Technologies for worldwide military paging: an assessment

US warfighters must often operate in areas of the world where there is no infrastructure that will support the type of paging capability that is ubiquitous in urban areas. The US Army and Air Force have funded research and development concerning how to provide paging support for warfighters anywhere in the world. This work has included analytical studies, hardware development, and demonstrations of more than one type of system. This paper provides a review of the context and mission requirements for worldwide paging, followed by an assessment of the performance of two particular prototype implementations, a direct broadcast satcom (DBS) paging system and an unmanned air vehicle-based system. Other alternatives for supporting paging of mobile warfighters, such as commercial solutions, are also discussed.