Bridging the gap between enterprise and tactical networks via mission- and network-sensitive adaptation

Providing actionable information to soldiers in a timely manner remains one of the primary goals of information management systems. Unfortunately, the challenging tactical networking environment composed of wireless links that are unreliable, prone to disconnection, present high latencies, and constrained in available bandwidth make information management for the tactical domain a difficult problem. The problem is exacerbated by the enterprise-style systems that are often used in operations centers that need to exchange information with the tactical edge. These enterprise systems typically rely on Service-Oriented Architectures and enterprise message / service buses to rapidly integrate capabilities and services for information management. However, the architectures and protocols utilized here do not transition very well into the tactical domain. This paper describes new capabilities that have been developed to help bridge the impedance mismatch between enterprise and tactical domains and support the information management needs of the warfighter in the tactical domain.