Policy-based frequency management

The Department of Defense, over the next 3 years, is poised to roll out the first generation of future force communications networks. Examples of these networks include the US Army's warfighter information network-tactical (WIN-T), the US Navy's automated digital network system (ADNS), and the joint tactical radio system (JTRS) with its wideband networking waveform (WNW). These networks are characterized by highly mobile nodes that can join and leave ad hoc networks in accordance with the scheme of maneuver for the units involved. This type of network places new demands on the network operations (NetOps) architecture and functionality. Policy based network management (PBNM) offers a wide range of possibilities for solving some of the management challenges associated with these future force networks, and will likely feature in the network operations architectures of many of them. Yet, however sophisticated the network and its corresponding network operations architecture is, it is likely that spectrum availability will play a pivotal role in the total amount of information that can be transported across these networks. Today's spectrum & frequency management tools and techniques may fall short when applied to mobile ad hoc networks, particularly those where policy-based decisions are being applied locally to the mobile node. This paper describes how a policy-based approach to spectrum & frequency management could be used to assist in the management of the spectrum associated with a mobile ad hoc network