NSC-T provides: JNN-N training support, remote troubleshooting, soldier training

Army Communicator, Fall, 2006 by Josh Davidson

Headquartered at Fort Gordon, Ga., the Network Service Center-Training serves many purposes to both the technical expert and Warfighter. The center is used to provide satellite, voice, and data services to Joint Network Node-Network equipped units and also functions as an experimentation facility where engineers test emerging technologies and Soldiers receive hands-on training.

Dale White, chief of the NSC-T, recently provided a tour of the facility, along with a glimpse of what it provides. White demonstrated how a Multi-Frequency Time Division Multiple Access Master Reference Terminal is used to establish multiple and separate satellite communications networks and shows the location of the JNN-N nodes throughout the 50 states, through icons on a digital map. The NSC-T defines network membership, configuration, connectivity, bandwidth allocation between nodes, and much more.

The NSC-T is the central management center of the JNN-N nodes represented White said.

"The whole concept of this is centralized management and control," White said. "We've had as many as 50- plus nodes that we've been responsible for up in operation."

The NSC-T's management capability can be used to troubleshoot nodes at remote training locations, he said. In that case, a technician can troubleshoot down into a remote system and gather information to help a unit which is having difficulty, he said.

Unlike the legacy Ground Mobile Forces point-to-point network JNN-N is Internet Protocol based. The Army's transition to a modular fighting force and the use of network centric waveforms mandates the capability that the NSC-T provides. The NSC-T staff are present to provide central management of the entire network.

The Signal Center's NSC-T has the capability to support an entire division, he said.

"The NSC-T can support a full-up division or a mix and match of different brigades from different divisions anywhere in the continental United States, Hawaii, and Alaska," White said.

The NSC-T contains a bank of Time Division Multiple Access modems and a bank of Frequency Division Multiple Access modems, he said.

The original capability was created in 2004, when the JNN-N was first fielded to the 3rd Infantry Division. At the time, representatives from Project Manager, Tactical Radio Subject Matter Expertise support, he said. Since then, the lab has had TDMA master reference terminals on line non stop to support the PM's continuing JNN-N fielding. The ongoing support to PM TRCS is in addition to the NSC-T mission of supporting units already fielded with JNN equipment.

JNN-N was fielded originally to divisions who were deploying to OIF/OEF. When the fielding reached Spiral Five, the Signal Center looked into starting a sustainment training center for the Soldiers, which in turn led to the NSC-T. It was originally called a Regional Training Hub.

The NSC-T officially came online on May 15, 2006. Together with the NSC-T establishment was the Army's CIO/G6 funding for and Network Enterprise Technology Command procurement of dedicated satellite bandwidth for JNN-N and Phoenix users. Users can be on the air in one week from the time they put in satellite access request, White said. Since bandwidth previously had to go through the contracting process, satellite access use to take between six to eight weeks, he said.

"We have supported almost two dozen units between 15 May and 15 August," he said.

While the NSC-T's main role is to support JNN-N sustainment training missions at Army bases, the lab is also used by those who wish to test specific equipment at the lab itself, he said. With the NSC-T co-located with the Battle Command Battle Lab (Gordon), an excellent blending of capabilities exists.

For example, someone can come in and test how their Mounted Battle Command-on-the-move works in a JNN-N environment using the NSC-T, White said.

The NSC-T allows for experimentation, concept and doctrine development and Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures development, he said.

It also provides a live resident training environment where a student can receive support and gain hands-on experience with equipment.

"The NSC-T serves many masters, which is a good thing," White said.

The NSC-T's first phase of development involved the interim operational capability phase one, which included standing up multiple MF-TDMA networks, performing technical validation of access requests, remote monitor and control of training missions on two satellites, troubleshooting of remote networks, and more, he said.

Phase Two will include the components of Phase One, but also added Defense Information Systems Network services. Phase Two will most likely be completed by Sept. 1 and the NSC-T is expected to be at its full operational capability on Oct. 1, 2006.

White stressed that the NSC-T is not used for operational missions. The NSC-T supports training missions including home station training, Battle Command Training Center events, SIGCEN training networks, and Combat Training Center rotations but does not handle anything that is traditionally the role of NETCOM or the Department of Defense's Defense Information Systems Agency, White said.