Intelligent content transformation in tactical wireless networks

Mobile tactical MANETs are interconnected via a quasi-static backbone network (QSN) that is relatively stationary and has substantial radio bandwidth capability. Because of high mobility and terrain sensitivity, the bandwidth available to mobile nodes within the MANET may vary significantly over time. During the periods where the bandwidth available is reduced, MANET nodes may be unable to handle the information load sourced from or distributed via the QSN. Furthermore, end-user devices and end-users themselves may have limited capability to receive/process data. Thus, the data delivered to tactical MANETs needs to be carefully managed. In previous work, we proposed Heterogeneous Intelligent Filtering (HIF) in multi-domain heterogeneous networks, for intelligent active filtering and transformation of the data to match network and end-user capacity. In this work, we report on extending HIF to militarily important applications such as XMPP-based chat, SOA Web-services, and VOIP applications. We also provide experimental results based on outdoor testing of the filtering and content adaptation capabilities of HIF agents deployed in an HMS radio inter-network at Ft. Monmouth, NJ.