Reliable Messaging in Tactical Environments

Tactical military communication environments, such as those based on radio link networks, pose a major challenge for messaging communications using the standard Transport Control Protocol (TCP). Such environments, by nature, present impoverished data links which constrain the effectiveness and usefulness of TCP.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate a number of perspectives pertaining to communications in these environments. Firstly, it will explore the deficiencies of TCP in environments with low bandwidth, high latency data links; a scenario which may be further constrained by operational requirements such as EMCON and mobility.

The commentary will then discuss Reliable Messaging using User Datagram Protocol (UDP) as the transport layer to the Combined Communication Electronics Board (CCEB) Allied Communications Protocol ACP 142 – ‘A Protocol for Reliable Multicast Messaging in Bandwidth Constrained and Delayed Acknowledgement (EMCON) Environments’.

Finally, the document will discuss potential improvements to the ACP 142 protocol, which would extend its effectiveness in such an environment.