On The Application Of Cognitive Network Design To Manet Network Management

The requirement for resilient networks of the types envisioned in the NCW paradigm underscores the need for both a systematic network design tool and an adaptive network management system that implements the design and ensures that the design continues to support mission requirements when the network is in operation. The Cognitive Network Engineering Design and Analysis Tool (C-NEDAT), jointly developed by Telcordia and CERDEC, is an analytic design tool rooted in formal network science based approaches that can be used to rapidly create robust survivable MANET designs. The TITAN (Tactical Information Technology for Assured Networks) Network Management System (NMS), jointly developed by Telcordia and CERDEC, is a policy-driven network management system that enables automated management of tactical networks based on a given mission description. Typically, networks are designed based on a maneuver plan and the NMS automates the management of the resulting network by reconfiguring the network in real time based on monitored information and root cause analysis. However due to the unpredictable dynamics inherent in the military networking environment (e.g., loss of mission critical nodes, drastic deviations from the mission plan, etc), the NMS will encounter situations where the specified reconfiguration actions cannot restore the network state to one where mission requirements are met. Such a situation calls for a dynamic re-design based on the actual network state to provide a new configuration that can meet the mission requirements, which can be instantiated by the NMS. We address this critical need and provide, in this paper, a novel real-time application of C-NEDAT to complement the network management function of TITAN by providing the ability to re-design the network in real-time in order to meet the mission requirements.