIGINT) and electronic warfare assets are scarce. The AJCN hardware architecture is waveform independent, and its reprogrammability permits multiple radio signals and “INTs” to be simultaneously processed in one box.

Objectives
AJCN ACTD will provide simultaneous in-theater multi-mission capabilities, including communications, SIGINT, and other “INTs.” The hardware architecture complies with the Joint Tactical Radio System waveform and the Joint Airborne SIGINT Architecture. The goal is to have a generic box containing four RF 30 MHz channels that are continuously tunable from 30 MHz to 2 GHz (with spot coverage above) in the Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) instantiation. Additional boxes can extend the instantaneous frequency coverage.

Activities
DARPA is the technical manager for this ACTD. Activities will focus on resolving technical issues supporting the construction of AJCN, integration on selected platforms, and concepts of operations for the ACTD, with CECOM serving as the Deputy Technical Manager and Executive Agent, Joint Forces Command serving as the Operational Manager and the Air Force as the Transition Manager.

Impacts
AJCN can be tailored to fill mission-specific C4I needs. AJCN can extend the communications and “INT” flexibility of any platform it is hosted on with its common box implementation. The single-box approach simplifies the repair chain and in-theater logistics. Because AJCN is a multi-missioned box, fewer assets and platforms need to be brought into theater.

Assured Network Delivery

Glen Nakamoto, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
The concept of network centric warfare relies heavily on distributed operations. Many activities that were centralized are now widely distributed. For real-time and mission-critical applications to function reliably, the network services must provide a high degree of performance predictability. At this point in time, this degree of deterministic performance does not exist over IP-based networks.

Objectives
This project will explore and enhance two emerging technologies that can potentially provide true end-to-end quality of service and predictability of performance under all conditions of network congestion. To meet this objective, applications or users must be able to request this service from an end-to-end perspective (a key challenge).

Activities
We will first explore concepts of real-time IP networks that utilize reserved time slotting (end-to-end) to reserve bandwidth. The second phase will address an approach to translate an RSVP request (from an application) to dynamically provision a circuit in real time for the duration of the session. Physical networks will be constructed/prototyped as part of these activities.

Impacts
For those mission-critical applications that require the highest tier of guaranteed network services, the technologies being explored in this project will potentially offer unprecedented performance under all conditions of network stress. True network centric warfare over a global scale will potentially be possible using these techniques.

Autonomous Network Management

Ralph A. Preston, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
Today's methods of configuring and maintaining networks are largely manual, slow, and antiquated. The military has a need to deploy a scalable network rapidly with a minimal number of network administrators. Rapid deployment, possible equipment losses, and a rapidly changing topology make pre-planning the network design intractable.

Objectives
The need for highly trained network administration personnel can be eliminated by enabling the network to configure itself. When a router is added to a network, or networks are joined, the routers will enter into negotiations to resolve name conflicts and perform configuration tasks normally handled by network administrators.

Activities
We are designing and building a protocol to enable self configuration of routers. The protocol will be extended to enable networks to recover from partitions.

Impacts
Realized IP addresses have three properties: permanence, uniqueness, and location. By separating these properties into disjoint address spaces, we gain the power to easily change location and resolve address conflicts.

Contact Center of the Future: Establishment of a Next Generation Laboratory Infrastructure

David L. Madison, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
The IRS is under congressional mandate to improve the quality of its customer-communications services, but must do so under severe budget constraints. Current telephony call centers must be modernized to provide accurate, consistent responses to multilingual queries coming in through multiple communication channels. A high degree of automation will be required to contain operational costs.

Objectives
The objective of this project is to build an initial Contact Center of the Future (CCOF) laboratory that incorporates next generation technology such as voice-over-IP (VOIP) and Voice XML. The laboratory will be used to perform contact center research that will benefit the IRS and other MITRE customers.

Activities
Implementation of the CCOF laboratory infrastructure, initiated in FY2002, will continue under the present effort. Laboratory upgrades will include hardware and software for intelligent routing of multi-channel customer contacts, prioritizing traffic, accommodating VOIP signals, and evaluating quality of service. In particular, the laboratory will be used to support the CEM-sponsored IR&D project on the CCOF.

Impacts
The CCOF Laboratory will support demonstrations of MITRE's research on advanced contact center applications, which in turn will lead to future work with the IRS (and other customers) in establishing a clear vision of the next generation of customer-communication services. In addition to solidifying MITRE's contact center credentials, the laboratory will allow testing of new contact center concepts and products.

An Emulation Facility for Networking and Distributed Application Development

Ambrose M. Kam, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
Today's network simulation tools are inadequate to handle the volume of traffic necessary for application-level testing. Similarly, commercially available network emulation boxes are not sufficiently flexible to capture the nuances of military networks, particularly the mobile ad hoc nature of wireless networks such as the Multi-Sensor Command and Control Constellation (MC2C).

Objectives
This project will develop a real-time network emulation facility capable of accurately representing a heterogeneous military communications environment including delays, bandwidth constraints, and performance challenges. Application developers will be able to connect to the network emulation facility to evaluate their system’s performance in a variety of realistic settings. Network developers will be able to evaluate protocol improvements on an end-to-end basis.

Activities
The network emulator will be constructed in a spiral with an initial emphasis on developing a “thread” through a simple end-to-end effects-based emulation. This thread will require development of foundational elements such as the basic routing cluster, packet manipulation code, and control elements in addition to the infrastructure components of the high-level architecture, such as the path loss server and online instances of theater-level models.

Impacts
Although the development of major programs in terrestrial (e.g., Future Combat System), airborne (e.g., MC2C) and space-based (e.g., Transformational Communications System) communications will facilitate true network centric warfare, their simultaneous execution poses substantial challenges to the development of applications and network protocols. This project will give network architects and application developers a tool to perform engineering and design tradeoff studies for these future networks.

Enabling Anycast

William Wollman, Principal Investigator

Washington

Problem
Challenges to tactical server mobility include the significant amount of training and expertise required to plan and maintain operation. Server selection is not based upon the servers’ operational state or network state and performance. The Army maintains mobility support via a “router per vehicle” concept that increases cost, planning, and configuration requirements.

Objectives
First we will demonstrate that mobile servers can announce anycast address(es) and services it provides to a Server Load Balancer appliance. The appliance accepts these coordination messages, performs server health checks, and configures itself to advertise the server throughout the network. Next we will demonstrate how distributed algorithms for global server load balancing (GSLB) will optimize server selection within the tactical environment.

Activities
We will leverage an open source SLB software implementation and modify it to accept server registration and route health injection. This implementation will demonstrate plug-and-play server mobility. Separately, we will develop a GSLB algorithm and implement the algorithm as an agent on the open source Internet Software Consortium (ISC) Bind. We will also demonstrate the scalability of the GSLB algorithm through simulation.

Impacts
This work can be transitioned to any tactical C2 environment, including the Future Combat System and the Army Tactical Internet. The plug-and-play aspects can be provided to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Zero Configuration Working Group. The work can support the Army System Engineering Office by demonstrating advanced network architectures concepts to support a Web-enabled C2 system.

Enabling Technologies for Mobile Communications

Janet Werth, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
Communications systems currently planned depend upon wideband RF frequencies. Wideband RF terminals offer a significantly greater capacity to support Air Force task forces. Unfortunately, there are serious challenges related to installation of wideband RF systems on an airborne platform, including practical limits to the number, size, and location of antenna apertures.

Objectives
This project will develop key elements of RF multibeam antenna apertures that can be used to produce apertures for the airborne environment. Our efforts will focus on multibeam transmit capability, establishing a foundation for future integration of multibeam and multiband capabilities. These activities will lead to the development of prototype RF apertures based on electronically steered arrays (ESAs) having multiple simultaneous beam capability.

Activities
Multibeam ESAs require densely populated amplifier modules, introducing thermal challenges that affect array architecture. We will evaluate new amplifier materials and class operation. Amplifier designs will be analytically evaluated and performance improvements quantified. A slot radiator will be designed. The radiator, interface and module designs will be merged into an aperture sub-element to demonstrate the feasibility of multibeam transmit arrays.

Impacts
Multibeam ESAs improve the USAF’s operational performance by bringing airborne platforms into the Global Grid. Multiband, multibeam capability will support operations over a variety of networks and improve interoperability between ground and airborne nodes. These efforts will support needed capabilities for key task forces, e.g., global strike, global response, air and space/C2ISR, and homeland security.

FCS Communications

DARPA Office: ATO
DARPA PM: Dr. James Freebersyser

Gary M. Comparetto, Principal Investigator

Washington

Problem
The focus of the DARPA Future Combat System Communications (FCS-C) program is to provide the enabling technology to develop the FCS communications system. In support of this, the FCS-C program will demonstrate the capabilities of the FCS communications components via modeling and simulation (M&S), with a special emphasis on network and communications technology scalability.

Objectives
Our objective is to continue to refine and demonstrate an M&S environment that will be used by the technology development contractors and independent analysts to investigate the performance of alternative routing and MAC layer routing schemes in mobile ad hoc networks.

Activities
Our activities this year include implementing the FCS-C M&S plan, extending the functionality of the FCS-C M&S environment and of the OPNET Path Attenuation Routine (OPAR), generating additional representative operational FCS scenarios, continuing to lead the FCS-C Systems Study Team, and exercising the M&S environment using MITRE- and contractor-provided FCS protocols.

Impacts
Our activities this year will help ensure that the communications and networking technologies being developed under the FCS-C program meet performance and scalability objectives. The M&S effort is the only way that scalability can be evaluated. The results of several field demonstrations will be used to help validate the results generated.

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks for the Transformed Army (MANTA)

Robert C. Durst, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
Army transformation simultaneously requires dramatically higher data rates, low probability of detection, and resistance to jamming for highly mobile networks. These requirements strongly suggest the use of highly directional communication mechanisms. Current mobile ad hoc networking techniques neither embrace directionality nor accommodate the qualities of service necessary to support the C4ISR collaborative applications needed.

Objectives
We will determine the following: What channel access mechanisms are most appropriate for ad hoc networks that combine directional and omnidirectional elements (a.k.a. directional ad hoc networks)? How should one initiate and maintain a network topology in directional ad hoc networks? What routing algorithms are necessary for standard (unicast), high-assurance, and multipoint data delivery services in directional ad hoc networks?

Activities
We are developing, simulating, and implementing channel access protocols derived from the Synchronous Collision Resolution (SCR) family of media access control protocols. We are currently developing channel access protocols for omnidirectional and modestly directional ad hoc networks, and in FY03 will simulate representative Objective Force environments. We will also investigate power- and spectrum-efficient routing and topology formation/maintenance strategies in FY03.

Impacts
The results of this research are directly applicable to programs that rely upon mobile ad hoc networking technology. We have provided inputs to the FCS-C program in the form of simulation models and insights into media access for modestly directional networks.

Network Aware ISR Nodes

James L. Kingston, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
UAV platforms equipped with sensor payloads play a critical role in gathering intelligence and engaging the enemy. These ISR resources need to function as network-capable edge nodes; however, recent communications initiatives continue to identify them as connected via dedicated point-to-point links. These sensor systems should have IP-based network interfaces, and should dynamically adapt their outputs to changes in network state.

Objectives
Our first objective is to provide an IP interface with a routing function on the ISR platform. This enables the intelligent utilization of multiple links for sensor output. A second is to develop a means of characterizing the network status and modulating digital sensor output accordingly. This allows the continued operation of bandwidth-intensive sensor applications under conditions of decreased available link capacity.

Activities
We will define a network interface that intelligently leverages multiple off-platform interfaces, which may consist of RF and optical physical layers. We will develop a protocol, and the associated algorithms, to use link- and network-layer information for modulating sensor outputs. We will then design and prototype a system that performs the above functions and interfaces to a commercially available video codec.

Impacts
The results of this work will provide an important proof of concept that can be used to demonstrate the utility of network interfaces and network-aware capabilities on next-generation ISR platforms such as Global Hawk. This work also can and should provide the basis for solid specifications that can be used in the acquisition of such capabilities.

Next Generation SATCOM Terminals

Randall Landry, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
SATCOM is an increasingly critical component in seamless connectivity of the Global Grid. Many recent military SATCOM programs have suffered technical setbacks and many commercial SATCOM ventures are proving unprofitable. Unless corrective action is taken, the military will be left without critical SATCOM capabilities and capacities. The problem is not a lack of DoD investment, but the want of a flexible architecture and extensible, reusable components.

Objective
This project will develop, demonstrate, and transition key communications and networking technologies of direct and immediate relevance to network centric military SATCOM. This project will focus and extend MITRE's prior research to the widening gap between needed and fielded SATCOM capability. Key design objectives for future terminals must include ease of use, cost effectiveness, ease of upgrade, spectral efficiency, and extensibility to new applications.

Activities
The project will work closely with the direct-funded MILSATCOM programs and will research solutions to long-term problems, including implementing differentiated services over SATCOM; extending transport-level protocols for heterogeneous networking; developing flexible, extensible, platform independent antenna APIs; developing a DHCP-like autonomous network management capability; creating algorithms to manage resource allocation in steered-beam satellites; and enabling the use of multicast IP in SATCOM networks.

Impacts
The eroding commercial SATCOM business base and recent foundering of several MILSATCOM programs presents a window of opportunity to influence the future of military SATCOM. This project will enable MITRE to effectively and credibly exert that influence on future SATCOM designs. Additionally, much of this work will be directly applicable to other military communications systems and will facilitate the continuing development of the Global Grid.

QoS for Tactical Link Layer Networks

Douglas Robbins, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
As DoD applications become multimedia in nature, increasingly tough demands are levied upon the underlying tactical data links and networks. These demands drive us to investigate the implementation of Internet Protocol (IP) quality of service (QoS) techniques across DoD tactical link-layer networks. Although some commercial products support QoS mechanisms, the underlying tactical link-layer architectures often do not.

Objectives
To meet the increasing demands placed on tactical networks we must find a framework in which QoS mechanisms can operate. The primary goal of this project is to define architecture components or the “hooks” that must be built into our link-layer networks to enable QoS management.

Activities
Based on a characterization of link-layer architectures from the perspective of QoS needs, we will define mapping mechanisms from industry standard IP QoS to link-layer networks. From this definition, we will work to define required architecture components that link-layer networks must provide.

Impacts
The architecture definition produced by this project will provide guidance to emerging ESC programs. We expect that, due to this effort, communication architecture designs for the Multi-sensor Command and Control Constellation and other programs will include architecture components that enable QoS management.

Quantum Information Science Research Project

Gerald Gilbert, Principal Investigator

Bedford and Washington

Problem
Quantum information science is a new, interdisciplinary field that holds the promise of providing the means for solving practical problems that would otherwise be impossible. Quantum computers solve certain types of previously intractable computational problems, and quantum cryptography allows cryptographic keys to be distributed in real time in unconditional secrecy, a feat that cannot be performed in any other way.

Objectives
In quantum cryptography our overall objective is to design, build, and demonstrate the fastest working quantum cryptography system possible. This will allow unconditionally secret encryption in real time. In quantum computing our objective is to develop new quantum computational algorithms. In each area these objectives include developing the necessary underlying comprehensive physical understanding of quantum information through careful analytical research.

Activities
Our activities in quantum computing include performing comprehensive mathematical analyses leading to the quantification of entanglement in systems composed of many quantum bits. This will allow the construction of new quantum computing algorithms. In quantum cryptography we are performing experiments involving high-speed multiplexed quantum channels, as well as carrying out underlying theoretical studies to determine the optimal system design.

Impacts
Quantum computers can break public key encryption systems, and quantum cryptography allows cryptographic keys to be distributed in real time in unconditional secrecy. Both activities are of extreme importance. As a consequence of the work of this project, MITRE has now assumed a position of leadership in this field, which it is using to help provide security for the nation.

XG (neXt Generation communications)

DARPA Office: ATO
DARPA PM: Preston Marshall

Dan Schaefer, Principal Investigator

Washington

Problem
The availability of frequency spectrum for current and new applications is a continuing area of concern. There is a continuing effort underway to develop new approaches for more efficient use of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum and methods to enhance sharing or reuse of current user spectrum assignments.

Objectives
The XG program is developing new methods to identify, in real time, idle RF spectrum and allow other users to employ that spectrum until it is again needed by the primary assigned user(s). This effort requires development of new technology, operational protocols, and modification of current spectrum policy to permit fielding of the new technology.

Activities
MITRE is supporting the XG Program goal of early demonstration of XG concepts and proof of concept by leveraging previous work on adaptive spectrum waveforms and other, related MITRE activities supporting activities such as the Joint Tactical Radio System and the Defense Spectrum Office. The MITRE team also provides technical contributions to the XG program.

Impacts
The near-term DARPA objective is to demonstrate at least a factor of 10 improvement in the number of RF channels available for short-term use. The enhanced availability provides opportunity for fielding new RF-based military and commercial applications within radio spectrum currently identified as fully assigned and occupied.