A LAN-based communications processor for tactical applications

Today´s Army Tactical Command and Control System consists of systems that rely on a widely disparate set of communications media equipment, communications networks, and information exchange protocols to exchange information across the battlefield. The future trend in tactical communications is to provide a seamless information network which bridges the communications networks and protocols through the use of a communications processing capability. This communications processing capability must provide the necessary connectivity to the local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) systems in addition to supporting the needed routing and message translation functions. A LAN-based communications processor (LBCP) offers a comprehensive set of communications services, allowing for a single, interoperable communications gateway to serve all of the functional areas. It provides a shared communications resource, furnishes flexible and reconfigurable communications interfaces, eliminates the need for multiple and duplicate interface elements, and allows accessibility to multiple tactical data networks (i.e. MPN, SINCGARS, ADDS). This paper presents an approach for providing a communications processor for tactical communications networks