Command and Control of Dynamic Traffic Prioritization (C2DTP) to Enable Mission-Responsive Crypto-Partitioned Networks

ABSTRACT: Today"s data prioritization structures are designed to meet the needs of the mission as well as the technology permits a single"stack"of priorities is implemented and used to evaluate traffic relative to its competitors in the queue. But the missions of today"s Air Force continue to broaden including such disparate activities as traditional air supremacy, intelligence collection, humanitarian operations, missile defense, and others. Each mission is likely to place different emphasis on data of different types to best convey the information most relevant to mission success. Just as critically, the determination of the relevance of a particular piece of information to the mission may be dependent on details of the data itself, rather than simply the transport, protocol, source, or destination. For example, while contact reports are important, a contact reported outside the area of operations may be less important than for a contact approaching the force. Today"s prioritization rules are stratified by priorities whose granularity permits only comparisons between data types, and not their contents. A more flexible and capable system is needed to permit more intelligent and mission-oriented prioritization of data on Air Force networks. BENEFIT: The approach described in this proposal can be adapted to any dynamic network, either at a system/subsystem level or at an asset level. Regardless of the implementation point, it is supported by a coordinated multi-node management framework that can be applied to many disparate situations or network types. Examples of organizations that could apply a managed bandwidth allocation and prioritization tool include any location served by a limited bandwidth that aggregates data from multiple input sources. This includes aircraft communication systems, unmanned systems, shipboard radio rooms, and headquarters communications sites. The approach we are proposing is tailored to military systems due to the promulgation model for information priority profiles: this structure for command by a designated authority pervades the military, including autonomous or unmanned systems. Therefore we believe that for any case where an information exchange node is not guaranteed to be adequately serviced by its available communications resources, if there is a command and control (C2) structure in place, the approach described in this proposal could be applied with additional consideration only for the specific information types and integration with the targeted hardware and software environment. Possible applications focusing on a simple-to-use GUI to select data prioritization needs based on operator preference or predefined rule sets could be leveraged within several commercial ventures. VPNs depend on tunneling protocols that encrypt data at the sending end and decrypt at the receiving end, so having the benefit of prioritizing this data before encryption could increase the overall network throughput and reduce network latency. A CAD worker who uses a VPN to connect to his company"s internal network could set up a rule set to give a higher priority to CAD updates as opposed to emails and voice mail. A gaming network could also use a rule set to make reports about hacking attempts its highest priority. Additionally the flexibility of the GUI allows these rule sets to be changed when conditions change. Dynamic prioritization allows a user to adjust prioritization based on current or upcoming conditions. Just this feature along would be of great interest to many commercial endeavors.