Internetworking: Airborne Mine Countermeasures C4I Information Systems

Airborne Mine Countermeasures AMCM Command Control Communication Computer and Intelligence C4I baseline currently consists of stand-alone tactical decision aids. Information such as aircraft position, equipment status, and abbreviated mine-like contact reports cannot be transferred in any form other than voice fromto the MH-53E helicopters while conducting Airborne Mine Countermeasures operations. There are currently no methods to transfer sonar video or single-frame imagery of mine-like objects between any Mine Warfare MIW units in a near-real-time manner. Delays lasting several hours are frequently encountered before the results of a rapid reconnaissance airborne mine-hunting mission are made available to the rest of the fleet andor MIW community. In order to improve command and control, the AMCM Mine Warfare community must integrate all of its C4I assets onto a tactical internet. This thesis presents a tactical internet for AMCM with an open, standards-based modular architecture. It is based on the TCPIP network model using common protocols and interfaces. Command and control will significantly improve as this network will provide a methodology to transfer critical information between AMCM C41 assets and tactical networks world-wide.