A Control Plane Architecture for Mobile Free Space Optical Network and Directional RF MANETs

As the traffic demands for tactical military operations increase and operational scenarios depend increasingly on robust, high speed inter-domain communication and inter-theater data transfer, military networks will likely rely on directional networking technologies. Networks with free space optical (FSO) and directional RF links provide higher data rates, secure operation, and frequency reuse. Forming and maintaining the network with directional links is, however, quite challenging due to a number of issues including the link fragility, the difficulty in pointing and tracking, and network/node discovery. In this paper an end-to-end systems architecture approach is presented which identifies and addresses critical technology challenges for mobile directional networks. In particular, this paper discusses network formation and scalability issues, dynamic topology control, algorithm and protocol requirements, distributed control plane function, control signaling schemes, and technology diversity.