Flexible Dynamic Initialization Product

Improvements in dynamic address assignment protocol (DHCP) are sought for US armed forces to accommodate inclusion of Unit Reference Numbers (URNs) and additional parameters during the address assignment process. One of the most crucial enabler in integration of large scale networks including MANETs and sensors with the armed forces is ease of use and reduction in effort required to deploy, monitor and maintain the networks. Significant improvements in the usability of networks can be realized by replacing the currently used static and primarily manual address assignment approach with a more efficient automated procedure. Further improvements in usability can be obtained if networks can be tuned to respond optimally to reconfiguration commands in the deployment environment. This SBIR aims at automating the task of dynamic address allocation and maintenance. To meet the goals of this SBIR, we propose a FLexible dynamic Initialization Product (or FLIP) in this proposal. FLIP includes DHCP modifications to include URNs in the configuration process and creation of DHCP classes/ group configurations using URNs and associated attributes. A key feature of FLIP is inclusion of a web-based graphical user interface for easy DHCP configurations.