After four years, the Annual International Military Communications Technical Symposium and Exhibition (MILCOM) will return to New Jersey this fall. This symposium affords an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about the latest advances in the field of Military Communications. As in 1994, this symposium is jointly sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the IEEE Communications Society, AFCEA International an the Fort Monmouth Chapter AFCEA. Mr. James O'Neill, President, Government Solutions, Lucent Technologies is serving as symposium General Chairman.

This year's MILCOM, which is expected to be the largest ever, will be held in the Atlantic City Convention Center from 31 October through 3 November 1999. The conference theme is "Into The Next Millennium — Evolution of Data into Knowledge". As the next millennium approaches, there continues to be breakthroughs in communications, networking, wireless and signal processing technologies that will support the expanding information requirements project d for the next century. Some of the high level speakers include GEN John Keane, VCSA, GEN John Coburn, CG AMC and Dr. Arno Penzias, Nobel Laureate. The Honorable Curt Weldon (R) PA, member of the House Armed Services Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Research and Development, will be the Tuesday evening banquet speaker.

The diverse and significantly expanded technical program will be the focus for MILCOM 1999. This technical program is broken down into four major sections: high-level panel sessions, unclassified sessions, classified sessions, and tutorials. The five unclassified high-level panel sessions are being sponsored by the Fort Monmouth Chapter AFCEA and will follow the format of the annual Fort Monmouth AFCEA TechNet. These sessions include the following panels "The Joint Warfighter Perspective"; "Intelligence Support to the Joint Warfighter"; "C4 Support to the Joint Warfighter"; "Acquisition Reform and Logistics Modernization"; and "Space Applications".

For MILCOM 1999, the unclassified technical program will consist of 48 sessions. These sessions will follow eight different technical tracks: mobile wireless networking; modulation and coding; techniques for fading/multipath channels; military use of commercial satellites; hardening of civil protocols for military use; code division multiple access (CDAM) networks; automatic signal recognition; and DII/DSIN advanced intelligent networking. Each of these s ssions will include a number of technical papers addressing new and innovative issues. The technical committee has been working with the IEEE communications Society to ensure that this is a first class symposium with over 300 technical papers.

Current plans call for 24 Classified Technical sessions and panels. Some of the topics to be covered in the classified program include: information assurance, communications on-the-move, tactical radios and software defined radios, MILSATCOM systems, covert communications, enroute communications, protocols and warfighter networks. The classified program will also include committee two classified panels, "Information Assurance Update" and "Information Pro ection in the Non-Defense Agencies.

The MILCOM 1999 tutorial program includes tutorials on the following topics:

Wireless Networks: From Cellular to Ad-Hoc;
Performance Analysis of Digital Transmissions Systems;
Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing;
Applied Nonlinearity — The Next Stage in Communications Engineering;
Discrete-event Simulation for Communications Links and Networks;
Communication Satellite Antenna System Architecture Technology, and Testing;
Variable Message Format (VMF) Messaging Standard: Characteristics, Configuration Management, and Applications

Network Protocols Coupled with this exhaustive technical program, MILCOM 1999 will also host a significant technical exposition with over 100 different companies and government organizations exhibiting and demonstrating their latest products.

More complete information about registration and the symposium in general can be found at the MILCOM 1999 web site at http://www.milcom1999.com/.

As you can see, a diverse program of both classified and unclassified sessions, guest speakers, panels and tutorials is planned. In addition, a variety of events and tours will be offered to let you experience the area's rich historical and cultural heritage. So, attend MILCOM Oct. 31 - Nov. 3, at the Atlantic City Convention Center, bringing together the latest technological advances with the end users of the military communications systems for a lively and enlightening forum.

For more information, please call Thomas Sheehan at (732) 427-4465.