HF communications network modeling

To ascertain a comprehensive picture of high-frequency (HF) communications network performance through each of the physical, data link, and network layers, a suite of computer simulations was developed to support network development and operational deployment support. The author describes a case study where a number of operational constraints were considered to determine the impact on HF network operational feasibility. For this case study, the signaling techniques and protocol interactions used for a HF network were simulated vertically as well as horizontally across the three layers to determine the performance attributes under varying ambient and threat conditions. A comparison between two different network architectures assessed the performance once all the operational constraints were satisfied