Management of tactical ad hoc networks with C2 data models

The Army Research Laboratory is investigating the use of pre-loaded reference data for solving problems in tactical network management. A tactical database, such as the Joint Common Database (JCDB), contains information about the tactical situation that can be used manage the reconfiguration of ad hoc networks. Because the structure of current networks closely follows organizational structure, the concept of default operational organizations (DOO) is used as a starting point for this study. The DOO concept is used to address the problem of managing IP addresses in rapidly changing ad hoc organizations while minimizing overhead traffic on congested or low-capacity networks. This investigation applies the concept of universal surrogate keys (USK) to the management of network data within the JCDB based upon unique organization identifiers (Org-ID). The network management data can thus be linked to tactical situational awareness data and to operational plans and orders. Proposed modifications to the Joint Data Model, the IDEFIX data model associated with the JCDB, have been developed to accommodate network management data and to relate the data to ad hoc and default organizations. A working model of the proposed database design has been developed using the Microsoft Access™ database management system. It was populated with notional trial data, and exercised with simple network data management tools