| Project Objective: All Army aviation platforms, including Apache helicopters, are or will be equipped with Blue Force Tracking (BFT). BFT is a low bandwidth satellite based command and control system that provides situational awareness for the platforms and command centers so equipped. The project objective is to investigate using the existing BFT platform equipment and network infrastructure for a limited voice capability while minimizing any space, weight or power requirements imposed upon the aircraft.
Technical Approach: Develop a voice processor that will produce acceptable voice quality in a low bandwidth environment. The processor must be able to meet air worthiness requirements, while adding minimal space, weight and power requirements to the airframe. The project technical approach is as follows:
Market survey of available voice coder/decoders (CODECs), and evaluate them in the lab in a simulated low bandwidth environment. Make a subjective selection based upon ease of use, performance and voice quality.
Software development to interface the CODEC with the BFT satellite transceiver, develop buffering schemes, analog voice input/output routines, and ensure non-interference with the BFT application.
Hardware development to host the voice processor in a hardened enclosure that will meet air worthiness requirements, while adding minimal space, weight and power requirements to the airframe.
Over the air testing of the VoB system in a lab environment to ensure that voice quality and latency are acceptable.
Modeling and simulation to investigate the impact the voice capability has, if any, on the existing BFT communications network.
Aircraft integration of the VoB system, obtaining an air worthiness release, and conduct over-the-air testing with air aircraft in flight.
Accomplishments: In July 2005 a live flight demonstration was conducted. The demonstration involved ground nodes at Redstone Arsenal and the Pentagon, and an Apache flying out of Ft. Eustis, VA. Voice traffic was successfully exchanged among the three nodes. In attendance was the Army CIO/G6, who suggested the VoB capability undergo an operational assessment as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Next Steps: Moving the voice processor from a CPU to a Digital Signal Processor, and continued optimization of the software. The VoB system will undergo testing at the Central Technical Support Facility (CTSF) at Fort Hood, TX in the summer of 2006. |
| Bruce Robinson was born in Evanston, IL on December 21st, 1954. He graduated from the US Military Academy in 1976 with a degree in General Engineering and began a career as an Army officer, serving in a variety of command, staff and technical positions. Along the way he earned an MS in Applied Math from the University of Colorado and a PhD in Applied Math from the US Naval Postgraduate School. Bruce retired from the Army in 1994 and joined the MITRE Corporation in 1998. Since then he has worked as a systems engineer at Fort Monmouth, NJ and Huntsville, AL on a several projects, foremost the development of the Armys Blue Force Tracking (BFT) methodology. An excursion with BFT for the Aviation community resulted in the Voice over BFT capability, the subject of the MILCOM paper.
Brian Cummings was born in Washington, D.C. on July 15, 1977. He graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2000 with a BS in Computer Engineering with specializations in digital signal processing and computer programming. In August of 2000, he moved to Huntsville, AL and began working for Sanmina-SCI as an electronics design engineer and later an embedded software design engineer focusing mainly on research and development projects for the Army. Concurrently, Brian pursued a Masters in Engineering focusing again on digital signal processing as well as managing technical professionals and graduated May of 2004. In June of 2004, he began working for MITRE immediately working on Voice Over Blue Force Tracking where he has been the lead software developer for both the CPU based solution and the current DSP based solution. |