Heterogeneous tactical radio networks with flexible IP-waveforms

It is becoming more and more obvious that the challenges regarding tactical radio communication cannot be met by a single static radio waveform. Instead, waveforms with different properties regarding range, robustness, and throughput need to be orchestrated. In order to benefit from the advantages of each radio technology integrated into the transparent tactical radio network, traffic engineering, policy based routing mechanisms as well as application awareness need to be established from a routing perspective. Radio technologies, on the other hand, should be easy to integrate, parameterizable, and designed in a modular way. Here, Software Defined Radio is one of the key enablers. This paper describes integration solutions for tactical radio technologies including both the routing as well as the radio side. In addition, we present a lab demonstrator that combines different MOTS and COTS technologies and solves several integration problems.