Tactical Topology Optimization Methodology for Slice Aware and Reconfigurable Battlefield Networks

Current and next generation tactical battlefield networks are congested with an overwhelming number of network devices that vie for bandwidth in an effort to push video, voice, and encrypted traffic from the tactical edge back to commanders to support the execution of mission objectives. The problem of tactical network over-saturation is real [1], and is only getting worse with projected network demands by 2030 [2] and beyond. There is a critical need for automated, fast, and trustworthy network design optimization techniques to address situations where there are too many devices to add to the network, and intelligent trade-offs must be made to determine which devices are added to the network from a mission-centric point of view. In this paper we describe our contribution to solving that problem with a methodology that can be used by Warfighters in the Joint All Domain Command & Control (JADC2) construct to automatically generate an optimized tactical battlefield network. We formulate an optimization problem based upon the fractional knapsack algorithm to maximize the number of devices associated to a slice-aware tactical network under the constraints of quality of service (QoS) requirements and available network bandwidth. Our goal is to generate components for our larger tactical network optimization framework [3], and as such we present a proof of optimal network resource allocation to substantiate the algorithm's correctness. Our experiments and analysis show that this component will contribute to increased resiliency, robustness, and cyber security of JADC2 tactical networks, and is designed to be applied in use cases where Warfighter network planners can easily employ this methodology to quickly design, deploy, or reconfigure tactical networks.