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Tactical Mobile Mesh Networking

Whether trying to communicate in the mines of West Virginia, caves in Afghanistan, across urban downtown areas, inside and out of high rise buildings, from the interior of a large ship, across rugged border terrain or a large expanse of coastal seashore – the requirement for highly reliable, networked communications is emerging across a wide range of applications. The physical environment as well as the latency and connectivity requirements of such communication scenarios presents a multitude of design challenges including:

  • harsh propagation channels and interference
  • frequent and rapid changes in the network topology
  • the requirement for very robust, low latency multimedia information dissemination
  • the lack of centralized control
  • the lack of fixed infrastructure

Meeting these challenges simultaneously precludes the use of existing networking paradigms. The state-of-the-art in wireless ad hoc networks uses a strict layered approach motivated by the traditional wired stack. A typical approach to deploying a wireless network today requires:

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Using these approaches, traditional mesh networks assume stable network topology, ad-hoc networks assume relatively benign RF environments, and sensor networks assume low data rates and a high degree of delay tolerance. Fundamentally new approaches are necessary to address tactical mobile mesh networks – Triple play voice, video and data that works anywhere.

Solving Tactical Mobile Mesh Networking with DNA

TrellisWare has developed a unique tactical mobile mesh networking solution, called Dynamic Networking Architecture, or DNA, incorporating physical (PHY) and networking (MAC) co-optimized layers. The DNA approach is capable of up to 9 hops supporting network sizes to thousands of units. Through multicast networking, TrellisWare’s DNA mobile mesh covers wide regions (think urban sprawl), carrying cellular-quality voice and WiFi-class IP data (such as streaming video and IP file transfer at Mbps), while allowing units to move freely throughout the area without relying on fixed infrastructure.

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DNA is capable of instantly adapting and maintaining connectivity across a wide range of dynamically changing operating environments—from open line-of-sight to ultra-high multipath environments - supporting streaming media such as voice and video multicast data across multiple hops at very low latencies. The key is a cross-layer approach that iteratively integrates PHY and MAC processing eliminating the need for complex Layer 3 network maps.

At any individual node, TrellisWare’s DNA increases robustness by combining broadcast and multipath energy from all transmitting units in range, and using auto-relays on the same time-shared frequency. This approach significantly reduces multi-hop switching time and results in a significantly more predictable and reliable mobile mesh network.

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