Meanwhile, mobile forces lack the benefit of centralized network systems or established relays like the cell-phone towers used by commercial wireless companies to keep customers talking. The ad hoc piece of the project involves the ability to set up a network on the fly. Zeidler envisions a "self-organizing" network based on what he called "neighbor discovery," or identifying what units are around you at any given point that can be used to relay your information.

Although a soldier in a field may not be able to communicate directly with a commanding officer, there may be some other soldier nearby who can, according to Zeidler. "You're in a valley, but there's a guy up toward a hill that can see down into the next valley, so you go by him to get over the horizon," Zeidler said.

Zeidler has a long list of goals to achieve before DOD decides whether to continue funding the effort after three years. The list includes identifying a means for the ad hoc system to identify routes based not only on which pathways offer the best signal transmission, but also on which are available at a given time.

Zeidler said focusing only on the most ideal pathways could result in a decision for everyone in a task force to send information to a single radio receiver that is in the best place. "But if everybody sends all their transmissions through there, they're going to create overflow on that radio and drain his! battery fast," he said. The goal is to enable the mobile communicatio ns equipment to configure the most efficient routes automatically.

"Just like in your cell phone right now there's stuff going on that you're not really aware of," Zeidler said. "You talk, but you don't really control when the signals get sent."

Zeidler's team received word of the award about a week ago after first submitting a proposal last November. At the time, Zeidler was displaced from his Scripps Ranch home because of the October wildfires. Zeidler, who joined the university's faculty in 1989, has never received a MURI award before.

"I don't think anyone can expect to get it," Zeidler said. "It's very competitive."

T! he team includes UCSD faculty members Rene Cruz, Larry Milstein, John Proakis, Bhaskar Rao and visiting professor Michele Zorzi of the University of Padua, Italy. Faculty from UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside and Brigham Young University are also participating. Separately, professor Simon Haykin at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada will conduct research for the project with funding from the Canadian Defense Ministry.

The award is one of 31 across the country approved this year by DOD's multidisciplinary University Research Initiative program, and the only one in San Diego. The program is designed to unite researchers at several universities to study broad research topics that present opportunities for future defense applications.

The University Research Initiative was the subject of som! e debate last year after the Defense Department proposed to shift its management -- along with several other science and technology acquisition programs -- from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to the military services. Pete Aldridge, who was then the Pentagon's chief acquisition executive, said his office needed to shed layers, saying it had too many programs and too much money. But the proposal concerned advocates of increased funding for researching, including the Coalition for National Security Research in Washington, D.C., which said the services have historically under funded research. Congress approved shifting some of the programs in the fiscal year 2004 Defense Authorization Act. The university research program was split between the Navy, Army and Air Force.