On fast automatic link establishment

A fast automatic link establishment (ALE) system is currently under development at Harris RF Communications. It is a real-time channel evaluation and ALE system that uses a serial tone waveform hopped over a set of assigned frequencies. For a set of 10 frequencies, the complete channel evaluation and link establishment cycle is about 20 seconds. This paper presents a brief overview of the fast ALE technique. This is followed by an analysis of the Rochester-Ottawa link performed with VOACAP and a discussion of the results of the recent fast ALE on-air testing. The paper concludes with a discussion of the current on-air comparison testing of the US Mil-Std ALE and fast ALE techniques, including some preliminary results