Manual Relay Center Modernization Program

device. The operator can recall a message by providing a message accountability number (MAN), a component identification number (CIN), or a channel service number (CSN). The operator can also recall a message with an originating station routing indicator (OSRI), station serial number (SSN), or time of file (TOF). The PCMT also provides significant paper reduction since information on receipt and delivery of message traffic is recorded on diskettes instead of paper. The PCMT stores messages on the hard disk until the operator requests delivery. The PCMT then outputs messages to a diskette, thereby reducing manual processing steps. The PCMT system is setup so that narrative and data pattern (card image) traffic received from the serving LDMX and NAVCOMPARS can be delivered to the printer and/or diskettes. Data pattern traffic is usually delivered only to diskettes. Messages delivered to diskettes are segregated by routing indicators so that message centers receive only those messages addressed to them. An operator can use the PCMT to enter a narrative or card image message, or create anew message using a simple keyboard/display screen editor. The terminal allows the operator to save a partially completed message on a diskette, recall it, and continue to edit it. At some communications centers, the operator can enter narrative or card image data pattern traffic prepared elsewhere. Simple PC-based application programs that can be used in an office environment to review and prepare both narrative and card image messages are being developed. Once a day, the PCMT system will generate a summary report that identifies all traffic processed by the terminal during the previous 24-hour period. The PCMT is the outgrowth of a program begun by COMNAVTELCOM (now COMNAVCOMTEL- COM) in 1982 to provide automation support for fleet message relay centers. The Navy had a continuing requirement to exchange message traffic over HF radio channels terminated at a relay site. Unfortunately, such channels impressed transmission garbles on any message they carried. Since NAVCOMPARS required that message data presented by a TTY circuit be letter-perfect, NAVCOMPARS could not terminate such circuits directly. In the past, a message received on these circuits had to be punched out onto paper tape and printed simultaneously. The fleet center operator would then examine the printed copy and, if there were no errors, feed the paper tape into a reader that was on-line to NAVCOMPARS. If there was an error, either the ship would have to resend the message or the operator would have to recut the message’s paper tape on a Model 28 TTY. The process was slow, manpower intensive, and error prone. The system built in response to this need is now what we call the Manual Relay Center Modernization Program (MARCEMP). MANUAL RELAY CENTER MODERNIZATION PROGRAM The Manual Relay Center Modernization Program (MARCEMP) was first certified for operational use in 1988 as part of the NSTA program. However, even before certification, it was recognized that the system could serve as the basis for a much more generalized low-cost message-processing system. The typical MARCEMP system is a PCMT configuration. The MARCEMP provides significant automation support for all aspects of HF message relay operations within the fleet. Since all HF fill-period termination and primary ship-shore traffic circuits have been terminated directly into a state-of-the-art computer- based system, the need to handle tom paper tape has been completely eliminated. The MARCEMP system automatically checks formal messages for errors and sends them on when no errors are found. The system also makes available to a fleet center operator an advanced, full-screen computer terminal editor. The operator can use the terminal editor to correct format errors in the message that occur due to transmission garbles. The terminal editor can also be used to carry on an operator-to-operator dialogue with afloat communications personnel to coordinate corrective action. The system provides a complete message audit trail and detailed accountability reports, which help ensure that all traiffic is properly handled. Its modular and flexible design permits it to be easily tailored to meet the varying individual needs of the large or small fleet center. MARCEMP can handle up to 24 send and 24 receive circuits simultaneously. MARCEMP can also process approximately 3,500 narrative or operator-to- operator dialogue messages daily. A number of significant enhancements have been added to the MARCEMP version 1.0 baseline system. These enhancements have resulted in the PCMT version 2.0 as another configuration of the NSTA 1-3