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 messages 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