FORT GORDON, GA -- A satellite-based communications systems for combat vehicles is now being evaluated by the Battle Command Battle Lab.
Lighter, smaller, mobile and more efficient are the waves of future battlefield communications, said Col. Charles Dunn, deputy director of Battle Command Battle Lab.
He can speak with certainty because the technology of tomorrow's battlefield is the province of the Battle Lab activities.
Currently the lab is closing out an evaluation on one of several satellite-based Mounted Battle Command on-the-move systems that will provide broadband communications to a battlefield commander using lighter, smaller, and less expensive vehicle-mounted technologies.
"But the electronics are more technically complex because the miniaturized components must be crafted to withstand the severities of a harsh combat environment," said Dunn. "Right now we are investigating the possibilities of placing small satellite antennas on military vehicles, particularly command and control vehicles."
The task he describes is to link several of these vehicles using satellites, so that distance and physical obstacles are no longer issues between two points.
In this environment, commanders will be able to create multiple communication links between the commander, subordinate commanders and staff elements anywhere in the theatre of operations.
Significance of the Battle Lab's work
Recent lessons learned in the Global War on Terrorism heightened the significance of the Battle Lab's work.
"This is important because we learned during Operation Iraqi Freedom that modern battlefield movements quickly outpace the reach of current communications capabilities, Dunn said
"This posed a significant command and control challenge between units that were up in front and those that were in the rear, as well as units that were to the left and the right in a vastly dispersed battlespace" Dunn said. Added to this in this desert environment, there were either terrain obstacles or immense distance that precluded line-of-sight communication.
"What we learned is that to compensate for that inability you have to be able to hit a satellite so that it can relay your signal to a distant location," said Dunn. "Of course satellite communications has limitations like rain, foliage, urban buildup as well as the normal laws of physics that must be addressed."
These are areas of concern for BCBL-G. The BCBL-G is one of three labs chartered by Training and Doctrine Command as a Battle Command Battle Lab. Together with Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and Fort Leavenworth, Kan., it is chartered with the responsibility of enhancing battle command capabilities. Within the BCBL-G, there are five different major divisions.
One of these divisions provides modeling and simulation capabilities. This allows the lab to experiment, test and analyze communications traffic at a reduced cost to the Army. Additional capabilities of the organization include spectrum analysis, software programming, and code and model validation and verification.
Introduction of new technology may result in a reduction in manpower but a corresponding increased dependency on automation. This fact leads to the second division of BCBL-G.
The futures experimentation division evolves out of the fact that reliance on automation may require changes in organizations, doctrine, and procedures.
"For example, how are the ways that I can interact with you 20 to 30 miles away," Dunn said. "Before I may have sent a courier or I may have picked up a telephone after we dropped cable and established relay stations from sender to receiver.
