ALWAYS CONNECTED
Soldiers remote, secure network access to multitask with enterprise services applications and to join phone and video teleconferences anywhere on the FOB.
An early version of the networking equip- ment required to create a wireless command post includes four components and weighs 396 pounds. Te future small-form- factor solution now under development by WIN-T has two components and weighs 86 pounds, reducing setup time, complex- ity and the burden on Soldiers.
TOOLS OF THE EXPEDITIONARY TRADE
Communications officers use network operations (NetOps) tools to plan and manage the tactical communications network. The Army’s NetOps convergence efforts aim to achieve network visibility from the enterprise to the tactical level, while reducing the number of tools required to do so, as well as the tools’ size, weight and power consumption. (U.S. Army photo)
Another technical enhancement sup- porting more agile command posts is the ability to virtualize hardware com- ponents, so that a physical piece of hardware becomes a weightless piece of software. Virtualization is enabling the Army to improve network perfor- mance, simplify network operations, and reduce size, weight, power and cooling (SWaP-C) requirements for command posts and vehicles.
to lead from anywhere on the battle-
field, and Soldiers can exchange critical situational awareness between upper and lower echelons. WIN-T’s satellite capa- bility extends tactical radio networks beyond line of sight, keeping Soldiers connected over vast distances and terrain obstructions to significantly expand their operational reach.
Improvements to WIN-T are part of the Simplified Tactical Army Reliable Network (STARNet) road map that lays out the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T) system-of-systems portfolio from today through 2021 by identify- ing opportunities for injecting capability upgrades to enable the Army’s Force 2025 network. STARNet seeks to address cur- rent and future network and mission command requirements by delivering advanced technology improvements with
26 Army AL&T Magazine
enduring characteristics such as agility, simplicity,
increased capacity, security
and affordability—all of which will help the Army win in a complex world.
AGILE COMMAND POSTS To support the operational imperatives of Force 2025 and Beyond, the Army is pushing to simplify its command-post configurations and reduce setup and tear- down time to increase agility. Currently, brigade command posts require signifi- cant cabling that must be transported, laid out, bundled and plugged into serv- ers. Te Army recently introduced Wi-Fi coverage for the command post, which removes a multitude of those cables and allows Soldiers more computing mobility. In addition, an encrypted 4G LTE infra- structure that can cover an entire FOB provides a high-bandwidth connectivity option for hand-held devices and frees leaders from the command post, giving
January–March 2015
One such effort, the WIN-T Increment 1 End-Of-Life (EOL) Technical Refresh, began with the 29th Division Headquar- ters from the Maryland Army National Guard (ARNG) in October 2014, with an aggressive fielding schedule planned to bring this new capability rapidly to all Army and ARNG WIN-T Increment 1 units by the end of 2017. Te upgrade includes new commercial hardware and software components that reduce SWaP- C by combining capabilities that once required their own hardware onto virtu- alized servers. Tese virtualization efforts also provide 50 percent more expansion capacity for future modernization, by allowing the Army to add functions to a “box” without increasing the number of hardware components. Te EOL effort reduces the number of required transit cases by one-third, shedding 1,000 cases over the next three years, and reduces the
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