The use of telemetry in tactical network management

Abstract

This thesis addresses the issue of reporting the real-time status of equipment in a tactical telephone system. The U.S. Army is developing a system called the Integrated System Control to manage all tactical communication networks. However, this system does not provide the network managers with a rapid and efficient tool for identifying and diagnosing network outages based on equipment failure. The current semi-manual method of reporting system residuals and failures allows for erroneous and delayed information that often leads to extensive troubleshooting procedures. The approach was to determine if the tactical transmission assemblages can generate telemetry messages that contain the real-time status of the system's components. These messages would be routed through the tactical network to a centralized nodal control element and processed as status information to the network manager. We conclude that it is possible for military signal equipment to generate raw data pertaining to the health and welfare of a tactical network. A recommendation is given for processing this telemetry data into a computer using a Windows environment. This allows the network manager to monitor alarms from all transmission assemblages and perform queries to quickly determine the cause of system failures