RFC 1217 (rfc1217) - Page 2 of 5

Memo from the Consortium for Slow Commotion Research (CSCR)

RFC 1217                       ULSNET BAA                     April 1991


          of tanks moving in a serial column.  The mainframe decodes
          the binary values and voice-synthesizes the alphameric
          ASCII-encoded messages which is then radioed back to the
          FO.  The FO then dispatches a runner to his unit HQ with
          the message.  The system design includes two redundant,
          emergency back-up forward observers in different trees
          with a third in reserve in a foxhole.

     (b)  Wide-area communication by means of overhead
          reconnaissance satellites which detect the binary signals
          from the M1A1 mobile system and download this
          information for processing in special U.S. facilities in the
          Washington, D.C. area.  A Convection Machine [2] system
          will be used to perform a codebook table look-up to decode
          the binary message.  The decoded message will be relayed
          by morse-code over a packet meteor burst communications
          channel to the appropriate Division headquarters.

     (c)  An important improvement in the sensitivity of this system
          can be obtained by means of a coherent detection strategy.
          Using long baseline interferometry, phase differences
          among the advancing tank column elements will be used to
          signal a secondary message to select among a set of
          codebooks in the Convenction Machine.  The phase analysis
          will be carried out using Landsat imagery enhanced by
          suitable processing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  The
          Landsat images (of the moving tanks) will be correlated
          with SPOT Image images to obtain the phase-encoded
          information.  The resulting data will be faxed to
          Washington, D.C., for use in the Convection Machine
          decoding step.  The remainder of this process is as for (b)
          above.

     (d)  It is proposed to use SIMNET to simulate this system.

3. Low Speed Undersea Communication

   Using the 16" guns of the Battleship Missouri, a pulse-code modulated
   message will be transmitted via the Pacific Ocean to the Ames
   Research Center in California.  Using a combination of fixed and
   towed acoustic hydrophone arrays, the PCM signal will be detected,
   recorded, enhanced and analyzed both at fixed installations and
   aboard undersea vessels which have been suitably equipped.  An
   alternative acoustic source is to use M1A1 main battle tanks firing
   150 mm H.E. ordnance.  It is proposed to conduct tests of this method
   in the Persian Gulf during the summer of 1991.





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