Bandwidth Adaptability for Deployable Headquarters: Using A Limited Resourse to Best Military Effect

Abstract. Ready information flow is critical to the success of military operationsùcommanders need up-to-date information to make sound plans, which must be communicated without delay to relevant forces. Adequate communications bandwidth for these functions is normally available within and between fixed headquarters, but future deployable headquarters will have to operate using a variety of communications channels ranging from HF radio to satellite links. Such channels are characterised by widely varying latencies, error rates and bandwidths, with lack of available bandwidth the most prevalent constraint. Any problems here are compounded by a need to exchange information across levels of command and to operate in a hostile environment. Current C3I systems, their constituent COTS products and supporting communications infrastructures have a very limited ability to adapt co-operatively to changing network conditions. We propose an approach that integrates application, system and network policy expressions with the aim of facilitating the best outcome in terms of military objectives given orders of magnitude variation in network Quality of Service.