Tactical Wireless Communications and Networks: Design Concepts and Challenges

Chapter 6

IP-Based Tactical Waveforms and the GIG¹

We concluded Chapter 5 with a discussion of the US Army Tactical Internet (TI) architecture which consists of non-IP tactical radios, digitized core networks, and IP touch points. For the US Department of Defense (DoD) networks, the gradual transition of the TI, toward the tactical Global Information Grid (GIG), meant replacing non-IP radios with IP-based radios. The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program continues to play a major role in making IP-based tactical radios a reality within all DoD networks. Tactical core networks² are also gradually moving toward all IP-based wide area subnet waveforms. Figure 6.1 shows the lower echelon architecture of the GIG (we will refer to it as the tactical GIG) as envisioned by the US Army.

Figure 6.1 Notional view of the tactical GIG with hierarchal subnet islands.