DisService: Network state monitoring and prediction for opportunistic information dissemination in tactical networks

Information dissemination is extremely difficult in tactical edge networks, which provide one of the most challenging environments for communication. The extremely dynamic nature of the tactical environment makes dissemination algorithms based on overlay networks or epidemic routing ineffective, and calls for ad hoc approaches that can dynamically reconfigure the dissemination process, adapting it to the current network conditions. This paper presents the algorithms for opportunistic information dissemination adopted in the DisService project. In particular, the paper investigates what kind of knowledge can be inferred about the interaction between nodes in a tactical network and how to use that knowledge to improve data dissemination algorithms. The algorithms are tested in a NS3 simulated environment and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the DisService approach.