Implementation of a submarine ship-wide, common network architecture

Abstract

This research examines the proliferation of multiple local area network (LAN) and information technologies aboard United States Navy Submarines and the evolution of Congressional Defense Acquisition Reforms which mandate the use of Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS), Non-developmental items (NDI), and commercial items. The impact of these policies on the submarine force as it relates to burdens imposed in regard to training of personnel, technology refresh and insertion, obsolescence, and logistics will be addressed. This study will propose the implementation of a submarine ship-wide, mission critical, tactical network, based upon open systems architecture to provide the ability to process classified, unclassified, and administrative data, as well as providing a migration path to a common hardware and software baseline across all submarine classes. The implementation of this technology would result in the initial instantiation of such an information system on any class of United States Navy warship and may potentially provide a template for use Navy-wide. Finally, a conceptual model is proposed for implementation of a - Submarine Ship-wide, Common Network Architecture