The Analysis of Information Exchange Capability for Battlefield Networks Using M&S Techniques of the NetSPIN
Sangheun Shim, Jae-Young Cheon, Myunggil Ahn · 2013
Abstract : To achieve information superiority in Network Centric Warfare (NCW), militaries must have the capability to exchange information with elements of a battlefield in a timely and correct manner. To assess this capability, we have developed NetSPIN, a tool used to evaluate the timeliness and correctness of information exchange within the battlefield network. In this paper, we first describe the modeling and simulation (M&S) techniques used by NetSPIN. Next, we analyze and evaluate the timeliness and correctness of messages for a specific operation: When the traffic of the South Korean tactical communications system, called SPIDER, is increased due to the introduction of two new systems -- an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a corps and a video conferencing system in a division. The information exchange capability of the existing communications network was evaluated after the introduction of the new systems. Specifically, we computed the end-to-end delay of operation messages and the throughput of links to assess the effects of the introduction of new systems on the existing battlefield network. By analyzing the effects of the new systems on the communications network beforehand using NetSPIN, we were able to forecast potential problems in advance. NetSPIN can be effectively used for analyzing the information exchange capability of the military and planning its communications network.