Tactical Router Interoperability: Concepts and Experiments

Interoperability on the lower tactical levels, e.g. in a multinational battalion or team, poses challenges because of the high degree of mobility and limited data capacity at the tactical edge. Enabling such multi-national teams with direct connectivity can be beneficial since it allows the combination of capabilities from multiple nations and shortens reaction times compared to traditional hierarchical communication models. One target approach for interoperability on these levels is the realization of an IP-based tactical coalition network, in which nations can use different radio equipment, as well as different tactical routers. This paper provides an overview of routing architecture approaches to create heterogeneous tactical networks and focuses on tests and experiments that have been carried out during CWIX 2018 for one of these approaches. In these tests The Netherlands and Germany have shown that multiple national routing domains can be connected via both an embedded and an external route redistribution interface to create IP connectivity between units at the lower tactical level. This approach requires a connected coalition routing domain to which national routing domains connect. The results of the tests can provide input for discussion towards an FMN specification for mobile tactical networks.