Computer Communications Interface Devices for Tactical C3

Abstract

For the past four years, The BDM Corporation (BDM) has been working with the 9th Infantry Division, Motorized (9ID MTZ), under the joint aegis of the US Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) and the Army Development and Employment Agency (ADEA), on the Maneuver Control System Version 2 (MCS 2) Program (formerly the Distributed Command and Control System (DCCS)). The MCS 2 Program provides for the evolutionary development of an automated command, control and communications system utilizing a mix of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment to take advantage of current commercial technologies and to rapidly develop the products necessary for interfaces. Using existing commercial technologies, BDM has developed two interface devices for tactical communications systems, the Single Channel Interface (SCI) and the DCCS Communications Interface Unit (DCIU). The SCI provides a simple interface between the computer and any one of the following Army communications means: single channel FM radio, (secure and non-secure), multichannel radio, and wireline. The DCIU is a microprocessor controlled multiple channel communications interface unit. It provides interfaces to the same communications means as the SCI as well as an RS-232 interface. In addition, it permits a single host computer to monitor three communications nets simultaneously, in both a send and receive mode.