A tactical network planner developed by Lockheed Martin has been upgraded to better address the significant battlefield challenges of sharing data; interoperating; managing networks, and exercising effective command and control of deployed forces.

Lockheed Martin's web-enabled, Tactical Communications Planner (TCP) which facilitates mobile, ad hoc networking, now provides a comprehensive network planning solution for tactical edge and large scale networks that dynamically allocates communications and network resources.

"Warfighter communications networks, both static and on the move, must at all times be interoperable, expeditionary, interdependent and decentralized," said Jim Quinn, vice president with Lockheed Martin's Information Systems and Global Solutions-Defense.

"Lockheed Martin's Tactical Communications Planner provides a flexible and pervasive networking capability that addresses the challenges of modern battlefields."

This network planning tool enables users to plan highly dynamic networks taking into account asset mobility, terrain, and advanced waveforms that adapt to changing link conditions.

It also imports existing communications plans, and pushes configuration files to software defined radios. TCP provides accurate network plans to support mission requirements that include not only a rapid re-planning response, but also the ability to predict and validate optimal network configurations for accurate decision making.

It is this requirement to accurately project the desired near term future state of the network that ultimately provides warfighter advantage. Its open architecture and flexible framework minimizes development time needed to integrate with other systems.

During the 2010 Joint Users Interoperability Communications Exercise, this web-enabled, net-centric tool was used in various scenarios, providing users with real-time and rapid re-planning capabilities, to include peer to peer and hierarchical planning.

A three dimensional map provided geographic imaging of planned equipment locations and helped determine optimal asset placement, enabling users to view the terrain of an area early in the planning process.