Connectivity augmentation in tactical mobile ad hoc networks

Tactical networks in urban environments are constrained by limited line-of-sight communication and frequent network partitioning. Moreover, energy efficiency for both communication and computation is a major concern as such networks are typically limited to battery-powered devices. Additional resources such as autonomous unmanned vehicles (UVs) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are available in today missions. In this paper we investigate the connectivity augmentation of platoon size networks by said network resources, especially UAVs. We propose an authentication and negotiation protocol to securely request information and services from said resources. Services potentially provided in considered scenarios can incorporate the forwarding of data with a certain bandwidth, information about the UV's primary mission or missions, or a communication back-link to an infrastructure network. We furthermore investigate a more sophisticated support by motional adjustment of the UAVs. The efficiency and efficacy of the proposed protocols is evaluated in an simulated small-unit tactical network operating in an urban environment.