Then, end users retrieve their messages by accessing the hub across the Internet. In the Institute approach, the information is rebroadcast from the hub through a satellite to a selected transceiver, which stores the data on a local workstation, ready for immediate access. Other users then retrieve the FAQS data as necessary. This method allows the data to be received anywhere in the world, even without Internet access. An alternative, more conservative method of communication being considered by the Marine Corps is to use fielded radio equipment to transmit data from the fuel tanks to local collection sites.
Radio operators can then retransmit the information via radio to other sites.
Field demonstrations Limited field testing of the FAQS technology began in 2000. SwRI engineers successfully demonstrated the FAQS hardware for use in the collapsible fuel bladders and the EFS modules during the Combined Arms Exercise 7 at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California. During Foal Eagle, FAQS data were relayed from South Korea to San Antonio, demonstrating the ability of the satellite communication link to operate on a worldwide basis. Additional exercises to demonstrate FAQS are planned. For FAQS to be accepted by the military community, its ability to be integrated into the military's current and future logistic systems must be demonstrated successfully.