DEBON-air: design, execution and benchmarking of operational networks, airborne

This paper will discuss and evaluate the advantages provided by the DEBON-Air simulation environment for effecting communications between UAV airframes in flight. DEBON-Air provides a realistic multi-vehicle simulation environment which models communications complexities. By simulating various operational factors (e.g., bandwidth and reliability), and environmental factors (e.g., weather, altitude, range, and attitude), evaluators can establish the functional and performance characteristics of an Information Management System (IMS) in a simulated tactical environment. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Apollo IMS will be used in concert with the DEBON-Air simulation environment for the purposes of these evaluations.