UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 22, Page 3
February 29, 1996
Army research; Five-year partnership involves academia, industry

     The University of Delaware has been selected as a partner in the
U.S. Army's Federated Research Laboratory $46.8 million project to
develop telecommunications and information distribution systems for
the army of the future.
     The five-year project combines the expertise of academia,
industry and the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), and the University's
segment of the project is supported by a grant of $640,000 for the
first year.
     Others involved in the project are Lockheed Sanders, which leads
the consortium of industry and academic participants, the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Maryland at
College Park, Howard University, City College of New York, Motorola,
GTE and Bellcore.
     The UD team of 10 faculty members from electrical engineering and
computer and information sciences, headed by Charles Boncelet,
professor in both departments, will be working on research in the area
of wireless communication.
     Tomorrow's army will depend increasingly upon modern technology
for strategic information and communication, Boncelet said. The
project's overall objective is the "digital battlefield," which can
provide commanders and soldiers with instant knowledge of the entire
rural or urban terrain. It will provide information on maps, weather,
where encounters are taking place and the deployment of troops, down
to the location of the individual soldier.
     One of the main components of a digital battlefield is a state-of-
the-art wireless communication system that permits instantaneous
exchange of information between commanders, units and individual
soldiers. The system has to be foolproof so that messages are not
scrambled or intercepted. The individual units must be small, portable
and part of a soldier's regular equipment, Boncelet said.
     According to the prospectus: "Wireless communications is the
single most critical technology forming the core of the digital
battlefield. Untethered and unencumbered communications from mobile
command posts to the dismounted soldier can provide a decisive edge to
battlefield combatants in the next century."
     The University has had an ongoing working relationship with the
ARL in Aberdeen, Md. and was chosen for this project because of its
reputation in networking research, Boncelet said. The facilities at
the University, including a time synchronization laboratory, also were
a factor. In addition, researchers from UD and ARL have worked
together and have given seminars at both locations. Some ARL
scientists are in doctoral programs at the University.
     UD researchers and their areas of research for the project are
       Paul Amer, computer and information sciences-tactical/
          strategic introperability, formal specifications and
          interoperability testing of protocols, multimedia concepts,
          adaptive multimedia protocols and synchronization solutions;
       Gonzalo Arce, electrical engineering-robust coding and signal
          processing for multimedia communications over corrupted
          channels;
       Boncelet-tactical data distribution and situation awareness,
          multimedia compression schemes for point-to-point and multi-
          point applications;
       Neal Gallagher, electrical engineering-multimedia compression
          schemes for point-to-point and multi-point applications;
       Errol Lloyd, computer and information sciences-wireless
          battlefield digital communications, adaptive distributed
          routing, resource and mobility management over heterogeneous
          networks in a hostile environment, formal specifications and
          interoperability testing of protocols;
       David Mills, electrical engineering-multimedia concepts;
          adaptive multimedia protocols and synchronization solutions;
       Michael Paterakis, associate professor, computer and
          information sciences-adaptive multimedia protocol and
          synchronization solutions;
       Lori Pollock, computer and information sciences-formal
          specifications and interoperability testing of protocols;
          and
       Tuncay Saydam and Adarshpal Sethi, both computer and
          information sciences- heterogeneous network management.
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure