An automatic high frequency radio network for the Military Airlift Command

The authors describe the initial design of an automatic high-frequency (HF) radio network for the Military Airlift Command (MAC). The network design incorporates new technology that will make HF communications more reliable. The network uses the Automatic Communications processor (ACP) developed for MAC to perform adaptive frequency selection and automatic link establishment (ALE). The MAC network functions with decentralized control performed by network control computers at each node, which carry out networking functions such as automatic route selection and message relaying. Simulation results show that an automated HF radio network provides significant improvement in message delivery compared with a network that uses only point-to-point links