Operational Test and Evaluation Considerations for Tactical Data Link Systems

摘要

Tactical data links have been in service since the 1950s. With ever-increasing computing power and a growing need for information sharing, both legacy and newer weapon systems must have modern data link capabilities integrated onto them. This paper discusses the design of an operational data link test, including the need for extensive range and asset coordination, and the types of assets that may be needed to determine interoperability. Also considered are some factors in selecting data collection methods and the impact on the determination of system effectiveness. Although the concept of analyzing the message traffic associated with data links appears straightforward, one-for-one comparisons of individual message events are not always possible. This paper presents several analysis methods for data link transfer events, based upon experience from recent operational tests. Specific implications of the various data formats resulting from different collection methods are considered, and useful methods for aligning the data into a common format are presented.