SBIR-STTR Award

The object of this project is to develop a Nomadic Router that enables rapid deployment as a communication network in any environment with little or no fixed infrastructure. The Nomadic Router is a device which adaptively supports heterogeneous military-specific and Commercial Off- the-Shelf (COTS) host computing devices, terminals, and communication devices with various multimedia traffic capabilities. The host and communication devices do not have to directly support the rapid deployment functionality. The Nomadic Router distributively and intelligently establishes a wireless (or wired) communication link between the host device and the desired communication system while performing configuration, security, multishop routing, and network level data transmission over various communication devices. The Nomadic Router performs all the necessary network creation and processing automatically to remove configuration and system support from the host system or user. This effort will utilize, as much as possible, existing and emerging wireless communication systems, and routing protocols. This research and development effort will include the design, evaluation, and prototype of a set rapidly deployable small routers which will allow various mobile computing devices such as or soldier dynamically each of which will initialize into and utilize a dynamic environment.

In Phase I of this project, a small portable low power router was designed capable of connecting into or of creating an ad-hoc wireless inter-network. The nomadic router supports heterogeneous network environments including wired, infrared, and single and multihop wireless digital radios. Each nomadic router utilizes a lower power microcontroller to provide complete TCP/IP compatibility for heterogeneous portable terminals/hosts independent of the host's operating system, hardware, and processing capabilities. The communication coprocessor ability built into each nomadic router dramatically reduces overall power consumption and increases reliability for deploying wireless multihop networks by allowing the host (processor, memory, display, hard drive, etc.) to be cycled into lower power standby mode during wireless communication. In Phase II, we will implement and deploy a set of prototype nomadic routers within a campus size region to demonstrate that the routers meet the performance goals established in Phase I. Case studies will be performed (including complete documentation and results) of different topologies, modes of communication, and adaptability to host and network mobility and failure.