Analysis of Throughput-Constrained Tactical Wireless Networks

Communications networks supporting tactical military operations are often constrained by satellite throughput capacities. Using network architecture information and a traffic flow model based on packet captures from a large field exercise, we formulate and solve a multicommodity maximum flow problem (MCMFP) to approximate communications traffic within a tactical wireless network. The model provides a deterministic method of quickly identifying and analyzing network bottlenecks and quantifying the value of additional network throughput. We use this model to examine the interplay between a logical traffic model and the physical architecture used to support it. We also present a method for optimizing the performance of a network by re-arranging existing wireless links. To our knowledge, we are the first to use an MCMFP to identify network bottlenecks within a U.S. Marine Corps tactical wireless network using a traffic model based on actual packet captures.