Secure Communications Over Hybrid Military Networks

Stealthiness can be described as a disposition to be sly and to do things surreptitiously. This paper presents a new architecture for flexible and secure networking in battlefields that enables stealthy and covert communication in the presence of node mobility. Our architecture is based on the combination of optical (fiber) and wireless links. Our objective is to be able to carry on undeterred communication without the attack/eavesdropping nodes being able to detect the presence of any communication. This objective is not only crucial for successful completion of the operation, but also for the safety of our mobile nodes, by not giving out their locations. We combine the advantages of optical links, such as high bandwidth, low delays, low error rates, good security, with the advantages of wireless links, such as mobility and flexibility, along with directional antennas for communication. From security point of view, we also assume presence of red zones, which are the ones controlled by the adversary or where the adversary can trace wireless activities.