A Proposal for Coalition Networking in Dynamic Operational Environments

At present, military communications within battlefields are very restricted, both by policy and due to technology limitations. In Southwest Asia today, there are needlessly long and complex communications paths, often involving multiple relays and use of constrained-bandwidth MILSATCOM back-haul outside the theatre, when nearby forces could communicate directly via existing interoperable radios. This is a current problem for NATO and Coalition forces. The current Internet Protocol suite lacks core support for mobility, scalable support for multi-homed nodes, and does not provide the capabilities needed for optimal communications in forward operating areas. We propose a coalition-based, multi-homed approach lever-aging both local-area and wide-area connectivity, improving both the flexibility and robustness of communication, without conflicting with the security policy of sensitive communication. The Coalition Peering Domain (CPD), is a distributed, self-configuring architecture that supports the secure, collaborative networking relationships needed to provide this flexibility and robustness. The CPD facilitates the inter-connection of cooperating, but administratively separate, network segments. The CPD exploits multi-homed and multi-path communication to better-utilise all available connectivity. The Identifier-Locator Network Protocol (ILNP) provides native support for improved scalability in multi-homing and mobility, while easing use of network layer security and allowing inter-operation across different administrative domains. Our approach is compatible with current work in Mobile Ad-Hoc Networking (MANET). ILNP has excellent compatibility with IPv6: existing IPv6 backbone networks do not require any modification to carry ILNP traffic natively. There are practical, realistic and deployable engineering solutions to realise the CPD and ILNP within the framework of IPv6.