Philosophy and goals of the DoD 2400 bps vocoder selection process

Significant improvements in vocoder technology have made the current standard for 2400 bps voice communication obsolete. At the request of both military and civilian users of low rate communications equipment, the Department of Defense Digital Voice Processing Consortium began the process of selecting a new 2400 bps voice coding algorithm. The consortium´s task was to compile the requirements of the various users and form a process of selection that could be used to choose an algorithm that would meet these requirements. Since no one algorithm could satisfy all users, a set of minimum requirements was developed. These requirements included measurements of the algorithm´s performance in noisy and quiet environments as well as measurements of the hardware necessary for its operation. These minimum requirements, as well as objective goals, were documented and distributed to the user and developer communities. This paper describes the process of determining the requirements and goals of the new algorithm based on the needs of the users of this equipment