Airborne Tactical Networks Research Articles

IDR: Intent‐driven routing strategy for reliable and cost‐effective multicasting in airborne tactical networks

AbstractTraditional multicast routing strategies can hardly meet the demanding requirements of multicasting mission assignment messages in airborne tactical networks. This letter proposes an intent‐driven routing strategy, termed as IDR, to realize reliable and efficient multicast. IDR exploits bit index explicit replication technique to encode not only the destination information but also the retransmission information into packet headers. If part of the multicast members failed to receive the packet, IDR can perceive the error and retransmit the packet to the precise set of nodes. Compared to the state‐of‐the‐art reliable multicast routing methods, IDR can enhance multicast retransmission success rate by about 10% or more and reduce retransmission overhead by around 50%.

Avoiding Detection by Hostile Nodes in Airborne Tactical Networks

Contemporary airborne radio networks are usually implemented using omnidirectional antennas. Unfortunately, such networks suffer from disadvantages such as easy detection by hostile aircraft and potential information leakage. In this paper, we present a novel mobile ad hoc network (MANET) routing protocol based on directional antennas and situation awareness data that utilizes adaptive multihop routing to avoid sending information in directions where hostile nodes are present. Our protocol is implemented in the OMNEST simulator and evaluated using two realistic flight scenarios involving 8 and 24 aircraft, respectively. The results show that our protocol has significantly fewer leaked packets than comparative protocols, but at a slightly higher cost in terms of longer packet lifetime.

Dynamic Reliability-Aware Virtual Network Embedding for Airborne Tactical Networks

Airborne tactical networks (ATNs) built on network virtualization (NV) can enable efficient information sharing for network-centric warfare by breaking the tight coupling between applications and network infrastructure and thus solving the network ossification problem. With dynamic changes during military missions, the application of virtualization is challenged by the changing demands on network resources when instantiating multiple virtual networks (VNs) on a shared substrate network (SN), known as virtual network embedding (VNE). However, existing dynamic VNE algorithms, mostly designed for wired networks, focus on the dynamic changes of single VN and do not consider the dynamic changes of different VNs. The proper processing of changes of different VNs is beneficial to improve the embedding profits of VNs. On these backgrounds, we investigate the dynamic wireless VNE that processes the dynamic changes of different VNs in the wireless environment of ATNs. A relationship matrix-based dynamic wireless VNE (DWVNE-RM) algorithm is proposed in order to maximize the acceptance ratio of VN requests. The dynamic changes of different VNs are classified into negative changes (requiring resource) and positive changes (releasing resource). Then, the relationship matrix between negative and positive changes is constructed to properly process the resource relationship among different changes in order to improve the acceptance ratio. In addition, the complex interference of ATNs is considered in the mapping or remapping of virtual nodes and links to improve the reliability. Through extensive simulation, DWVNE-RM is compared with multiple existing dynamic algorithms and outperforms over others.

GOR: Group-oblivious multicast routing in airborne tactical networks under uncertainty

Disseminating mission assignment messages always requires effective and flexible multicast routing scheme design in airborne tactical networks, in particular, when the multicast group members are under uncertainty. Traditional IP multicast routing strategies have little regard for the uncertainty of multicasting in airborne tactical networks, wherein the multicast groups are highly unpredictable and are changing over different sessions. In this work, we present a group-oblivious multicast routing strategy, termed as GOR, to hedge against the uncertainty of multicasting in airborne tactical networks. GOR exploits Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER) technique for the sake of stateless multicast. In order to minimize multicast delay, GOR re-formulates the hierarchical deployment of BIER into a modified group Steiner tree problem for a better routing. Both analytical and experimental results demonstrate that the presented GOR can provide reasonably better multicast performance across all possible sets of group members.

Fault-Tolerant Embedding Algorithm for Node Failure in Airborne Tactical Network Virtualization

Airborne tactical networks (ATNs) are driving the promising development of Internet of Battle things by enabling efficient information sharing, which is impeded by the network ossification problem that is deep-rooted in the tightly coupled network architecture. As a solution, network virtualization (NV) can break the tight coupling between applications and network infrastructure, providing a more flexible and scalable architecture for ATNs. With complex interference and malicious attacks, the application of NV is challenged by network failures when instantiating multiple virtual networks on a shared substrate network, which is known as survivable virtual network embedding (SVNE). However, existing SVNE algorithms, mostly designed for wired networks, are not necessarily optimal for the virtualization of ATNs due to the complex wireless interference. To this end, a fault-tolerant SVNE algorithm, termed SVNE-FT, is proposed to recover virtual networks from single node failure (end or switching node failure) under the wireless interference. To end node failure, SVNE-FT firstly adopts a novel node ranking approach to select reliable substrate nodes for virtual nodes and then remaps the failed virtual nodes, affected by node failure, by releasing part of the substrate paths to improve the resource utilization. In addition, to switching node failure, it adopts the improved pre-configured cycle (p-Cycle) technology to augment the reliable link mapping with differentiated p-Cycles that protect switching node from node failure and reduce the resource consumption of backups. Numerical simulation results reveal that SVNE-FT outperforms typical and latest heuristic SVNE algorithms under the complex interference of ATNs. For instance, average acceptance ratio of virtual networks improves at least 12%.

A highly reliable embedding algorithm for airborne tactical network virtualization

The evolution of airborne tactical networks (ATNs) is impeded by the network ossification problem. As a solution, network virtualization (NV) can provide a flexible and scalable architecture where virtual network embedding (VNE) is a key part. However, existing VNE algorithms cannot be optimally adopted in the virtualization of ATN due to the complex interference in air-combat field. In this context, a highly reliable VNE algorithm based on the transmission rate for ATN virtualization (TR-ATVNE) is proposed to adapt well to the specific electromagnetic environment of ATN. Our algorithm coordinates node and link mapping. In the node mapping, transmission-rate resource is firstly defined to effectively evaluate the ranking value of substrate nodes under the interference of both environmental noises and enemy attacks. Meanwhile, a feasible splitting rule is proposed for path splitting in the link mapping, considering the interference between wireless links. Simulation results reveal that our algorithm is able to improve the acceptance ratio of virtual network requests while maintaining a high revenue-to-cost ratio under the complex electromagnetic interference.

A Reliable Interference-Aware Mapping Algorithm for Airborne Tactical Network Virtualization

Airborne tactical networks (ATNs) is driving the growing development of network-centric warfare by maintaining coverage and providing reach-back to military units. However, the key function of ATNs is impeded by the network ossification that is deep-rooted in the tightly coupled, vertically integrated architecture of traditional ATNs. Network virtualization (NV) can provide a more flexible and scalable ATN architecture as a solution, breaking the tight coupling between applications and network infrastructure. One important aspect of NV is virtual network embedding (VNE), which instantiates multiple virtual networks on a shared substrate network. However, existing efforts are not necessarily optimal for the virtualization of ATNs due to the absence of QoS-compliant capacity for the complex interference in air-combat field. To tackle this difficulty, a reliable interference-aware VNE algorithm, termed VNE-RIA, is proposed to provide reliable guarantee in the coordinated node and link mapping for various airborne tactical virtual networks (ATVNs). In the node mapping, the VNE-RIA adopts a novel node ranking approach to rank all substrate and virtual nodes, considering the complex interference including link interference, environmental noise and malicious attacks. In the link mapping, an improved anypath link mapping approach, based on the anypath routing scheme, is adopted to improve the reliability and efficiency of mapping virtual links by exploiting the unique features of wireless channels and the influence of different transmission rates. Numerical simulation results reveal that VNE-RIA algorithm outperforms typical and latest heuristic wireless VNE algorithms under the complex electromagnetic interference of ATNs.

Network Monitoring Information Collection in the SDN-Enabled Airborne Tactical Network

Aviation swarm is considered to be a promising organization of air combat forces to execute combat and noncombat air missions. As a critical component of an aviation swarm, airborne tactical network (ATN) provides the communication capability. Considering the deficiencies of today’s ATNs, it is unable to meet the communication demands of an aviation swarm, which motivates us to employ the software-defined networking (SDN) paradigm and design a SDN-enabled airborne tactical network (SD-ATN). For the SDN paradigm, network monitoring information (M-info) is the source of knowledge that forms the globe network view of the control plane; therefore, how to ensure that the control plane collects M-info from the data plane in a reliable and real-time way is a fundamental problem of designing the SD-ATN. To address this issue, a transmission framework called the MCF-SD-ATN is first designed, which makes it practical to provide dedicated quality of service (QoS) guarantees for the M-info collection. Then, a communication protocol called the MCP-SD-ATN is designed to implement the M-info collection work based on the MCF-SD-ATN. We implement the MCF-SD-ATN and the MCP-SD-ATN in EXata 5.1 for simulation. Simulation results show that the proposed solution is appropriate for M-info collection in the SD-ATN.

A MAC Protocol Based on RS-Polar Coding for Airborne Tactical Networks

For the features of high speed moving, sparse distribution, diversity of data service, etc., and high reliability and low latency of QoS demand when transmitting time-sensitive information in airborne tactical networks, we present a random access multi-channel medium access control protocol based on RS-Polar coding technology. In the protocol, by adopting error correcting coding technology of RS-Polar cascaded, the multi-packet reception technology, it can ensure the real-time and reliability of packet transmission without the use of channel reservation and time-slot allocation, and improve the network throughput effectively. By establishing the channel collision model and the multi packet reception model in the bursts propagation stage, the mathematical expressions of packet success probability, packet end-to-end delay and network throughput are derived. The simulation results show that packet end-to-end delay of the protocol is less than 2ms, and when the load is less than 2000 packet/s, the packet success probability is higher than 99%, so the protocol can meet the performance requirements of the airborne tactical network effectively.

A Scheme for Improving the Communications Efficiency Between the Control Plane and Data Plane of the SDN-Enabled Airborne Tactical Network

With the battlefield becoming more challenging, the aviation swarm is considered a promising organization of air combat forces to execute both combat and non-combat air missions. As a critical component of the aviation swarm, the airborne tactical network (ATN) provides the communications capability, enabling information sharing between both manned and unmanned military aircrafts as well as surface and ground platforms. The deficiencies of legacy ATNs, particularly their inability to meet the communications demands of the aviation swarm, motivated us to employ the software-defined networking (SDN) paradigm to the ATN and to design an SDN-enabled ATN (SD-ATN) for the aviation swarm. For the SDN paradigm, the communications efficiency between the control plane and the data plane directly impacts the normal operations of the network, raising a fundamental problem of designing the SD-ATN, which is that how to ensure the QoS requirements of the non-elastic information transmitted between the control plane and the data plane (non-elastic C/D information) is met. To address this issue, a transmission framework is first proposed to make it practical to provide dedicated QoS guarantee for the non-elastic C/D information. Then, a communication protocol is designed based on the proposed framework, aiming at transmitting the non-elastic C/D information in a reliable and real-time manner. The simulation results show that, in the aviation environment, our scheme does improve the transmission efficiency of the non-elastic C/D information, which performs better than legacy solutions.

A Novel Statistical Multi-Channel Busy Recognition Mechanism in the MAC Layer for Airborne Tactical Networks

The traditional MAC protocol in ad hoc networks includes carrier sensing to judge the busy/idle state of a channel. However, in airborne tactical networks, the results of carrier sensing are usually inaccurate due to the wide distribution of nodes, large communication distance, and high-dynamic network topology, and the carrier sensing causes a large transmission delay and low channel utilization ratio. In this paper, we propose a novel channel busy recognition mechanism combined with auto regressive (AR) forecasting, namely, L-steps-revise AR (LS-AR). LS-AR predicts the number of bursts in the current time frame based on the number of bursts received in previous time frames, and the predicted number of bursts determines the channel busy/idle state. The difference between the predicted value and the true value serves as the means for correcting the next prediction. This mechanism avoids the delay caused by carrier sensing, improves the channel utilization ratio and provides a more accurate judgment to enable different priority packets to access a channel. The simulation results show that the algorithm can accurately predict the channel load and meet the requirements of the MAC protocol in airborne tactical networks.

Architecting Technology Transition Pathways: Insights from the Military Tactical Network Upgrade

As engineering systems become more and more complex, technology transition increasingly involves deploying an upgraded subsystem across a legacy network. This mode of upgrade presents new challenges for systems architects concerned with maintaining value over multiple infused technical changes. This paper explores the dynamics of technology transition in path-dependent infrastructure systems. It uses a model-based case study of the envisioned military airborne tactical network upgrade as a basis for developing guidelines for effective transition design. Based on the natural diffusion dynamics of the system we identified an inherent tradeoff between upgrade cycle and sustained capability levels. In other words, assuming even weakly exponential growth in demand, there is a relationship between timing of infusion and longevity of benefit. As a result, a less capable upgrade, deployed expediently can do more good than a more sophisticated upgrade that can only be integrated in the next block upgrade. In addition, by conceptualizing the transition path as a design lever, two dimensions of problem decomposition can be exploited to mitigate transition barriers: 1 self-contained subnetworks can provide a proving ground for full-system future benefits in order to mitigate stakeholder resistance; and 2 the technical system can be designed for evolvability, making it possible to stage deployment in the technical dimension as well.

Design considerations for next-generation airborne tactical networks

Airborne tactical networks (ATNs) have provided protected air-to-air communications for military aircraft for several decades. To support emerging and future warfighter needs, the next generation of systems will require significant improvements to provide higher capacity, longer range, greater flexibility, and increased interoperability. Governed by domain characteristics such as long transmission ranges, low-to-medium data rates, latency constraints, and link protection needs, the air tactical domain poses several unique requirements on link and network design. Developing next-generation ATNs requires an understanding of the airborne tactical domain, including the design constraints and challenges at various layers of the network stack. In this article, we provide an overview of the unique domain characteristics of ATNs and highlight the key design challenges and research areas associated with the physical, link, and network layers.

Enabling next generation airborne communications [Guest Editorial

Due to the increased needs for sharing information among airborne platforms (both manned and unmanned) as well as the desire to use an airborne infrastructure to rapidly deploy communications capabilities to ground-based users in disaster areas, there has been a renewed interest in the research, design, and development of airborne communications networks. Airborne networks are mobile networks characterized by their high aircraft speeds and platform dynamics, long line-of-sight transmission ranges, and significant cost of integration for communication systems. This Feature Topic, Enabling Next Generation Airborne Communications, considers several types of airborne communications systems including air traffic management (ATM) systems, networks of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and military airborne tactical networks.

전파 지연이 긴 공중 전술 TDMA 네트워크에서 송신자 간 거리 기반 보호 시간 제어 기법

Airborne tactical networks is used to air-to-air or air-to-ground operation and have a large propagation delay. All nodes share the data by using TDMA-based broadcasting. In airborne tactical networks, each time slot needs the guard time to ensure the broadcasting because the collisions occur due to the large propagation delay. However, the channel utilization of the networks can be greatly degraded due to the waste of guard time. In this paper, we propose Inter-Transmitter Distance-Based TDMA (ID-TDMA) scheme which ensures the broadcasting while improving the channel utilization by reducing the guard time with the inter-transmitter distance information. The proposed scheme shows the effectiveness through the performance evaluation.