On the Secure and Reconfigurable Multi-Layer Network Design for Critical Information Dissemination in the Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT)

The Internet of things (IoT) is revolutionizing the management and control of automated systems leading to a paradigm shift in areas, such as smart homes, smart cities, health care, and transportation. The IoT technology is also envisioned to play an important role in improving the effectiveness of military operations in battlefields. The interconnection of combat equipment and other battlefield resources for coordinated automated decisions is referred to as the Internet of battlefield things (IoBT). IoBT networks are significantly different from traditional IoT networks due to battlefield specific challenges, such as the absence of communication infrastructure, heterogeneity of devices, and susceptibility to cyber-physical attacks. The combat efficiency and coordinated decision-making in war scenarios depends highly on real-time data collection, which in turn relies on the connectivity of the network and information dissemination in the presence of adversaries. This paper aims to build the theoretical foundations of designing secure and reconfigurable IoBT networks. Leveraging the theories of stochastic geometry and mathematical epidemiology, we develop an integrated framework to quantify the information dissemination among heterogeneous network devices. Consequently, a tractable optimization problem is formulated that can assist commanders in cost effectively planning the network and reconfiguring it according to the changing mission requirements.

[1]  Alessandro Vespignani,et al.  EPIDEMIC SPREADING IN SCALEFREE NETWORKS , 2001 .

[2]  Sherali Zeadally,et al.  Intelligent Device-to-Device Communication in the Internet of Things , 2016, IEEE Systems Journal.

[3]  Jacques Bughin,et al.  The internet of things: mapping the value beyond the hype , 2015 .

[4]  Yamir Moreno,et al.  Dynamics of interacting diseases , 2014, 1402.4523.

[5]  R. May,et al.  How Viruses Spread Among Computers and People , 2001, Science.

[6]  Joaquín Marro,et al.  Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions in Lattice Models: The contact process , 1999 .

[7]  Daniel E. Koditschek,et al.  Mobile robots as remote sensors for spatial point process models , 2016, 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).

[8]  R. Dickman,et al.  Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions in Lattice Models , 1999 .

[9]  Zdravko Cvetkovski,et al.  Inequalities: Theorems, Techniques and Selected Problems , 2012 .

[10]  B. Bollobás,et al.  Percolation, Connectivity, Coverage and Colouring of Random Geometric Graphs , 2008 .

[11]  Sergio Gómez,et al.  On the dynamical interplay between awareness and epidemic spreading in multiplex networks , 2013, Physical review letters.

[12]  Cesare Stefanelli,et al.  Analyzing the applicability of Internet of Things to the battlefield environment , 2016, 2016 International Conference on Military Communications and Information Systems (ICMCIS).

[13]  KEITH CONRAD,et al.  THE CONTRACTION MAPPING THEOREM , 2009 .

[14]  Ming Tang,et al.  Asymmetrically interacting spreading dynamics on complex layered networks , 2014, Scientific Reports.

[15]  J. Evans,et al.  Networking on the battlefield: challenges in highly dynamic multi-hop wireless networks , 1999, MILCOM 1999. IEEE Military Communications. Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.99CH36341).

[16]  Alessandro Vespignani,et al.  Epidemic spreading in scale-free networks. , 2000, Physical review letters.

[17]  Tiago M. Fernández-Caramés,et al.  A Review on Internet of Things for Defense and Public Safety , 2016, Sensors.

[18]  Ananthram Swami,et al.  The Internet of Battle Things , 2016, Computer.

[19]  Dave Evans,et al.  How the Next Evolution of the Internet Is Changing Everything , 2011 .

[20]  J. Dall,et al.  Random geometric graphs. , 2002, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[21]  Piet Van Mieghem,et al.  Epidemic processes in complex networks , 2014, ArXiv.

[22]  E. Yanmaz,et al.  Epidemic Propagation in Overlaid Wireless Networks , 2008, IEEE GLOBECOM 2008 - 2008 IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference.

[23]  Yamir Moreno,et al.  Dynamics of rumor spreading in complex networks. , 2003, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[24]  Jeffrey G. Andrews,et al.  A Tractable Approach to Coverage and Rate in Cellular Networks , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Communications.

[25]  Cesare Stefanelli,et al.  Leveraging Internet of Things within the military network environment — Challenges and solutions , 2016, 2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT).

[26]  Quanyan Zhu,et al.  Secure and reconfigurable network design for critical information dissemination in the Internet of battlefield things (IoBT) , 2017, 2017 15th International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks (WiOpt).

[27]  Alexander M. Wyglinski,et al.  Statistics-Based Jamming Detection Algorithm for Jamming Attacks against Tactical MANETs , 2014, 2014 IEEE Military Communications Conference.

[28]  P. Thiran,et al.  Percolation in the signal to interference ratio graph , 2006, Journal of Applied Probability.

[29]  Neville A. Stanton,et al.  Modelling Command and Control: Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork , 2008 .

[30]  Mohamed-Slim Alouini,et al.  Spatiotemporal Stochastic Modeling of IoT Enabled Cellular Networks: Scalability and Stability Analysis , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Communications.

[31]  Milan M. Ćirković,et al.  Is contact a process , 2017 .

[32]  François Baccelli,et al.  Stochastic Geometry and Wireless Networks, Volume 1: Theory , 2009, Found. Trends Netw..

[33]  C. Lanczos Applied Analysis , 1961 .

[34]  Michalis Faloutsos,et al.  Epidemic Spread in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks: Determining the Tipping Point , 2011, Networking.

[35]  Jeffrey G. Andrews,et al.  Stochastic geometry and random graphs for the analysis and design of wireless networks , 2009, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[36]  Ming Tang,et al.  Impacts of complex behavioral responses on asymmetric interacting spreading dynamics in multiplex networks , 2015, Scientific Reports.

[37]  Stephen P. Boyd,et al.  Convex Optimization , 2004, Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook.