Design of IPv6 Tactical Network based on Commercial Technologies: Architecture, Routing, and Mobility Management

Abstract

To achieve information superiority in the theater of operations, establishing a robust communication infrastructure is unquestionably required. Although many studies related to tactical network architectures and requirements have been conducted, detailed technical approaches remain open research areas. In particular, routing and mobility management to ensure a robust communications infrastructure in a tactical network have not been studied extensively. In this paper, the architecture of IPv6-based tactical network is designed based on commercial technologies, which can be developed at a low cost and in short time. Major movement patterns of network nodes and networks in the tactical network are also taken into account. Based on the proposed architecture and movement patterns, a method of routing and mobility management is proposed. In addition, a tactical network testbed is simply established by implementing the proposed methods, and the functions of the routing and mobility management are also verified to work well in the testbed.