<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This paper summarises our work on policy-enabled inter-network routing for mobile networks and adapting information services to available networking resources in tactical networks. The work shows promise; both the policy routing and adaptive service infrastructure were part of successful interoperability trials in the Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXercise (CWIX) in 2021. This paper highlights our findings, how our work can support interoperability in NATO, and represents an enabler for future coalition operations. Although promising, the work involves research and concept development, and so, we anticipate its timeframe for seeing actual operational use as likely 3–5 years from now, typically targeting future developments within Federated Mission Networking (FMN). In our work, we have shown that we can build a federated mobile network by using a reactive routing protocol that supports policy routing in a network overlay for use in a coalition. Further, we have shown that we can leverage network-level information at the application level, through a so-called cross-layer optimization (CLO) approach. The CLO approach leverages a well-defined format, and we found that this format promotes interoperability and can be used in a multi-national setting. Since our work is experimental, we have also identified some shortcomings for future work.</p>
</abstract>

This paper summarises our work on policy-enabled inter-network routing for mobile networks and adapting information services to available networking resources in tactical networks. The work shows promise; both the policy routing and adaptive service infrastructure were part of successful interoperability trials in the Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXercise (CWIX) in 2021. This paper highlights our findings, how our work can support interoperability in NATO, and represents an enabler for future coalition operations. Although promising, the work involves research and concept development, and so, we anticipate its timeframe for seeing actual operational use as likely 3–5 years from now, typically targeting future developments within Federated Mission Networking (FMN). In our work, we have shown that we can build a federated mobile network by using a reactive routing protocol that supports policy routing in a network overlay for use in a coalition. Further, we have shown that we can leverage network-level information at the application level, through a so-called cross-layer optimization (CLO) approach. The CLO approach leverages a well-defined format, and we found that this format promotes interoperability and can be used in a multi-national setting. Since our work is experimental, we have also identified some shortcomings for future work.

Interoperable, adaptable, information exchange in NATO coalition operations

Journal of Military Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Interoperable, adaptable, information exchange in NATO coalition operations"}

This paper summarises our work on policy-enabled inter-network routing for mobile networks and adapting information services to available networking resources...

Traffic class with some example service types	Policy
High priority traffic that does not consume much data: Examples include BFT and chat without attachments, possibly also (low resolution) pictures associated with important alerts.	Rule 1
High data rate traffic: Examples include streaming video with good resolution, high-resolution pictures and chat with attachments.	Rule 2
Best effort traffic	Rule 3

Interface	Rule 1	Rule 2	Rule 3
The narrowband waveform interface	Allow	Deny	Deny
The wideband waveform interface	Allow	Allow	Allow
The interface towards the shared national resources (e.g., a tunnel)	Allow	Allow	Deny^*

Interoperable, adaptable, information exchange in NATO coalition operations

Article Category: Original Article

Published Online: Oct 01, 2022

Page range: 49 - 62

Received: Dec 10, 2021

Accepted: Jun 03, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jms-2022-0005

Keywords
tactical networks, Federated Mission Networking, routing, middleware

© 2022 Frank T. Johnsen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1

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Traffic classes and routing policy rules

Allow/deny policies for the defined rules on each interface

Interoperable, adaptable, information exchange in NATO coalition operations

Article Category: Original Article

Published Online: Oct 01, 2022

Page range: 49 - 62

Received: Dec 10, 2021

Accepted: Jun 03, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jms-2022-0005

Keywordstactical networks, Federated Mission Networking, routing, middleware

© 2022 Frank T. Johnsen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Traffic classes and routing policy rules

Allow/deny policies for the defined rules on each interface

Keywords
tactical networks, Federated Mission Networking, routing, middleware