Structural dynamics of war game MANETs

Mobility strongly influences the results of mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) simulations. The MANET research community requires mobility models that exhibit characteristics of real networks. In this article, we present preliminary results of a case study based on a war game simulation exercise used for military training and planning purposes. Within the exercise, a wide area network is formed by the interconnection of MANETs, where each MANET is defined as a cluster of network-enabled military platforms and/or troops. Our results show that many assumptions of random mobility models, often used in the literature, do not hold in military MANETs. In particular, a military MANET is heterogeneous comprising mobile nodes of disparate communications capabilities and maneuverability, and is governed by military doctrine plus some randomness. We anticipate these findings will illuminate important characteristics of real MANETs and lead to the construction of improved mobility models.