Feasibility of meteor burst buoy relay as a command and control asset.

Abstract

Meteor burst communication is currently being researched as a survivable, backup means to long-range communications due to a preceived vulnerability to HF and satellite communications. A specific hypothetical link that is analyzed in this thesis is that of a meteor burst relay network. The network consists of fixed land facilities, permanently moored ocean buoys, and air-deployable buoys, all in support of deployed submarines. The advantage of such a system for the submarine fleet is that it would allow the ability of establishing communications while maintaining a covert posture on-station. This is due to the meteor burst phenomenon of scattering, where a meteor trail projects a small ground illumination footprint, as compared to HF communications. As a result, a meteor burst channel has inherent characteristics that are resistant to ground based interception and jamming.