Advanced Signal Processing for Wireless Communications Jerry Shapiro, Principal Investigator Problems:
The replacement of hard information binary block codes with soft-information-based turbo and low-density parity check codes changed point-to-point communications profoundly. Recent developments in communication theory make the time ripe for the development of soft-information-based networks. This project will attempt to solve pressing problems with current mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) by developing simple networks of intelligent nodes capable of advanced signal processing.
Objectives:
We will make fundamental contributions to signal processing for wireless communication that have broad impacts on MANETs, sensor networks, special communications, and low probability of intercept/low probability of detection (LPI/LPD) communications. We will develop capacity-approaching rateless coding solutions, combine rateless coding with cooperative diversity to achieve high-performance wireless ad hoc networks, and combine rateless coding with LPI/LPD techniques to produce a high-throughput waveform.
Activities:
We will develop signal-processing-based physical layer solutions to increase throughput and to simplify the higher layers of the network protocol. This approach to wireless network design reduces overhead, increases spectral efficiency in bandwidth-limited environments, increases power efficiency in power-limited and secure communications, improves connectivity, reduces network complexity, and shortens session setup time. We will explore how these techniques might affect information assurance and security.
Impact:
We expect our research to change the way engineers view the design of both mobile and sensor ad hoc networks. Additionally, we expect this work to have great value to our traditional customer base in special communications. We will submit contributions to standards bodies so that military requirements relevant to our research can be included.
Approved for Public Release: 08-0585 Presentation [PDF]
Airborne Network QoS Management Kevin Grace, Principal Investigator Problems:
While commercial routers and emerging military radios provide numerous QoS features, little understanding currently exists regarding how best to employ these features in an airborne networking environment. Detailed empirical testing with real radios (TTNT & INMARSAT), routers, and applications is needed in order to close this knowledge gap.
Objectives:
Our objective is to investigate through empirical testing the efficacy of existing QoS features within routers and radios, and to develop recommendations for employing them in an Airborne Network. In addition to developing router and radio configurations that are empirically shown to work well, particular attention will be paid to alleviating current limitations that hinder applying QoS to emerging web services.
Activities:
Detailed evaluations of TTNT-based QoS features and router-based QoS features will be conducted; test reports for each investigation will be generated. Development of a packet classifier and marker suitable for web service traffic will also be performed. The packet classifier software, as well as technical reports capturing our experimental results, will be made freely available to the military community.
Impact:
The insights and recommendations gained by conducting the QoS investigations will directly influence several programs including AWACS, JSTARS, BACN/OG, and AN. The packet classifier we develop will address a current limitation in providing QoS for Airborne Web Services, and web services in general. We will have the packet classifier operational within the Empire Challenge live-fly event next summer.
Approved for Public Release: 07-1438 Presentation [PDF]
Applications of Embedded Machine Translation for Operations and Intelligence Rod Holland, Principal Investigator
Applications of Network Coding in Military Wireless Networks Ki Basel, Principal Investigator Problems:
Military wireless networks suffer from inherent bandwidth limitations and low-link reliability. The inability to solve these problems will hamper effective transformation of Network Centric Warfare and Operation (NCOW) and will result in serious problems for operators on missions that do not have reliable means of communications.
Objectives:
Our objective is to enhance user communications in operational environments using Network Coding and provide higher capacity, better reliability, faster response time, and additional security. Our effort will allow us to recommend appropriate use of Network Coding to our users and pave the way for programs to implement this technology.
Activities:
We will select a candidate military system, examine the system characteristics and requirements, and determine appropriate performance criteria. We will design implementation details of the candidate system and develop corresponding performance models. We will compare the performances with and without the network coding and also assess design implementation variations.
Impact:
This work will achieve performance improvements required in military application by higher capacity, better reliability, and faster response time. This work not only directly benefits communication and networking programs with bandwidth limitation risk, but could also help any program relying on wireless communication infrastructures.
Approved for Public Release: 07-1531
Bi-Directional Forwarding Detection for Airborne HAIPE Internet Protocol Networks Glen Nakamoto, Principal Investigator Problems:
Current security policies do not permit a HAIPE device to pass signaling information from the ciphertext (CT) side. As a result, current HAIPE devices block all conventional signaling protocols. Plaintext (PT) side routers have no knowledge of link outages and continue to forward packets for many seconds or minutes before conventional timers determine that connectivity is gone, resulting in many lost packets.
Objectives:
Our objective is to develop and validate a solution that addresses the issues of long convergence time requirements particular to HAIPE implementation within airborne and mobile environments. The key issues that make this a challenging problem are the rapid rate of network infrastructure change and unstable communication links inherent in airborne networking.
Activities:
The initial phase will focus on a prototype that can convert Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) to the Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) protocol (which resides on the PT side of the network). The second phase will use a simulation scenario to drive CT-side signal fades to drive the BFD handshake (through the HAIPE), resulting in sub-second PT-side route table updates.
Impact:
The results of our work should reinstate the lost router signaling (due to HAIPE insertion and security policy) and improve the response time to both detect and react to this change (as a result of mobility or link outages). This will permit multi-homed mobile platforms to take full advantage of all available communication resources.
Approved for Public Release: 08-0141
Commercial Communications at the Tactical Edge for the Dismounted Soldier Robert McKee, Principal Investigator Problems:
The current JTRS acquisition model for ground tactical radios will provide affordable secure radios down to the Platoon Leader network. However, dismounted Soldiers and Marines at Squad and below need an affordable data-capable networking radio to support stability operations, referred to as a "RIFLEMAN Radio."
Objectives:
Affordable Type II/III secure netted voice radios for Squad Leader (possibly Team Lead) with display with Map capability. GPS generated Individual Location Information (ILI) message up to Squad Leader. Passing up in one direction Individual Location Information up to a "Classified" type I Platoon Leader. Network through an Information Assurance one way transfer solution.
Activities:
MITRE Industry Day, Integration, Demonstration, Test, Operational Test, Analysis, Report out.
Impact:
Were we able to provide a demonstrable prototype of a Type II/III secure voice radio network with Individual Location Information (ILI) suitable for operational evaluation?
Did we integrate unmodified commercial products to provide the needed capabilities (connectivity, performance, display, and GPS) or augment those capabilities to increase their effectiveness or adaptability to the environmental demands in which they will be used?
Were we able to validate an Information Assurance One Way Transfer (IA/OWT) solution that enables GPS ILI to move from a Type II/III "UNCLASSIFIED" network up to a Type I "CLASSIFIED" network?
Did we evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques with structured user technical experimentation, laboratory testing, and military operational testing at an integrated test facility?
Approved for Public Release: 07-1568 Presentation [PDF]
Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) Surfaces for Antenna Applications Steven Best, Principal Investigator Problems:
Omnidirectional and directional antennas often require a metal ground plane (typically a vehicular platform) for operation. The metal ground plane is significant in establishing the performance properties of the antenna. The metal ground plane limits or degrades the performance of the antenna, particularly its operating bandwidth and radiation patterns. The EBG surface is a replacement for the metal ground plane.
Objectives:
The objective of this MSR is to investigate, understand and characterize the interaction between an EBG surface and antenna so that a new EBG surface-antenna combination can be designed to mitigate the negative effects that a metal ground plane has on the performance properties of the antenna. A new EBG surface and antenna design will provide improved antenna performance.
Activities:
Activities include a review of the technical literature to understand the current state-of-the-art in this field. Using simulation and experiment, we will establish the baseline performance of a simple EBG surface antenna combination. Using simulations, we will design new EBG surfaces and antennas with the objective of reducing the antenna size and improving its performance. Design prototypes will be fabricated.
Impact:
When successful, the new EBG surface antenna design(s) will allow antennas to have reduced size and lower profile when installed on vehicular platforms. The EBG surface based antenna will offer improved performance in terms of operating bandwidth and radiation patterns. These designs can be used in a number of military systems requiring low profile, wideband antennas.
Approved for Public Release: 08-0288 Presentation [PDF]
Emerging Technologies for VLSI Applications Kevin Skey, Principal Investigator Problems:
Microelectronics technology advances at a very accelerated pace. Current design techniques offered by CAD tools do not address the design challenges generated by new semiconductor processes over the next 3-5 years. In order to incorporate these advances into an integrated circuit (IC) design flow, new CAD techniques and algorithms must be developed.
Objectives:
This project will research and develop microelectronics design techniques, software tools, and resources for the next-generation process technologies that will allow MITRE to explore the efficient architectures necessary for advanced systems needed by our sponsors.
Activities:
The project will design low-power solutions. We expect to make a contribution in this area by taking a systems perspective and optimizing across all domains. We will specify highly integrated and complex systems, and evaluate SystemC and other language alternatives for system design. We will also evaluate verification techniques necessary to validate the design before IC prototypes are built.
Impact:
The ability to design custom ICs enables MITRE to explore and suggest a broader range of architectures and implementations leading to small, practical solutions to the needs of our customers. This expertise also enhances our skills and practical knowledge of state-of-the-art microelectronics and enables our role as technical advisors to set the vision in a broad range of programs.
Approved for Public Release: 06-1222 Presentation [PDF]
Envisioning the Ether: The Battle Commander Spectrum Planner Thomas Jensen, Principal Investigator Problems:
Current spectrum management tools are inadequate and do not allow a Commander to understand spectrum usage or intelligently assign spectrum within an area of operation. Additionally, acquisition of accurate data, such as data related to spectrum-dependent device characteristics has proven difficult given the multitude of sources and formats and their reliability.
Objectives:
This MOIE will define data models and identify a path to advances in spectrum data standards, representation and storage. Additionally, the MOIE will develop a prototype planner for network configuration optimization that utilizes distributed data servers thus enriching the available information for decision making and efficient spectrum use.
Activities:
The development will utilize a modular approach to integrate key components such as: Data Models and Distributed Databases: Define a path to data standards, representation, and storage. Network Information: Provide capacity estimation to allow the planner to provision spectrum in areas with the greatest need. Geographic Information System (GIS) and Visualization: Merging geospatial capabilities within visualization tools.
Impact:
The outputs of this MOIE will serve as candidate data structures and a prototype tool for enhanced spectrum planning. Specific products from this MOIE can be directly inserted or transferred to the following: Operational Community (e.g., CENTCOM's J6); DISA/Defense Spectrum Organization (DSO) Spectrum Data Transformation project; Acquisition Programs (e.g., JTRS, FCS); Proposed DISA-led GEMSIS Program.
Approved for Public Release: 08-0321 Presentation [PDF]
Fleet Wireless Network Stability Chris Rigano, Principal Investigator Problems:
TCP is used for Transport; it was made for wired networks; it incorrectly perceives loss and congestion inherent in Naval Wireless, choking off IP bandwidth. Naval wireless connectivity is statically patched together on a case by case basis and requires constant manual intervention severely impacting IP.
Objectives:
Mitigate the effects of the connective instabilities inherent in the Navy and USMC wireless network connectivity infrastructure on IP network performance and reliability.
Activities:
Developing network & application-aware congestion control for an existing transport protocol alternative Negative Acknowledgement-Oriented Reliable Multicast (NORM), integrate it with Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN), and develop Reference Models and recommendations for a coherent approach for implementing routing, over heterogeneous links enabling link diversification and failover.
Impact:
Potential Technology Transitions to Dynamic Tactical Communications Networks (DTCN) PR09, Navy Tactical Networking POM-10 Candidate USMC CONDOR USMC, MAGTF C2, Navy CANES, Communications Airborne Layer Expansion (JCTD)
Approved for Public Release: 08-0296
Multiple Access Channel Coding for Interference-Limited Communications Robert Taylor, Principal Investigator Problems:
The proliferation of broadband wireless communication systems attempting to access an already crowded radio spectrum has made multiple-user interference the dominant limiting performance factor in today's wireless systems. Unfortunately, nearly all receivers are designed only for the noise-limited (Gaussian) single-user channel case and cannot handle arbitrary interference from other users, particularly those with different signal formats.
Objectives:
We will design, implement, and test a receiver that can jointly separate, equalize, and decode arbitrary wideband signals within an asynchronous multi-antenna multiple access channel. The receiver must separate common format signals for wireless network optimization and different format signals for eavesdropping applications. The target system will recover bit streams for all acquired signals of any type in the particular catalog.
Activities:
We will derive and simulate the optimal algorithms for channel estimation, source separation, equalization, symbol synchronization, and channel decoding. We will implement the algorithms on field-programmable gate array development boards and interface them to multichannel RF boards. We will experiment with a simple network (two transmit nodes and one receive node) and use the results to validate simulations and potentially unlock new theoretical concepts.
Impact:
Source separation allows for linear scaling of wireless network throughput capacity, since colliding packets can be perfectly recovered. Thus, this work could lead to a revolution in the physical layer for wireless networks. Collection platforms can extend their range from the targets, since the interference limitation will be removed. This can provide a solution for standoff eavesdroppers.
Approved for Public Release: 06-1408 Presentation [PDF]
Network Theoretic Approaches for Wireless Systems Randall Landry, Principal Investigator Problems:
Most networks exhibit complex behavior that is not well understood from a fundamental perspective. Wireless communications networks are no different in this respect. The complex dynamic behavior associated with wireless networks makes design and management of such systems difficult, particularly in the absence of a fundamental theoretical understanding of how these networks behave.
Objectives:
This project will produce new theoretical approaches for studying and analyzing wireless networks. Our approach will emphasize the importance of understanding performance bounds and their relationship to network predictability or, inversely, complexity. We will provide a framework from which to evaluate system design trades by defining and quantifying quality of service (QoS) functions and evaluating achievable QoS for various network operating conditions.
Activities:
The research plan involves moving from exploration and investigation of suitable models and analytical approaches to development of a network-theoretic methodology capable of answering the key questions and identifying design tradeoffs associated with complex wireless networks. We intend to collaborate with researchers engaged in network science and present our work at relevant conferences and in journals.
Impact:
Any future radio system with networking capabilities will rely heavily during design and development stages on the state of network theory at that time. Today, an absence of fundamental network-theoretic results and processes forces designers to rely on strict protocol layering and commercial-based protocols. This work will influence DoD programs in wireless networking and aid research in academia and industry.
Approved for Public Release: 08-0020 Presentation [PDF]
TCAP: Transforming Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) Routers for Airborne Platforms Peter Kuhl, Principal Investigator Problems:
The requirements for an airborne router are to interoperate with standard routing technology, route data over the platform's multiple links to maximize throughput and reliability, and detect and adapt to recurring link failures with minimal overhead. However, a COTS router cannot meet all these requirements; but through enhancements it is possible to meet them and provide a capable airborne router.
Objectives:
Our objective is to provide a dynamic routing capability across the services such as AWACS, JSTARS, and E-2 by transforming COTS routers for the platform. To enhance COTs routers, this project will look at ways to load balance across disparate links, to interface a COTS router to radios, and to optimize COTS router configurations for airborne platforms.
Activities:
We will be creating a non-equal cost multipath routing capability that will integrate with COTS routers thus providing load balancing and improved bandwidth utilization. Next, we will research and develop a suite of configuration scripts for an airborne specific COTS router configuration. Our final objective is to investigate options for a router-to-radio interface and make recommendations on next steps for creating such an interface.
Impact:
The result of this work will be a dynamic routing capability for airborne platforms. This improved COTS routing capability is well aligned to transition into ESC's 551 ELSW-led LOS/BLOS Airborne Networking Initiative. This work will also offer guidance to Air Force and Navy platform groups so that they can utilize the enhanced COTS routing to develop dynamic routing for the platform.
Approved for Public Release: 07-1506 Presentation [PDF]
What's Up Gold for Services-based Architecture Robert Pitsko, Principal Investigator Problems:
There are no decision support tools for visualizing / monitoring / wargaming of the specific service based exchanges in the context of BC capabilities for Tactical Operation Centers
Objectives:
To enhance ground combat commander's understanding of capability effects of different service/network employment courses of action to use as part of the operations and decision making process.
Activities:
Determine framework and logic that pins capability to service aggregation that will: " Stress the importance relating capability delivery to service / client locations " Provides consistent approach for network / knowledge managers to express and inform the operational decision making process
- Phase 1 (1Q08) -Capability Mapping / Logic development
- Phase 2 (2Q08) - Embed Logic into tool / Iterate with SME
- Phase 3 (3Q08) - Determine Use case and Wargame approach
- Phase 4 (4Q08) - Pilot tool with SME/Sponsor and iterate what if scenarios. Publish White Paper
Impact:
To enhance commander's understanding of Services effects of different service/network employment courses of action to use as part of the operations and decision making process.
Extend current thinking regarding capability delivery for Service Based Architectures
Approved for Public Release: 08-0062
Last Updated:05/05/2008 | ^TOP | 
