Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
XLayer: A Cross-Layer Communications
Substrate for Tactical Environments
Marco Carvalho, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
University of West Florida
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Outline
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
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Motivation
Technical Approach and Design
Services and Applications
Related Projects and Transitions
Upcoming Experiments and
Demonstrations
Motivation
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
Project Objectives
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
Goal: To Investigate, design and
Implement a modular and cross-layer
communications substrate for Tactical
Environments.
Proposed Capabilities:
 Seamless IP-like communications
between nodes that may be
connected through heterogeneous
protocols and data links.
 Efficient and predictable mechanisms
for detection, addressing and
discovery of platforms and services.
 Monitoring of network and link
capacity and reliability, enabling
advanced QoS support and the online
adaptation of applications.
 Enhanced routing, transport and
dissemination mechanisms that are
tolerant to node failures, network
disruptions, and link delays.
 Provide an extensible two-way
interface between applications and
underlying communications
infrastructure
Proposed Approach
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
Interface Integration Models
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
• Goal: A modular (and easily configurable)
architecture that supports different modes of
integration between the platform, the
communications infrastructure and applications.
Node (or platform)
Node (or platform)
Middleware
...
NET Layer
MAC
Provider
MAC Layer
PHY
Provider
Phy Layer
StackMonitor
Other Components
(e.g. GPS, Power, etc)
Component
API
NET
Provider
Middleware
XLayer Controller
Common API
(Transport / Middleware /
Applications / XML)
StackMonitor
Other Components
(e.g. GPS, Power, etc)
Component
API
Common API
(Transport / Middleware /
Applications / XML)
XLayer Controller
NET
Provider
...
NET Layer
MAC
Provider
MAC Layer
PHY
Provider
Phy Layer
The XLayer Architecture
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
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Core Services
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
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Message Propagation Service
Node Monitoring
Resource Information Sharing
Adaptive Service Discovery
Adaptive Platform Discovery
Network Management
Group Management
NetTAP (virtual sniffing)
Transport Service
– Multi-path and adaptive transport.
• Dissemination Service
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Interfacing with the Network
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
XLayer Adaptors: Adaptors are internal crosslayer objects that represent external devices
such as network interfaces, GPS) within the
cross-layer.
Host
App1
Apps
(Adaptor)
XLayer
Controller
App2
Cross-Layer Service
Adaptor
Radio X
Adaptor
Interfacing with Applications
The XLayer Proxy
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
• The XLayer Proxy is a client API that allows
applications to use a XLayer Service.
• Available in C++ and Java.
• The XLayer Proxy can make use of both local and
remote XLayer Service instances.
Host
App1
(Proxy)
App2
Cross-Layer Service
Radio X
Current Platforms and Radio Adaptors
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
How far did we get?
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
XLayer Services
and Applications
Adaptive Discovery and Flood
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
Simple Flood
Adaptive
For Fixed Response Time and
coverage requirements
Reduced overhead and
resource utilization
CDS-BASED Discovery
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
(Registration)
(De-Registration)
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Multipath Transport Protocols
Adaptive Reliability vs. Capacity
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
Adaptive Transport
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
• Leveraging Cross-Layer information and Machine
Learning for online Transport Protocol Optimization
– Reinforcement Learning
– Genetic Algorithms for the online optimization of reliable UDP
(MS Thesis, 2009).
First Implementation available
in SourceForce:
(www.sourceforge.net/projects/r
udp) Granados, A. & Carvalho, M.
Predictive Routing (POLSR)
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
hello interval
t1
hello interval
t0
t0
t0
t1
hello interval
t1
Mission Survivability Support
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
Defense Infrastructure based on the XLayer Substrate
Cyber Security and Information Intelligence Research Workshop
Oak Ridge National Lab
April 2009
Trust Management and Reputation Services
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
Dynamic Gateway Selection
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
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Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
Related Projects and Transitions
Other Related Projects
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
• Air Force Research Laboratory
– Cross-Layer Support for Information
Management Systems
– Sponsored
Other Related Projects
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
• Air Force Research Laboratory
– QoS Enabled Data Dissemination
Other Related Projects
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
• Rockwell Collins
– CNMS (Cognitive Network Management System)
– Building Cognitive Engines for tactical Network
Management
• Rockwell Collins
– TAAN (Topology Adaptation
for Ad hoc Networks)
Other Related Projects
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
• AFRL
– An Emulation Environment for Airborne Networks
Other Related Projects
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
• ARL
– Biologically Inspired Security Infrastructure for Tactical Networks
– Novel defense infrastructure built on top of the XLayer substrate.
Other Related Projects
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
• Raytheon
– Has completed an initial port of the XLayer
substrate into a development platform for the
next generation of one of their product lines.
• Raytheon
– Other projects
Upcoming Demonstration
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
• Joint Flight Experiment/Demonstration
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IHMC (Coordination)
Air Force Research Laboratory
Army Research Laboratory
Rockwell Collins
AFRL Airborne Testbed
Stockbridge, N.Y.
Sep, 09.
Acknowledgements
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
IHMC
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Marco Carvalho, Adrian Granados, Marco Arguedas, Carlos Perez and
Massimiliano Marcon, Jeff Bradshaw, Niranjan Suri, Larry Bunch, and several
others.
ARL
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Robert Winkler, Jesse Kovach, Larry Tokarcik, Steve Choy
Raytheon
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Waseem Naqvi, Alfred Brothers, David Tran, Robert Scherer, Marina Gurevich,
Anne-Marie .
AFRL
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Kurt Turck, Dan Hague, James P. Hanna, Joe Suprenant, Chris Morrison, Mike
Muccio, Bob Hillman and Vaughn Combs.
Rockwell Collins
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Kelli Hoback, Wayne Kraus, Nate Vanderhorn
Thank You
Advanced Decision Architectures Collaborative Technology Alliance
Thank you for the opportunity to work with
all of you in the last few years!
Marco Carvalho