In the example that follows there are have two Telestra MBV platforms. Each platform has a model which contains two link 16 terminal/radios.

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Given the above setup, the following will describe how link 16 data will flow from one terminal to another terminal. The link 16 data flow diagram below shows an example of link 16 data being passed from one terminal to another.

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The first thing you need to do is initialize all of the terminals. In our example setup there are four terminals, two per Telestra. To initialize the terminals, an ATIM 1 message is sent from the host to the Telestra; this is done four times (one for each terminal). The details of the ATIM 1 message are shown in the ICD (32k PDF). The terminal is setup with regards to power, communications mode, TSA mode, primary terminal mode, etc.

The next step is to setup the terminal's NPG time slots. The NPG time slots are setup through an ATIM 2 message (see ICD - 32k PDF). In the data flow example above, all four terminals are setup on NPG #1 and only terminals 1 and 3 are setup on NPG #2. Terminals 1 and 3 will each require two ATIM 2 messages, while terminals 2 and 4 will only require one ATIM 2 message. The ATIM 2 message will set up the Time Block Assignment which includes the NPG number, buffer size, net number, TSEC and MSEC CVLL, set number, etc.

After the terminals are initialized and the time slots/NPGs are setup, the terminals are now capable of sending data to and from each other. Note that once the terminals are setup, they will send out link 16 formatted Tx PDUs. This is the mechanism that allows the terminals to communicate across the DIS network.

In the example above, the user wants to send data on NPG #1 from terminal 1. To send the data, send an ATIM #3 message to terminal 1, NPG #1. Terminal 1 is part of NPG #1, therefore it will forward the J-message data to all other NPG #1 terminals.

In the first data example, terminal 2 receives the J-message data locally and sends it out to its host (host 1). Terminals 3 and 4 receive the Link 16 signal PDUs from the DIS network. These terminals then send the J-message data to their host (host 2).

In our second data example, the user wants to send data on NPG #2 from terminal 1. To send the data send an ATIM #3 message to terminal 1, NPG #2. Terminal 1 is part of NPG #2, therefore it will forward the J-message data to all other NPG #2 terminals. In this example, only terminals 1 and 3 are part of NPG #2, so only terminal 3 will receive the J-message data and send it to its host (host 2).