Preface: Military communications - An overview of the special issue

The gueast editors attempt to make the arguments: 1) that whereas there are many similarities between military and civil systems, there are also many differences; 2) that thes ources of the differences are iargely summed up with the terms survivability and interoperability; and 3) that broad systems approaches are necessary to achieve the desired goals. The systems approach is rarely described in technical journals. Because of this, the papers invited for this Special Issue feature systems approaches and overviews designed to give the reader some perspective as to what the main issues are in military communications. There is also a sprinkling of techniques-oriented papers, some invited and some submitted, to complete the picture. In keeping with this systems orientation, the Special Issue is divided,i nto four major sections, oriented to the principal categories into which the Defense Department divides its systems for management purposes. The first section contains two papers, both providing architectural overviews over system evolution. The second section is devoted to the category of Long-Haul Communications, with papers addressing various aspects of this category: systems, subsystems, and technology. The third section contains ten papers devoted to Tactical Communications, the name given to the category supporting command and control from the major field comnianders down to the lower echelons of command. The final section containing eight papers treats a variety of technical topics which are neither specifically long-haul nor tactical, but which, although primarily techniques-oriented, address specific military issues.