An Experimental Evaluation of Data Distribution Applications in Tactical Networks

Tactical Edge Networks are one of the most challenging communication environments, where node mobility, constrained devices, and the wide use of wireless ad hoc channels for communications cause frequent link disruption and network partitioning. Additionally, applications running in Tactical Edge Networks often follow one-to-many and many-to-many communication models that require the nodes' cooperation to enable data delivery. Many studies proposed the use of peer-to-peer systems in mobile ad hoc networks to remove any dependency on centralized nodes and to cope with link disruptions and network partitioning phenomena that derive from the extreme dynamicity of Tactical Edge Networks. In this paper, we compare the performance of file sharing in mobile ad hoc networks using an implementation of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol and DisService, a middleware for information dissemination specifically designed for Tactical Edge Networks. DisService supports applications with routing and peer-to-peer content delivery in mobile ad hoc networks. We ran several experiments in an emulated environment to evaluate the performance of each solution when sharing large files. The obtained results show that TEN-specific solutions such as DisService can outperform traditional peer-to-peer solutions like BitTorrent.