Distributed computer architectures for combat systems

Advances in computer hardware, networks, and support software have brought distributed computing to the forefront of today's Navy combat systems. An effort known as the High Performance Distributed Computing (HiPer-D) Program was established in 1991 to pursue advantageous applications of this technology to the Navy's premier Aegis cruiser and destroyer combatants. This article provides an overview of the program accomplishments and presents a brief discussion of some of the intercomputer communications issues that were paramount to the program's success. Most significant was the credibility built for distributed computing within the Aegis community. This was accomplished through many demonstrations of combat system functions that exhibited capacity, timeliness, and reliability attributes necessary to meet stringent Aegis system requirements.