Modern warfare is increasingly network centric

Civilian society has moved from the industrial age focus on automation and scale to an information age economy based on computing and communications. Warfare is also moving towards an information age paradigm based on information sharing, situational awareness, and distributed points of intelligence, command and control. A widely-networked fighting force is better able to share information about tactical situations that may be geographically widespread, asymmetric, and rapidly changing. Commanders must be able to better assess situations across broad theaters, with extensive data, voice, and especially video feeds as strategic inputs. Thus, network-centric warfare improves effectiveness at both the tactical "point of the spear" and in the achievement of broader strategic goals.

Broadly disseminated knowledge assets enable fighting forces that must self-synchronize, even as they physically disperse to address dynamic battlefield conditions. The speed of decision has increased and command decisions must be rapidly relayed and implemented, to improve battlefield outcomes. Information superiority has become as important in today's battlefield as air superiority was in the past in increasing mission effectiveness.

Information superiority has become critical as needs of both war fighters and commanders have broadened to include real-time video, high-speed data, and voice. Data and intelligence sources include terrestrial forces and sensors, satellites, UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), and a wide variety of centralized and distributed information assets. 



In development for more than five years, MeshDynamics Wireless Mesh Technology is uniquely suited for military mesh networking. 

Mobility Performance tested in Combat: Tests conducted by the Naval Postgraduate School and others validate that the MD4000 provides superior connectivity over competing mesh providers.  Scenarios tested included video surveillance with cameras mounted on vehicles and connecting with nodes along the road. Field tests also include mobile vehicle to mobile vehicle video feeds across a multiple hop static node network. Both static and mobile units have been in operation along the Arizona Mexico border since 2005. Mobile units have also been employed in armored vehicle convoy applications in Iraq. 

Scanning Radio for high speed mobility: In mobile environments, high performance is maintained as the node automatically and transparently connects to other stationary or mobile nodes. In a deployed combat environment, vehicle-mounted MD4455 wireless mesh nodes demonstrated reliable connectivity between multiple convoy vehicles in simultaneous motion.  The applications -supported by the MeshDynamics network - operated flawlessly as the vehicles moved through a rugged, harsh outdoor environment.  

Dynamic RF Interference Avoidance:  Each MeshDynamics wireless mesh node incorporates a sophisticated RF 'robot' which monitors the radio environment to locate adjacent nodes and avoid RF interfering and jamming sources. Each node operates in an independent yet coordinated manner to build the network topology. [Visual]

Radio Agnostic Software: MeshDynamics' powerful networking algorithms have been designed to work over a variety of civilian and military radio bands. Current products serve Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g at 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz and public safety nets at 4.9GHz. Support for 900MHz and WiMAX bands is in development. Custom development is available for military radios operating in a broad range of bands.

Robust Security Features: Extensive data security capabilities are provided, including WEP, WPA, WPA2, 128 bit AES encryption, 802.11i, and FIPS 140-2. Extensive VLAN and performance-tuning features are standard, including support for 802.11e, protocol-based forwarding, and hidden SSIDs.

OEM Customization: MeshDynamics products support a variety of wireless command, control, communications and computing networks in military and homeland security applications worldwide. MeshDynamics has the capacity to customize solutions to ensure that they meet specific requirements with its innovative technology.
  
Related Links:

1. MD 44554325 Support Page: Overview document on MD4454 and 4325 configurations for high speed mobility.
2. Military Mesh Networks  Overview document on why Military Mesh Networks require third generation mesh. 
3. Army Science Board Presentation  Invited Presentation made to the Army Sciences Board,  April 2007. 
4. Border Security Applications and Solutions: Mobile and static mesh network deployments along Mexico-Arizona border
5. Tactical and Temporal Networks. Rapid set up and tear down in sporting events arena (e.g. golf, racing events)
6. High Speed Mobility Test -1  Video tapes of glitch free video transmission over 4 hops, traveling at 50+ mph.
7. High Speed Mobility Test -2  Video feed from one vehicle to another, both connected to the mesh network.