A Tactical Data Network Bandwidth Design and Simulation Tool

The United States Army is engaged in an effort to use information systems to achieve tactical advantage over potential adversaries. Existing and future information systems place a significant load on the tactical network, resulting in a bandwidth management crisis, yet there is no prioritization, allocation, planning, or management tool available to simulate information flows over time for different communications configurations or operational conditions. This paper describes the development of such a tool, and focuses on the lower-level implementation of the communication network model and the supporting discrete-event simulation system. The higher-level components (the information systems that induce flows, the tactical entities using the information systems, and the influence of operational conditions on the information flows) are discussed briefly, as is the graphical user interface that allows the tactical planner to configure the system and set up the data capture. The system enables planners to rapidly determine viable configurations based on actual mission requirements and current systems availability that make more effective utilization of the available bandwidth.