Development of a Software-Defined and Cognitive Communications Architecture at CMRE

This paper presents an overview of the functionalities of the Cognitive Communications Architecture (CCA) that is currently under development at the NATO Science and Technology Organisation (STO) Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE). The CCA is designed to enable the deployment of advanced autonomous underwater solutions making use of smart, adaptive and secure underwater networking strategies. The CCA and the implemented network modules have been extensively tested, validated and improved during various at-sea campaigns conducted in recent years, involving CMRE and partners. The collected results show that the CCA is a robust, reliable and effective solution supporting underwater communications and networking. It provides various functions and services for the development of novel cognitive and secure communication strategies, such as a cross-layer networking functionality and the ability to easily integrate various existing communications technologies. These aspects are key enablers in the construction of a system that is robust to challenging conditions, such as those posed by varying channel conditions or adversarial attacks.