In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the DoD to build an on-demand airborne network for communications relay. To that end, several high capacity, long-range military radios were developed to address the need for a high capacity airborne backbone. While radios build links thus forming the basic elements of connectivity, platforms generally employ multiple stove-piped, non-interoperable radio systems that make internetworking to build multi-hop end-to-end paths, difficult. While simulations and emulation tests can provide a baseline for how systems will perform in a controlled environment, field-tests are crucial to demonstrate capabilities in real-world operating environments. In this paper, we present measurement results from a field test involving two airborne platforms forming an airbridge between two ground assets with various radio systems as part of the Joint Expeditionary Forces Experiment (JEFX) 2010 exercise. We present per link performance, radio-to-router interface performance, and multi-hop network performance results with prototype software on open source platforms as well as beta software running on commercial routers. Additionally, key lessons learned and recommendations are given. The assets participated in the exercise formed a high capacity, dynamically routed aerial IP backbone made of heterogeneous radio technologies over 300 nautical miles (Nm), allowing the passing of military operational traffic. a
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