Archer Communications Network
Contents
Archer Communications Network
This is the communications system that powers the tactical armed forces network of many nations in the Alliance, including Roudland, Kegmenistan, Gothria, Great Wrightland, McPsychoville, and Friendly Aliens. It comprises a base station in the host country that utilises a large amount of staff and satellite technology. This creates a real-time view of the battlefield that can be accessed by carrier war rooms, command IFVs on operations and the individual soldier and his radioman. Some nations, specifically Friendly Aliens has made a seperate network based on the Archer Technology, the Friendly Alien version is called the Battle Matrix.
How it works
The example given is based on a theoretical operation taking place in Mortuus Angelus after a Zakmenistani invasion has occurred.
Base Station
In Roston, several generals and admirals etc. who oversee the entire operation have access to a large amount of dedicated staff and electronic resources. They can liaise easily with commanders at the theatre level, whether they are on a carrier in the Angelian Gulf, on a base at the border or in the field, utilising dedicated satellite services and live video-feed technology. In the Roston hub, there are a large number of enormous ‘war rooms’, so that Roudland can fight a multitude of large battles simultaneously without need for rationing communications stations/ networks etc.
In the war rooms themselves, there are several 20foot by 20foot tables which project from below onto the table’s surface any number of different readouts; there can be a list of all allied combatants in a particular battle, a large split screen video feed from a naval vessel showing an ongoing naval battle/ operation, real-time video feeds from tanks, helicopters, dropships etc, or in the most common example, a real-time satellite image of a battlefield, complete with the locations of every allied soldier. This system is operated from a number of PC workstations next to the table, so that the commanders at the table can request different images and services at differing times.
Touch Tables
The tables themselves are touch-sensitive, and have a number of keypads on their edges as a back-up. The touch table, as it is called, is one of the cornerstones of modern Roudland military operations, where it is crucial to communicate effectively with a large number of soldiers with coordinated strategies at any one time. In reality, the Roston hub is rarely used to issue direct orders to troops in the field, but the option is still there. More often that not, the Roston hub gives overall strategy objectives, such as the order to capture a certain position or to focus forces in a particular area of the country, to the carrier group hub, or even to a divisional commander.
At theatre level, there is a similar system, with touch tables present in all aircraft carriers and most large warships. Specially outfitted C-130 Hercules command planes can also assume the role of theatre command station with archer technology, and it has been found that this is especially useful when performing airborne operations.
As it has been said, the archer system is used to communicate effectively with large amounts of troops, providing coherent orders and mission structures to individual units in the field with relative ease. The core of this is the touch table. When using the real-time satellite feed mode, the commanders at a carrier hub, for example, can see the lay of the land, including the shapes of incoming hostile units (which can be analysed and assessed by the hub support staff), and the locations, name rank and unit affiliation of all archer-compatible units, using the GPS Ident beacon located in the troops’ AX-10 combat helmets.
Ground Forces
If a hub commander is informed, say by airborne recon fighters, that a large building in the south-east of the city is being used as an enemy stronghold, the units needed to attack the position can be directed to do so within seconds of the commander receiving the intel. He can identify who is close to the stronghold, and how many men are in the area, including their role (airborne, mechanised etc.) as well as reading a report, compiled by the support staff, of the action that they have recently been involved in, in order to assess their combat efficacy. He can use a touch table stylus to activate comms with, for example, a platoon leader (let’s say a colonel) on the ground; he merely taps on the colonel’s icon on the table, which opens direct communications to the colonel’s earpiece. The commander can then give orders to the colonel, (and open a channel to the whole platoon if required), and can send the colonel a readout to his AX-10 HUD of where he needs to travel to, and the expected enemy strength, as well as any other data of use. The hub commander’s stylus can be used to draw a path on the table satellite readout, which is then beamed straight to the colonel’s helmet HUD for reference, together with waypoints, perhaps to navigate city streets or to avoid difficult terrain or areas that will soon be assaulted by other troops. This system means that soldiers can act as independent units whilst forming a coherent whole as part of a battle group or even task force. The GPS beacon inside the AX-10 can then utilise the information fed to it to provide some, if not all of the platoon with a satellite map of the area, and a 3D compass showing waypoints. This greatly enhances the ability of the Roudland military to act as a joined-up force.
On the ground itself, archer works very much like a standard radio network, except it has added data streaming capability. The radio man in every unit carries a wrist-mounted PDA-style attachment that utilises blue-tooth wireless technology to enable quick communications with the surrounding soldiers, and a permanent roaming network connection that makes communications and transfer of maps etc. in the field back to a hub or command IFV a reality.
Summary
The Archer network brings battlefield communications into a new age, whereby large amounts of data and comms need not be transferred across a large, complex stream of information. The ability to simply locate and talk to a soldier makes the Roudland Army, and all those who use the AX-10, more efficient than any comparable force in the world today.
