Telecommunications networks and protocols for the USAVRE

The U.S. Army Medical Command, lead by the Brooke Army Medical Center, has embarked on a futuristic project that will revolutionize the practice of teleradiology in the DoD. The U.S. Army Virtual Radiology Environment (USAVRE) is a CONUS- based network that connects all the Army's major medical centers and Regional Medical Commands (RMC). The purpose of the USAVRE is to improve the quality, access, and cost of radiology services in the Army via the use of state-of-the-art medical imaging, computer, and networking technologies. The USAVRE contains multimedia-viewing workstations for static and dynamic modality cases. The storage and archiving systems are based on a distributed computing environment using Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) middleware protocols. Collaborations between archive centers and viewing workstations are managed by CORBA functions and multimedia object streams. The underlying telecommunications network is an ATM-based backbone network that connects to the RMC regional networks and PACS networks at medical centers and RMC clinics. The U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command (USAISEC) at Ft. Huachuca, AZ is responsible for the ATM backbone network to the RMC sites. This project is a collaborative effort between Army, university, and industry centers with expertise in teleradiology and Global PACS applications. This paper describes the telecommunications backbone network architecture for the Cable Bundling Initiative (CBI) being deployed by the Technology Integration Center. The U.S. Army U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command (USAISEC) at Ft. Huachuca, AZ has begun deployment of a 45 Mbps backbone network called the Cable Bundling Initiative (CBI). The CBI backbone is upgradable to OC-3 (155 Mbps) and OC-12 (622 Mbps) transmission links. A goal of CBI is to bundle the dedicated networks and support all MACOMs in the transition to a DISN ATM-based network in the future. The CBI is a candidate backbone for the USAVRE. The current connections of the CBI backbone include a triangle topology between Ft. Leavenworth, KS, Ft. Belvoir, VA, and Ft. McPherson, GA. There are T1 star topology connections to these three hubs to other Army bases in the hub regions. CBI is poised to upgrade to ATM-based technology and 155 Mbps (OC-3) links and higher. A requirements analysis is being conducted to determine which Army Medical Treatment Facilities need to connect to the CBI topology to exchange teleradiology services. An alternative architecture for the VRE backbone is MEDNet, a network of partially interconnected T1 links to Army bases. This paper describes the ATM technology components and fiber optic transmission links of the CBI backbone and the base-level ATM-based sub-networks. The Technology Integration Center (TIC) at USAISEC has been deploying the CBI backbone since 1995. Demonstrations of multimedia teleradiology will be been conducted over the CBI network. This paper presents data on the planned demonstrations.