TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Battlespace, Human Systems

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: II, III, IV; PEOs Space, C4I, IWS, EIS; PMWs 150, 160, 760, 790, SPAWAR 056

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: Develop a tactical, self-organizing, self-healing, low-bandwidth Mobile Ad Hoc Mesh Network (MANET) that can support a distributed database. The MANET must support fixed, control bandwidth overhead for the routing protocol regardless of network size and be available both low and high-bandwidth links including mobile nodes and fixed wireless links.

DESCRIPTION: Develop a self-organizing, self-healing, low-bandwidth distributed database without a central point of failure or reliance on servers. Any subset of nodes should be able to separate from the network and share information. Broken connectivity will not automatically result in the loss of database capability for the warfighter.

PHASE I: Develop the conceptual framework and demonstrate the feasibility of a scalable self-forming database that meets the following criteria:
1) Distributed database "network" scalable to hundreds of thousands of nodes.
2) Bandwidth usage remains fixed at a minimal percentage regardless of network size.
3) Allow participation by reduced capacity nodes, such as sensors and handheld computers (PDA�s, Blackberry�s, etc.).
4) A subset of nodes must be able to function in the same manner as they would in the larger network. When no communication with the main network is possible, any subset of nodes can separate from the main network and still function in the database.
5) Every node performs the same actions. No special nodes (such as servers) are required that operate in a substantially different manner from other nodes in the network.
6) Every node must be able to both add information to the network and search the network for information.
Make use of Navy resources to develop a thorough understanding of the operational environment and deployment scenarios. Particular emphasis will be paid to determine both the average and worst case scenarios.

PHASE II Prototype the self-organizing database and develop a simulation that mimics the operational environment as closely as possible. It will include both fixed and mobile nodes with varying bandwidths. Demonstrate the feasibility of integrating several ad hoc mesh networks (of different network types) into one network. Use the simulation to test varying data loads and mobility patterns. Expected performance for both average and worst case networks will be compared. Key metrics such as packet delivery ratios, latency and jitter will be recorded. Comparisons will be made against AODV, DSDV and any other protocols available in the simulation suite.

PHASE III: Deploy the prototype in a low-bandwidth, wireless network to test the self-organizing database in typical environments. Bandwidth may vary from 10Kbit to 1000Kbit but control bandwidth usage must be within five to fifteen percent. Integrate out of range nodes into the distributed database by positioning the nodes in a series of hops configuration and test the throughput through multiple hops. Test the systems effectiveness in application sharing by having the Navy provide a list of legacy, single-user applications to be integrated into a Common Operational Picture (COP). Test the protocol in a live network demonstration for 1) Radio Compatibility and Efficiency Analysis.
and test the throughput through multiple hops.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Industries and social agencies (police, fire, CIA, FBI, hospital emergency response, etc.) will benefit from a self-organizing distributed database. Oil and gas industries require hundreds of thousands of sensors and wireless devices that would benefit from a self-organizing database.
The successful implementation of the distributed database for Blue Force will generalize to courier companies and other location dependent services. Police and fire fighters could maintain a distributed real-time database for every unit to track events as they unfold. This would have been enormously helpful during the attacks the World Towers on September 11, 2002.
A self-organizing, self-healing, MANET distributed database would assist Emergency response sensors and wireless devices to monitor unfolding events in natural and manmade disasters. This distributed database would have been enormously helpful during the Hurricaine Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

REFERENCES:
1. Bikram S. Bakshi , P. Krishna , N. H. Vaidya , D. K. Pradhan, Improving Performance of TCP over Wireless Networks, Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS '97), p.365, May 27-30, 1997

2. Josh Broch , David A. Maltz , David B. Johnson , Yih-Chun Hu , Jorjeta Jetcheva, A performance comparison of multi-hop wireless ad hoc network routing protocols, Proceedings of the 4th annual ACM/IEEE international conference on Mobile computing and networking, p.85-97, October 25-30, 1998, Dallas, Texas, United States

3. Holland, G. and Vaidya, N. 1999. Analysis of TCP performance over mobile ad hoc networks. In Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM/IEEE international Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (Seattle, Washington, United States, August 15 - 19, 1999). MobiCom '99. ACM Press, New York, NY, 219-230.

4. F. Kordon and Luqi, "An Introduction to Rapid System Prototyping", IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol. 28, No. 9, September, 2002, pp. 817-821

5. Luqi. Software Evolution Through Rapid Prototyping. IEEE Computer. May, 1989.

6. Luqi and Berzins, V. Rapidly Prototyping Real-Time Systems. IEEE Software. September, 1988

KEYWORDS: Distributed Database; MANET; Scalable; Collaborative; Heterogeneous; ad hoc mesh network; low bandwidth

TPOC: Jeff Besser
Phone: (858)537-0122
Fax:
Email: [email protected]

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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