Mobile communications in the Air Force

  • Published
  • By Jason Howe
  • Air Combat Command Chief Technology Office
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. --  Can you imagine five billion mobile subscriptions? In July, Ericsson, a world-leading mobile and telecommunication provider, estimated that the world eclipsed that number as mobile use continues to grow reaching an estimated 50 billion connected devices by 2020.

With the advent of mobile medical technologies like Massachusetts Institute of Technology's mobile eye exam software, electrocardiogram capabilities and iStethoscope software for the iPhone, more devices are likely to be used in remote locations for humanitarian or operational support. Security- and military-focused applications exist, which leads to the question, "Does this form of communication deserve a broader role in Air Force operations?"

"Mobile devices are used by senior leaders every day for real-time, global, multi-faceted communications, but those same tenets are important for all Airmen," said Brig. Gen. Steven Spano, Air Combat Command Communications director. "Our younger Airmen are comfortable using smartphones which have the potential to drastically improve functionality and productivity while significantly reducing complexities in management and security."

In an attempt to gather ideas and strategies to assist the Air Force in determining a mobility strategy and the feasibility of providing smartphones to Airmen, the Air Force released a request for information to industry in April 2010. Responses were positive, with industry providing concrete examples of unifying communications that simplify use and management of communications while providing global reach through mobile devices.

"The potential to improve how Airmen interact and make decisions through integrating stovepiped communication channels like radio, POTS (Plain Old Telephone Systems) phones, and IP (Internet Protocol) networks provides a powerful impetus for the Air Force to move towards unified communications, including cellular connectivity," said William Marion, ACC chief technology officer. "And when you throw in the reduction in infrastructure and power consumption costs while improving communications resiliency, the argument is even more compelling."

The final piece of the effort was a SAF/A6N-level (Director, Network Services, Office of the Chief Information Officer) report providing strategic recommendations for the Air Force.

Overall, the report identifies that mobile communications are:

· Implementable within existing Department of Defense guidelines and security criteria... the technology is here, it's secure, and it's ready for deployment
· Strongly associated with recruiting and retention efforts, attracting highly technical Airmen who have become increasingly reliant on these devices in almost every facet of their day-to-day lives... we must find a way to better utilize this fundamental capability
· Capable of providing significant mission benefits in emergency response, security, medical, logistics, maintenance and communications ... Army, National Agencies and the war zone are already using these tools to improve operations
· An opportunity to collaborate jointly as other DOD services investigate similar capabilities -- an opportunity to integrate efforts from the beginning to minimize capital investment through consolidated efforts while maximizing operational applications
· Providing an alternative, and in some cases, more cost-effective architectural answer to providing connectivity for mission systems; such technologies as 4G and WiMax extend huge blankets of connectivity without large infrastructure/cost lay-outs

"Mobile devices would help us work collaboratively across geographic barriers, using instant messaging, chat, texting, videoconferencing and a variety of social computing tools and apps," said Senior Airman Thomas Jara, executive communications technician at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

Taking these areas into account, the next step is to develop a more in-depth implementation strategy, in concert with SAF, major command representatives and other Department of Defense organizations. Using devices to allow work on larger displays/keyboards, smartphones are approaching the capability of standard computers, which open opportunities to work in a mobile environment with little or no loss of functionality.

"The smartphone is doing to the PC what the PC did to the mainframe" General Spano said.

The bottom line is that commercial estimates indicate that by 2015, 3.5 billion people worldwide will use mobile Internet regularly. This is further supported by the Services and National Agencies' efforts to maximize mobile solutions in their operations.

According to Mr. Marion, the time is now to leverage efforts, develop key partnerships with industry and begin to move out in delivering next-generation Airmen connectivity... anywhere, anytime.

"We can continue to exhaust limited resources fulfilling yesterday's vision or we can look ahead and plan to the future environment," General Spano said. "It may be more prudent to skate to where the puck is going to be than to where it is today."