太平洋战区的显著特点之一是其幅员辽阔. The huge distances involved, 与该地区对手干扰和拦截通信的能力相结合, 你的意思是.S. 即使在和平时期的行动中，军事通信和网络也是具有挑战性的，在冲突时期更是如此.
但是国防部有一个设想，即如果发生这样的冲突，一支网络化的部队将如何取胜. 这一愿景, dubbed Joint All-Domain Command and Control, 或JADC2, relies on connecting frontline forces on land, 在海上, 在空中, 在太空中, and in cyberspace so they can act together fast enough to overwhelm the enemy. Those multi-domain operations need robust, 有弹性的, high-bandwidth communications, not just between forward-deployed units and the rear echelon, 而且在战术上, 部署部队之间.
One example: Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment, or 爱，其中U.S. forces have to maintain a presence just offshore, 在火力下或受到其他措施，如干扰或干扰——可能是为了支持远征登陆部队. 来自无人机或卫星的监视数据显示潜在敌人的位置和运动可以在后方梯队云中进行解析和分析, where the needed computing resources are less constrained.
But the resulting intelligence must still be pushed out in real time, not just to a deployed command HQ, such as a marine expeditionary unit, 但 all the way to frontline forces as well. That means forces deployed at the tactical edge need access to robust, 高带宽通信和高容量计算将继续工作, 即使在炮火之下.
这种能力正是Viasat和亚马逊网络服务(AWS)在最近的大会上所展示的 Navy League Global 海上 Exposition:海空空间2021. 装备可以装在皮卡车和拖车上，也可以部署在濒海战斗舰上, 这些公司能够为前线部队提供全新的能力. Applications like real-time image recognition on a live video feed, 这需要可靠, 高带宽通信和高性能计算(以前仅在总部级别提供), now can be used by warfighters in combat. It’s a capability for them, or indeed for aid workers in a disaster zone, 对手不是敌对力量，而是退化的基础设施和不堪重负的通信渠道.
Automated failover for communications networks
“The communications concept is known as PACE — Primary, 备用, 应急, 紧急,” said Viasat network engineer John McCann. “So if your primary channel goes down, you fail over to the alternate. And if that becomes unavailable, you use the contingency channel. You still have the emergency channel as a backup at that point.”
That PACE capability was central to the Viasat and AWS demonstration.
“We showed that we can take all these different pipes — dual-band Ku/Ka 卫星通信, 我们的LTE, local RF nets — and fuse them together in a seamless way with our Net Agility软件 and software-defined networks,” 麦肯说. “当所有频道都工作时，你可以使用它们来享受高带宽.”
但是，如果这些通道中的一个或多个出现故障或阻塞，软件将自动执行PACE过程. The network will fail over without the need for user intervention. 如果通道恢复，网络就会自动开始使用它.
如果本地信道被阻塞，卫星通信链路可以用于船对船通信. And even if a littoral deployed force were to be cut off from the rear echelon, the LANs and WANs running over LTE or RF links would continue to function, according to Steve Conklin, maritime product engineer for Viasat Government Systems.
“我们把我们所有的能力都推到当地，一直到前线的水手或海军陆战队员,康克林说, adding that those capabilities are plug-and-play. “The user doesn’t need any expertise, 或者考虑切换到一个新的频道——这一切都是在后台自动发生的.
“我们认为这种能力不仅可以用于军事，也可以用于商业公司, 考虑一下灾区—或者任何您试图保持通信和系统在具有挑战性的环境中运行的地方.”
And because it relies on software-defined networking, Net Agility can run on a user’s existing hardware, 麦肯说.
“We can run it on any server you want,” he said. “我们已经在树莓派上运行了它，一个小ARM——我们几乎可以在任何东西上运行它. 这才是重点. We don’t want you to have to buy new equipment to run our stuff. We want to offer greater capability with your existing equipment.”
“这是一种在各种具有挑战性的边缘环境中增加重要价值的能力,杰夫·理查兹补充道, the AWS Solutions Architect working with Viasat. “It could be a large forest fire, an earthquake, or a combat zone. When our customers are at the leading edge of the situation, AWS Snowball Edge delivers computing and connectivity at their fingertips.”
Enter the AWS Snowball Edge
这些有弹性, 高带宽通信为指挥官提供了比敌人更快做出生死决定所需的信息和分析，从而赋予了他们战术优势. I’ts what the military calls “shortening the kill chain.” Bu using many different networking capabilities, 它们确保指挥官既能保持联系，又能提供未来在JADC2下多域作战所需的网络能力.
它还实现了传统上与云相关的高容量计算，如实时视频分发和处理, or object and facial detection and recognition. They’re familiar, for example, to UAV pilots . But until now, they’ve been unavailable on the front line.
Viasat and the AWS Snowball Edge have changed all that.
AWS雪球边缘 是加固的吗, 即插即用服务器, available with up to 256 GB of RAM, up to 80TB of storage and up to 52 virtual CPUs. 这些功能使其能够在战术优势上运行大规模流媒体直播视频应用程序.
“你可以在飞机上部署它，它可以承受高达200G的冲击，”理查兹说. “And it can operate in temperatures of up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit.”
AWS雪球边缘 is fully encrypted, 会见FISMA高中, FedRAMP ITAR, CJIS就, and DoD SRG Impact Level 6 requirements. 一旦通电, 任何使用都需要仅对AWS Snowball Edge帐户所有者可用的访问凭据, 通过AWS控制台. 这些凭证不会永久存储在设备上，并且会在断电后被擦除.
理查兹说:“如果你没有这些凭证，这个设备实际上就是一块砖头。. “如果它落入坏人之手，就不可能访问设备上的数据.”
The Sea-空气-空间 Exposition demonstration showed how Viasat’s high-bandwidth, 冗余连接将AWS Snowball Edge与后梯队云中的Amazon rekrecognition图像和视频分析服务连接起来. This service enables surveillance video from local sensors, drones or even satellites to be analyzed and annotated, 然后推回到AWS雪球边缘，而不仅仅是像海军舰艇那样部署的指挥元素, 但, 使用hg皇冠官网的 精英 communications kit, to frontline warfighters on handheld devices.
The demonstration illustrated how real-time, A.I.增强的态势感知可以部署在最需要的地方:战术边缘.
A demonstration road trip
Because only the Navy is allowed to have real ittoral ombat , 麦凯恩和康克林在一辆道奇公羊3500皮卡上进行了演示，并从卡尔斯巴德的Viasat工厂开到全国各地, CA, to the Sea-空气-空间 event in National Harbor, MD.
The rig featured a fixed 1-meter antenna mounted on the truck, plus 一个移动的18英寸的盘子, hardware for the Net Agility软件 to run on, 和精英外围设备 — all in a trailer. AWS提供了AWS Snowball Edge和Amazon rekrecognition云视频处理.
On the way back to Carlsbad, Viasat network engineer John McCann and Steve Conklin, maritime product engineer for Viasat Government Systems, played a little bit of “Where’s Waldo?”发布 照片 在社交媒体上发布了这辆名为“疾驰”的卡车的照片，并让粉丝猜测它的位置. 但他们也展示了钻井平台的地理覆盖范围和可部署性，并在沿途的酒店停车场进行了安装和运行.
“We tested it on the way back, bringing the system up in Indianapolis, Oklahoma City and Phoenix,康克林说. “It worked everywhere, just as designed.”
