206

Enhanced Position Location Reporting

System: Legacy System Provides New
Technology for Warfighters ABSTRACT
The Enhanced Position
Deborah Tharp and Laird Wallace Location Reporting System
SSC San Diego (EPLRS) originated more than
30 years ago during the
Vietnam conflict as a system to
prevent troop casualties due to
"friendly fire," or "fratricide."
The initial system, the Position
Location Reporting System
(PLRS), focused primarily on
providing Position Location
INTRODUCTION Information (PLI), identifica-
The Position Location Reporting System (PLRS) and its successor, the tion, and navigation aides to
Enhanced Position Location Reporting System (EPLRS), were initiated the warfighter. This informa-
during the later stages of the Vietnam conflict. PLRS was developed by tion was collected and (after
the Marine Corps as a system to prevent troop casualties due to "friendly processing) distributed by a
fire" or "fratricide." The Army, building on the PLRS technology, initiat- simple but effective network of
ed EPLRS to provide more advanced communications capabilities. The Radio Sets (RSs). The latest
Navy adopted PLRS and later EPLRS to provide communications and generation of Enhanced PLRS
position location information in conjunction with the AN/KSQ-1 (EPLRS) retains the PLI,
Amphibious Assault Direction System (AADS) installed on many identification, and navigation
amphibious ships. capabilities of PLRS but incor-
EPLRS serves all three services as a position location, identification, com- porates the newest and most
munications, and (sometimes) navigation system that incorporates the sophisticated technology into
newest and most sophisticated technology. Two versions of EPLRS are the communications network.
currently in service. They each consist of two primary components, a The RSs provide high-data-
network control element and a network of Radio Sets (RSs), as shown in rate (HDR) communications
Figure 1. The older version of EPLRS includes a Network Control and real-time routing capability.
Station (NCS), which has been replaced in the latest generation of Each RS incorporates an em-
EPLRS by an EPLRS Network Manager (ENM). bedded router that enables
contention-free routing of data
Both versions of EPLRS have similar capabilities but have some signifi- between communications serv-
cant differences. The two systems are not compatible, primarily because ices and makes one RS look
of changes made in the RS firmware. Additionally, some of the functions like many radios (up to 32) to
performed by the NCS have been allocated to the newer version of the host equipment. A newly
radio (e.g., position calculation and distribution). Other NCS functions developed computer program,
(i.e., generation of Navaids and Situation Display) are expected to be the EPLRS Network Manager
accomplished by the services’ host computer systems, such as the Army’s (ENM), which resides in a lap-
Force Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) system and the top computer, manages the RS
Marine Corps Command and Control Personal Computer (C2PC) sys- network. The ENM provides
tem. Both versions of EPLRS provide important capabilities for the war- distributed network manage-
rior. However, unless otherwise indicated, the information presented in ment to the RSs that includes
this paper applies mainly to the ENM version of EPLRS. network planning, communi-
The latest generation of EPLRS features a network of highly sophisticated cation circuit information,
RSs that provide high-data-rate (HDR) communications and real-time system monitoring, fault
routing capability. Each RS now incorporates an embedded router that detection and resolution,
enables contention-free routing of data between communications services continuity of operations,
and makes one RS look like many radios (up to 32) to host equipment. and key management.
The ENM provides distributed network management to the RSs that
includes network planning, communication circuit information, system
 Enhanced Position Location Reporting System 207

monitoring, fault detection and resolution, continuity of operations, and

key management. ENM consists of an operator workstation and associated
communications and support equipment.

BASIC CHARACTERISTICS AND CAPABILITIES

The EPLRS network consists of many EPLRS RSs and one or more
ENM host computers. The RSs automatically route and deliver user mes-
sages and provide multiple concurrent communication paths known as
"needlines." The host computer may be an ENM computer or another
type of user host device. FIGURE 1. EPLRS radio.

The EPLRS network is organized into a Time Division Multiple Access

(TDMA) structure. Each RS in a community is assigned slices of time
(called timeslots) in which the RS can transmit while other RSs can receive.
To accomplish this, each RS possesses a clock that is synchronized to the
clock of every other radio. The system also incorporates internal commu-
nications security (COMSEC) devices and has an Over-the-Air-Rekeying
(OTAR) capability.
EPLRS radios operate using eight available ultra-high-frequency (UHF)
channels at frequencies between 420 to 450 MHz. The radios can presently
handle data rates up to 57.6 Kbps and provide x.25, RS-232, and Ethernet
interfaces plus the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP). Frequency division multiplexing over different channels
increases network capacity and minimizes mutual interference. Using the
different frequencies, EPLRS can have multiple needlines operating at the
same time in the same geographical area. The network can be run in
either frequency hopping (for anti-jam purposes) or nonfrequency hop-
ping mode. Additional capabilities that EPLRS provides include:
Four Levels of Relay: Networked communications are possible around
and over geographic obstructions and at extended ranges.
Self-healing Net: If a selected networked communication path is unex-
pectedly interrupted, EPLRS will automatically seek alternative routing,
eliminating the necessity of manual intervention by a communication net-
work controller.
Global Positioning System (GPS) Independence: Although EPLRS can
use GPS inputs when available, one of the key features of EPLRS is that
it does not depend on GPS to provide position and location data, thus
avoiding GPS jamming vulnerabilities.

EPLRS NETWORKS
EPLRS allows many users to simultaneously communicate with each
other because each RS is programmable and can support multiple concur-
rent communication networks. The three types of EPLRS networks are
listed here. In addition, EPLRS supports ENM-to-RS communications.
Acquisition Network: The acquisition network is used to initially syn-
chronize the RSs to form a network of RSs. It is also used to keep the
RSs' time synchronized (in time sync), which keeps the RSs in the net-
work and allows them to communicate with each other.
Coordination Network: The coordination network is used by the RSs to
handle network coordination tasks, including relay path coordination for
duplex needlines, IP resolution, ENM support, broadcast messaging, and
exchange of position location between RSs.
208 NAVIGATION AND APPLIED SCIENCES

Communication Network: The communication network supports com-

munications between computer systems or hosts. Of the three networks,
this is the largest (in terms of available resources) and can be viewed as a
wireless internet. Unlike the other networks, the communication network
passes data via needlines from external sources (usually host computers
connected to the RSs), not from the RSs themselves.
ENM-to-RS Communications: ENM uses the Simple Network
Management Protocol (SNMP) residing in the ENM to communicate
with individual RSs via an SNMP agent resident in each RS to perform
over-the-air network management.

COMMUNICATIONS NEEDLINES
EPLRS uses virtual circuits to set up host-to-host communications
between EPLRS RSs. These virtual circuits are called needlines. The
needlines can be either point-to-point or broadcast. A single RS can sup-
port many needlines at the same time. This capability allows host com-
puters to simultaneously send and receive information from different
groups of hosts. There are four types of needlines:
Carrier-Sense Multiple Access (CSMA): CSMA needlines provide many
hosts the capability to send data to each other, with user data rates (for
the whole needline) from approximately 450 bps to 57,600 bps. A CSMA
needline operates like a group of people on a contention voice net, each
speaking when he or she has something to say and when no one else is
speaking. The RS ensures that no one else is using the needline, so neither
the sourcing host nor the user have to bother with the CSMA network
access protocol. A CSMA needline lets a large number of users (end-
points) broadcast data to other needline members on demand. CSMA
works with a large network and is used to transfer situational awareness
and command and control data.
Multi-Source Group (MSG): The MSG needline provides hosts with a
few-to-many communication transfer protocol. Messages are transmitted
by a select group of source endpoint RSs, and messages are carried on the
MSG needline, either directly or through relays, to all other endpoint
RSs. MSG needlines provide up to 16 source endpoint RSs, with data
rates from about 400 bps to 57,600 bps. An MSG needline operates like
a group of people with bullhorns, each person talking in turn to many
people who cannot talk back. Some senders may keep their bullhorn (a
dedicated resource) whether or not they use it, and others give up their
bullhorn (a floating or shared resource) when they are done talking. MSG
nets are used for low-latency track data or data exchange.
HDR Duplex: HDR duplex needlines provide hosts with an RS-
acknowledged communications transfer protocol that ensures host data
are received by the other host. Duplex communications services are
point-to-point with each end unit (defined as endpoint) sharing an equal
number of transmit opportunities on an alternating basis. An HDR
duplex needline operates like talking to another person on a telephone.
HDR duplex needlines provide RS-acknowledged, higher reliability, bal-
anced data transfer between two hosts with data rates from approximately
600 bps to 14,400 bps each way. This type of needline is similar to low-
data-rate (LDR) duplex needlines, except the user data rate can be much
higher.
 Enhanced Position Location Reporting System 209

LDR Duplex: LDR duplex needlines provide a communications transfer

protocol that ensures one host’s packets are received by the other host.
These needlines provide RS-acknowledged high-reliability balanced
data transfer between two hosts with data rates from approximately
20 bps to 1920 bps each way.

WARFIGHTER SUPPORT
Currently, EPLRS is being
deployed or developed to support
the following applications:
Littoral Warfare: Users of the RESTRICTED
ZONE
NCS EPLRS in littoral warfare
RESTRICTED
have discovered that this system GPS ZONE
is ideal for communicating among
operating mission elements, AIRBORNE NCS
RELAY ASHORE
Navaid support, and track genera- PLATFORM
tion data. Data can be passed
securely and seamlessly among AIR CORRIDOR
mission elements such as airborne NCS
relay platforms, shore sites, and AFLOAT LSD
(PCS)
afloat sites. LHD LPD (SCS)
AN/KSQ-1
The NCS EPLRS is currently (ACS)
installed aboard LHD 6, with
installation planned for LHD 7 LCAC LANE
1. COMMUNICATIONS
and LPD 17 class ships. Figure 2 2. TRACK GENERATION
depicts the EPLRS scenario use 3. NAVAIDS
during an amphibious assault FLEET COMBATANTS
operation.
Data Exchange in Support of FIGURE 2. EPLRS use in littoral warfare.
Amphibious Operations: The Acronyms: ACS – Amphibious Command Ship; PCS – Primary Control Ship;
EPLRS Data Radio (EPLRS-DR) SCS – Secondary Control Ship
provides secure, variable data rate
network communications
between shipboard networks and
the shore-based Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Tactical
Data Network in support of Amphibious Task Force tactical operations.
Primary data features are speed of service, satisfaction of throughput
requirements for priority data users, and reliable data communications.
Position location, navigation aids, and friendly identification are key
battlefield features. The EPLRS-DR program has adopted EPLRS
ENM technology. The system is being introduced to the Fleet. Figure
3 depicts a scenario of EPLRS-DR data-exchange connectivity during
an amphibious assault operation.
Battlefield Operations: The Marine Corps and the Army use EPLRS
as a data radio that is deployed to serve as the data backbone among
military echelons. In the Marine Corps, EPLRS provides data connec-
tivity primarily to the battalion level but also has the capability to
extend to the company level. While the EPLRS primary mission is to
act as a data link, it also can be used for position location information.
Figure 4 depicts how EPLRS is used to support Marine Corps data-
exchange connectivity in the battlefield.
210 NAVIGATION AND APPLIED SCIENCES

ADNS
ROUTER
(OSPF)
LPD MAGTF
ROUTER
(EIGRP)
ENM
KOK-13 MAIN
ENM HOST

HOST

ADNS
ROUTER MAGTF
(OSPF) ROUTER
EPLRS
NETWORK (EIGRP)
MAGTF
ROUTER
(EIGRP)
HOST

LHA
HOST

LHD

MEU
ENM ENM
MAGTF
ROUTER
(EIGRP)
ADNS
LSD ROUTER
(OSPF)

FIGURE 3. EPLRS-DR intra-ATF connectivity.

Acronyms: ADNS – Automatic Digital Network System; ATF – Amphibious Task Force; EIGRP – Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing
Protocol; ENM – EPLRS Network Manager; MAGTF – Marine Air-Ground Task Force; MEU – Marine Expeditionary Unit;
OSPF – Open Shortest Path First

DIVISION

REGIMENT

REGIMENT
REGIMENT

BN CO
BN BN CO
CO

PLT
AN/MRC-142 LOS MUX PLT PLT
EPLRS
SINCGARS/DACT

FIGURE 4. EPLRS support for Marine Corps battlefield operations.

Acronyms: BN – Battalion; CO – Company; DACT – Data Automated Communications
Terminal; LOS – Line of Sight; MUX – Multiplexer; PLT – Platoon; SINCGARS – Single
Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System
 Enhanced Position Location Reporting System 211

Deborah Tharp Laird Wallace

MS, Computer Science, West MS, Weapon Systems
Coast University, 1989 Acquisition Management,
Current Work: Branch Head of Naval Postgraduate School,
the Joint Tactical Systems 1973
Branch in the Airspace Systems Current Work: Leads the
Division. Technical Documentation Team
for the EPLRS, EPLRS data
radio, and ENM systems.