PRIMARY RESEARCH AREAS: THIS PROPOSAL WILL ADDRESS THE ARMD STRATEGIC THRUST #1 "SAFE EFFICIENT GROWTH IN GLOBAL OPERATIONS." IT WILL ALSO HAVE DIRECT IMPACTS TO BOTH STRATEGIC THRUSTS #5 AND #6 AS WE WILL ILLUSTRATE IN THE STEP-A PROPOSAL. THE RESEARCH AREA IS AERONAUTICAL COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKING AND AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT (ATM) INCLUDING ASPECTS OF NAVIGATION AND SURVEILLANCE FOR BOTH MANNED AND UNMANNED AIRCRAFT. SOME OF THE OUTCOMES ARE BEYOND NEXTGEN BUT OUR FOUNDATIONAL WORK WILL SURMOUNT KEY TECHNICAL CHALLENGES WITHIN THE REQUIRED 5-YEAR PERIOD. OUTCOMES OF THIS COMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKING RESEARCH WILL ENABLE GLOBALLY AUTONOMOUS ATM AND ENHANCE ITS FLEXIBILITY SAFETY CAPACITY AND RESILIENCE. EXAMPLE OUTCOMES INCLUDE ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF ADAPTIVE HIGH-CAPACITY MULTI-BAND LINKS PLANNED AND OPPORTUNISTIC MULTI-MODE CONNECTIVITY BOTH OF WHICH WILL ENHANCE ATM CAPACITY AND EFFICIENCY AND MILLIMETER WAVE WIRELESS FOR THE UNIVERSALLY-CONNECTED AND SECURE AIRPORT ("AIRPORT OF THINGS") ALL LINKED VIA PROACTIVE NAVIGATION AND SURVEILLANCE.THE OBJECTIVES ARE TO: 1) CHARACTERIZE CAPACITY AND COVERAGE OF EXISTING AVIATION BANDS (AND ADJACENT BANDS) AND TECHNOLOGIES IDENTIFY SHORTCOMINGS AND NEAR TERM IMPROVEMENTS AND ASSESS GROWTH POTENTIAL;2) BUILD ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION SOFTWARE TOOLBOXES TO ENABLE ASSESSMENT OF LINK&NETWORK PERFORMANCE (PHY DLL AND NETWORK RELIABILITY LATENCY ETC.); 3) CHARACTERIZE CAPACITY&EFFICIENCY POTENTIAL OF USE OF NON-AVIATION "NODES " EMPLOYING BOTH AVIATION AND NON-AVIATION SPECTRUM; 4) DEVELOP INTER-BAND NETWORKING CONOPS&EVALUATE ATM IMPACTS/OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVED PERFORMANCE (SAFETY SCHEDULING ETC.); 5) CHARACTERIZE CAPACITY AND EFFICIENCY GAINS OF WIDESPREAD MILLIMETER WAVE WIRELESS AIRPORT SUBNETWORKS; MEASURE AND MODEL EXAMPLE CHANNELS AND VALIDATE PROTOTYPE SYSTEM AND AIRPORT NETWORK OPERATION; 6) DEVELOP JAMMER AND UNAUTHORIZED UAS DETECTION/LOCALIZATION TECHNIQUES AND ADAPTIVE COMMUNICATION/NAVIGATION/SURVEILLANCE TACTICS FOR SAFE AND EFFECTUAL ATM; 7) DEVELOP SMALL UAS TESTBED TO VALIDATE MULTI-BAND AND MULTI-MODE NETWORKING PERFORMANCE; 8) DEVELOP A REALISTIC AND COMPREHENSIVE ATM SIMULATION TESTBED TO ASSESS GAINS OF MULTI-BAND/MULTI-MODE NETWORKING IN TERMS OF CAPACITY MULTI-VEHICLE COOPERATION ETC. 9) ASSESS PERFORMANCE OF TRULY REVOLUTIONARY TECHNOLOGIES (E.G. OPTICAL WIRELESS A VAST "AEROPEDIA" ABOARD EVERY AIRCRAFT FREE AND ABUNDANT ENERGY SOURCES ETC.) IN TERMS OF GAINS IN CAPACITY FLEXIBILITY SAFETY ETC.