A Reliable Interference-Aware Mapping Algorithm for Airborne Tactical Network Virtualization

Abstract

Airborne tactical networks (ATNs) is driving the growing development of network-centric warfare by maintaining coverage and providing reach-back to military units. However, the key function of ATNs is impeded by the network ossification that is deep-rooted in the tightly coupled, vertically integrated architecture of traditional ATNs. Network virtualization (NV) can provide a more flexible and scalable ATN architecture as a solution, breaking the tight coupling between applications and network infrastructure. One important aspect of NV is virtual network embedding (VNE), which instantiates multiple virtual networks on a shared substrate network. However, existing efforts are not necessarily optimal for the virtualization of ATNs due to the absence of QoS-compliant capacity for the complex interference in air-combat field. To tackle this difficulty, a reliable interference-aware VNE algorithm, termed VNE-RIA, is proposed to provide reliable guarantee in the coordinated node and link mapping for various airborne tactical virtual networks (ATVNs). In the node mapping, the VNE-RIA adopts a novel node ranking approach to rank all substrate and virtual nodes, considering the complex interference including link interference, environmental noise and malicious attacks. In the link mapping, an improved anypath link mapping approach, based on the anypath routing scheme, is adopted to improve the reliability and efficiency of mapping virtual links by exploiting the unique features of wireless channels and the influence of different transmission rates. Numerical simulation results reveal that VNE-RIA algorithm outperforms typical and latest heuristic wireless VNE algorithms under the complex electromagnetic interference of ATNs.

Keywords

• Airborne tactical network
• network-centric warfare
• network virtualization
• virtual network embedding
• transmission rate