AC Summer 08 WIN-T Online - United States Army Signal Center of ...

� Improved survivability and
lethality.
The operational requirements
mentioned above will be used as
criteria in assessing SNE capability
and its communication effectiveness.
Other criteria like reliability and
maintainability will also be evaluated
during the integration and test
development phase of the SNE
program.
Testing strategy
Although the SNE baseline
represents a modification of an
existing established design, the SNE
will require additional testing before
it can be deployed in the combat
zone. Extensive testing has been
accomplished to date regarding the
NCW. The main aspects of testing
are:
� Tracking performance
testing;
� Terminal certification to
validate compliance with both
military-standard 188-164 and
applicable Ku-band commercial
SATCOM standards (such
as Intelligence Satellite Earth
Station Standards)
� Integration/baseband
interoperability testing between
different radio networks
and the SNE terminal.
It is anticipated that all operational
tests will be conducted on
Humvees, which is the target host
vehicle for the SNE system. A
concept of the Humvee-based
vehicle configuration is shown in
Figure 3. User tests will be performed
to verify ATH and OTM
capabilities of the SNE to confirm its
operational effectiveness. Field
testing will be required to verify:
Field testing will be required to
verify:
Figure 3. Concept of SNE integrated onto a Humvee. The SNE antenna is
mounted below the radome shown in the concept drawing
� Communication functionality;
� Environmental compatibility;
� Electronic effects like EMI,
TEMPEST, COSITE;
� Fault isolation capability;
� Hardware and software
performance/functionality.
Conclusion
This article has presented a set
of high level concepts and requirements
for SNE. Its basic operational,
functional and testing requirements
were covered to elaborate the
challenges that lay ahead in implementing
it, and its integration needs
with existing radio networks.
The SNE will bring a new
range extension capability to the
Army, fielded to lower echelons.
Once the SNE is tested and deployed
in the field, it is envisioned that
other services whose needs are
similar to Army’s may also be
interested in deploying SNE in their
network. The integration of SNE is a
work in progress; and it is anticipated
that a user test will be considered
in early calendar year 2009.
Mr. Richard Wexler is the satellite
communications lead engineer within
the MITRE Corporation’s Fort
Monmouth, N.J., office.
He received a B.S. in electrical
engineering in 1975 from the City
College of New York and an M.S. in
management science in 1980 from
Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Mr. Ali is a Senior System
Engineer at Project Manager,
Warfighter Information Network-
Tactical at Fort Monmouth, N.J. He
received his BSEE in 1967; an MSEE in
1971; and an advanced degree of DEE in
1982.
Army Communicator 27