Robust and Stealthy Networking Technologies for Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles

Networks of Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs) are expected to operate with increasing levels of autonomy to fulfill complex missions with minimal human intervention. From a networking point of view, the ensemble of UCAVs form a Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) with special characteristics. The overall objective of the effort (Phase I and Phase II) is to produce the Networked UCAV Robustness&Stealthiness (R&S) Balancing suite of waveforms (understood here as a collection of cross-layer protocols) which will make explicit use of the peculiarities of MANETs involving UCAVs. Tactical operations involving UCAVs are intrinsically stealthy, translating into the need for operating with the lowest possible transmission power. This has serious consequences for connectivity, as low transmission power limits the range of inter node links for multihop routing, which in its turn increases the probability of network partitioning. The Networked UCAV R&S Balancing suite of waveforms is produced by formally addressing the trade-off between connectivity and stealthiness as an optimization problem with node-dependent constraints. The protocol suite will also include provisions for nodes to operate in a purely passive mode for covert data exfiltration, as well as provisions for multi-path routing for minimizing probability of packet interception. The resulting protocol suite will utilize the Hazy-Sighted Link State (HSLS) dissemination scheme for distributing node connectivity and profiles. BBN Technologies will be a subcontractor in the effort, providing expertise in communication technologies and support for prototype development in Phase II.