Currently, there is no infrastructure in place to provide data networking capabilities to ground-based tactical units below the battalion level. Legacy, voice-centric radios, organic to these units, possesses no inherent packet switched networking capability. The infrastructure for such a network is presented in this thesis. Specifically, with the SINCGARS providing the Physical Layer, a software-implemented Data Link Layer is presented. Both an Aloha-like and a CSMA protocol are implemented for media access control. Additionally, a novel routing algorithm, Expected Relative Positioning with Congestion Avoidance (ERP/CA), is presented as the Network Layer protocol. This protocol is optimized for military application, using policies regarding movement and positioning within formations to inform its routing selections. Finally, a prototype application is presented to demonstrate the use of the proposed small tactical unit, mobile ad hoc network infrastructure. The application is used in the functional testing of the layer 2 and layer 3 protocols. Results of the functional testing are presented.
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