Information for the Warrior (IFTW): SSCF-TADA5

In 1996, Critical Technologies Inc. (CTI) was awarded a contract to support TASC, AFRL/IF and Air Mobility Command (AMC) on the Information for the Warrior (IFTW) program. This program developed and demonstrated affordable and effective command, control, communications and intelligence (C3I) capabilities by integrating advanced technology and commercial- and government-off-the-shelf (COTS/GOTS) products into legacy networks to provide in-transit visibility and reach-back for global missions. CTI developed a Service Specific Coordination Function (SSCF) for Transparent Assured Delivery with ATM Adaptation Layer 5 (AAL5). This protocol enabled native ATM and IP over ATM applications to use the standard AAL5 user plane interface to transparently exploit the assured delivery capability of the Service Specific Connection Oriented Protocol (SSCOP). This permitted multimedia applications to run successfully in the high error rate, low bandwidth, long latency, airborne UHF MILSATCOM environment. CTI integrated the Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) network.  During the ATD, CTI recorded channel error profiles, which we then configured link simulators to imitate; in the lab, using Yuri LDR-50/100/200 switches, we then characterized SSCF-TADA5 performance over a range of observed conditions.  This ATD was rated by AMC as their #1 for 1997.