Chapter 1043 Informationized Air Combat

As a transmission control protocol derived from traditional network forms, TCP itself does not care about the specific medium on which IP runs. However, in practice, this matter must be taken into consideration because most TCP protocols have undergone optimization based on some assumptions during the implementation process. A considerable number of these assumptions are correct on wired networks but not on wireless networks.

Take the simplest transmission timeout as an example.

Once packet loss is detected based on retransmission timer expiration or repeated ACK signaling, the current TCP protocol considers network congestion to have occurred and uses network congestion strategies to reduce the transmission rate, such as slow start, to adjust the congestion window to 1 TCP segment.

But the actual situation may be that the data transmission at this time is based on the wireless network. When the ACK signaling cannot be received, it is likely because the mobile node is switching or the signal of the wireless network is not good. Therefore, the correct strategy is for the sending node to maintain or increase the rate.

For military equipment including early warning aircraft, the network media situation is even more complicated.

From the radar to the command platform inside the aircraft, the process is probably a wired transmission with a distance of about 1-2km.

For the aircraft to send information to the outside world, it needs to go through a wireless network of 100-200km, or possibly thousands of kilometers if it is satellite communication.

In this case, in order to make the right decision, you need to first consider where the problem lies...

As Chang Haonan analyzed as he walked, they soon arrived at a small room next to the final assembly workshop.

This was originally a workers' lounge, but currently the final assembly business of the Gaofei Group is almost entirely concentrated on the JH-7A next door. This workshop for large aircraft does not have too many workers who need to take turns to rest, especially since the KJ-2000 entered the site, but engineers and technicians have been spending almost the entire day and night here.

So in the end we just turned it into a small meeting room.

Of course, the conditions are definitely not as good as those outside. There is not even a projector that can be connected to a computer.

But for Chang Haonan, a blackboard is enough for most problems.

He rode the car to the middle of the room as he knew it, and picked up a piece of chalk from the table at the door.

The others sat down on a circle of chairs around them.

"In fact, the data that the early warning aircraft needs to process seems very complicated, but generally it can be divided into two categories."

Chang Haonan turned around and drew a bracket on the blackboard:

"First, data that has extremely high requirements for timeliness but is not sensitive to lost data packets, a typical example being air situation data detected by early warning aircraft radars."

"At the target speed of air combat, a piece of information or a piece of information will be useless after a few seconds at most. Moreover, for modern phased array radars, the target will not be lost due to the lack of individual traces. Therefore, what the communication subsystem has to do is to transmit it to the destination in the shortest possible time. Once the transmission fails or times out, such data will be directly abandoned..."

"..."

"The other type requires extremely high transmission reliability, but can make certain compromises in terms of timeliness. For example, combat intentions from superior units, or the transmission of action instructions to terminal combat aircraft. This type of data must be 100% completely transmitted successfully, but in most cases, this type of information is valid for a long time and will not lose its usefulness due to a delay of a few seconds..."

Chang Haonan wrote quickly and wrote down several key words corresponding to the two types of information on the blackboard.

At this time, a voice came from a corner of the room:

"Boss Chang, the combat orders you just mentioned should generally be communicated directly via encrypted radio. If we exclude the second type of command information from the functions of the communication subsystem, the rest will be easier to design."

Chang Haonan just finished writing the last word on the blackboard and stood up again:

"If we only look at the present, this is indeed the best option."

"But in the long run, in future information warfare, command orders may not necessarily be issued through voice commands."

This sentence made the audience around them stunned:

"what?"

In fact, at the beginning of the 21st century, China's military and technical personnel had begun research and exploration into new combat theories, and had achieved some results.

However, due to hardware and cost limitations, these explorations still exist more on paper and in a few experimental units.

Most of the people sitting in the conference room are ordinary front-line engineers, so it is normal that they don’t know enough about these things.

For people of this generation, it is relatively easy to understand that "using information flow instead of voice to convey air situation information."

But using information flow to convey command and order does seem a bit abstract.

After all, if it is text, then the information density is not as good as voice.

Only Guo Lin, who was sitting at the front row, lowered his head in thought, and seemed to understand Chang Haonan's meaning.

"In the past, our command orders were issued step by step."

Seeing this, Chang Haonan explained directly:

"For example, the headquarters issues major campaign objectives to the early warning aircraft, which then sends air situation information and campaign arrangements to each aircraft group. Finally, the frontline commanders at the regiment or brigade level give specific orders to each combat unit. In this way, the instructions at each level are relatively simple and can naturally be transmitted by voice."

"However, even if the information itself can be transmitted in a short time of a few seconds, it takes time for the human brain to understand and process the information, especially for grassroots commanders who are in the midst of combat."

"Therefore, a better way is to have the early warning aircraft or even higher-level command centers take on some of the low-level decision-making and information processing, and then transmit the command information directly to the combat units. In this way, not only will the burden of front-line commanders be greatly reduced, but air units can also break free from the shackles of the organization of aviation regiments or aviation brigades and fight in smaller and more flexible waves."

"But this also means that the instructions that need to be conveyed at each level will become extremely complex."

At this point, he rotated the blackboard next to him 180 degrees and drew two circles on it:

"For example, if one of our regiments fights against another regiment, under the original command method, it is equivalent to one unit against another. All we need to do is issue the order to expel, intercept or fire through voice commands. As for how to execute it, that is the responsibility of the flight commander."

Then, he drew a lot of small triangle symbols in the circle:

"But now, we need to directly command 24 planes to fight against 24 enemy planes, so..."

Chang Haonan looked at the people sitting around the conference room again.

"The complexity of the instructions will become hundreds of times higher!"

Guo Lin took up the conversation appropriately:

"So it is necessary to send the command information and air situation information to each combat aircraft in the form of a data link."

"Yes."

Chang Haonan put down the chalk and patted the dust off his hands:

"Micromanagement has two sides. If it's done well, it can be a stroke of genius that allows the weak to defeat the strong. But if it's not done well..."

He did not continue.

However, a burst of laughter still broke out in the small room -

The transport captain's micro-control joke has been widely circulated even in this era, so everyone knows who he is referring to.

"Informationized warfare, to some extent, is about reducing the difficulty of micro-management for commanders and reducing the intermediate levels of command to achieve the most efficient transmission of information."

After a little joke, Chang Haonan concluded:

"Aerial combat, due to its ever-changing nature, is the place where the effects can be most directly demonstrated!"

Although Chang Haonan failed to successfully join the army in both of his lifetimes, he was an old hand with a lot of project experience in his previous life, so he had a relatively good understanding of these basic concepts.

If I were to give a speech at a military academy, I would probably still be embarrassed.

It is certainly sufficient for the present occasion.

And the facts have proved that this explanation is quite effective.

Everyone quickly accepted the concept he had proposed and began to think about how to achieve the goal technically.