Forward Area Alerting Radar Data Link. Results of European Tests

摘要

In the spring of 1980 a joint CORADCOM-MITRE evaluation team joined a Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) unit in the field to investigate ways for improving the performance of the data link connecting SHORAD weapons teams with the Forward Area Alerting Radar (FAAR). The team conducted over 1000 data transmission tests over a period of seven days using several different antennas and data rates. These tests traversed a variety of ranges and terrain profiles closely representing operational European conditions. Using a MITRE custom-built data link test set and other supporting equipment, bit error rates, error distributions, and signal levels were recorded for each test. Test results demonstrated that the current FAAR data link rate could be tripled with little change in performance. Furthermore, communications to sites with weak reception and high error rates can be substantially improved using the alternative antennas evaluated during the tests. Based on these and other findings MITRE makes specific recommendations to the Army on improving FAAR data link performance. (Author)