Automatic vehicle navigation with bandwidth constraints

This paper introduces a new approach to manage network access in tactical environment for specific vehicles. These vehicles must ensure continuity of communications on the move with the command chain and with other units, like dismounted soldiers. Due to tactical mobility, path loss and versatile threats, vehicle navigation must be managed online according to communication connectivity, mission and operational constraints. The paper presents an on-line planning technique that optimizes navigation plans according to available communications. The navigation problem is modelled using constraint formulations to express both connectivity and operational requirements. Navigation plans are solved and optimized according to a combination of a metaheuristic and constraint solving techniques. Various forms of optimization strategies are compared and evaluated on realistic scenarios.