Design of an adaptive configuration management architecture for tactical battlefield networks

Management of tactical battlefield networks presents a host of challenges. The challenges arise due to the volatile and sometimes, unpredictable nature of these networks. This is because, in a battlefield environment, the network elements (switches/routers) can appear and disappear sporadically, due to jamming, hostile attacks, etc. This results in sporadic changes in the network connectivity. Furthermore, mission re-assignments can occur and may also result in frequent traffic pattern shift. Thus an auto-configuration management system that can adapt to the dynamic network conditions is extremely important. In this work, we have designed an adaptive configuration management system (ACMS) that is sensitive to the battlefield dynamics. We use the concept of directory service systems to facilitate automated configuration management. We have also developed an initial design framework of a simulation model that can be used to demonstrate our ACMS design