ARINC Inc. and its partner Impeva Labs have successfully demonstrated continuous real-time visibility of more than 900 electronic asset tags distributed across a half-a-square-kilometer test site at Moffett Field, Calif., using a large mesh network. The test of the Next Generation Wireless Communications (NGWC) for Logistics Applications was conducted for ARINC’s customer, the Army Logistics Innovation Agency. Various NGWC configurations were deployed for the tests, including a network with 930 nodes that simulated asset storage at a large military depot or on board a ship. A “long linear chain” network with 54 notes along a half-mile stretch was also tested, simulating the transportation of assets by railroad or truck convoy. “We showed that hundreds of NGWC asset tags can self-assemble into a functioning ad hoc network, all without programming or human intervention,” says Monty Montero, ARINC’s vice president of Defense Systems Engineering. “We also verified the self-healing capability of the NGWC mesh, and its ability to expand automatically when more nodes are added. In addition, we verified that the mesh can determine least-cost data routing, and go silent on command.” Dave Evans of LMI Government Consulting, a firm evaluating the NGWC development for the LIA, says the “mesh technology will provide fully secure asset visibility to the DoD over a much wider range of business processes than current technologies.” The tests at Moffet concluded the third phase design spiral for the NGWC system. The next design spiral, with an expanded testing of a larger mesh network covering several square miles, is expected to occur later this year.
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