Foresight Wireless, LLC (Foresight) proposes a novel autonomous bi-focal cross-layer routing solution, DART, to meet the Air Forces objective, namely, to demonstrate novel IP routing protocols onboard satellites that would link user preferences and network conditions and improve end-to-end network performance, including heterogeneity of satellite nodes, interferences of satellite links, etc. The proposed DART is based on the Fault Tolerant Routing and QoS for Wireless Access technology developed by Prof. Jing Deng at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. DART combines routing and QoS provisioning to provide robust, autonomous and efficient routing for military communication applications of vastly disparate priorities and QoS requirements over heterogeneous satellite ad hoc networks. Moreover, DART due to its highly modularized design and flexible architecture allows easy application of High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryptor (HAIPE) and tailored implementation for SWAP constrained platforms. The DART solution, when proven feasible in the Phase I study for the Air Force application, has enormous potential for military and commercial applications. Foresight will develop prototype DART software in Phase II, and ensure its commercialization in Phase III and beyond.
Benefit: DART is a compelling technology for military and civilian applications. The DART cross-layer optimized technology enables IntServ level of services for military applications with disparate QoS requirements, provides efficient and effective reservation and routing, and offers route tolerance for satellites failures over heterogeneous MILSATCOM systems. The resultant increase in performance and reliability in satellite communications has far reaching implications for net-centric operations. In civilian arena, DART could be embedded in commercial satellite networks to provide IntServ level multi-media services as well as differential treatment for subscribers with subscription plans of different data rates.
Keywords: Autonomous Routing, Cross-Layer Design, Satellite Ad Hoc Networks, Qos Control And Routing, Robust Routing, Heterogeneous Networks, Manet.
