Gateways for mobile routing in tactical network deployments

Abstract

The US Department of Defense (DoD) is developing a Network Centric Warfighting (NCW) capability. Key to the deployment of NCW capabilities is the development of scalable networks supporting end user mobility. Initial network deployments operate either At-The-Halt (ATH) or On-the-Move (OTM) with preplanned movements. This is consistent with current networking capabilities with respect to large scale mobile network capabilities and protocols. However, future architectures and capabilities should allow for more flexible mobility models allowing for more flexible and robust NCW capabilities. We investigate hierarchical network models which are comprised of a high bandwidth, planned mobile core network interconnecting subtending more mobile end user networks. Standard IP routing and name and location services are assumed within the core network. The subtending and mobile end user networks rely upon a highly scalable (from a mobility perspective) Beacon-Based routing architecture. The interface between the core and subtending mobile networks relies upon network concepts being developed within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), specifically from IPv4 and IPv6 mobility and the Host Identity Protocol (HIP) rendezvous service for mobile networks. We discuss the advantageous of this architecture in terms of mobility, scalability, current DoD network plans and commercial protocol development.