Pdu Bundling And Replication For Reduction Of Distributed Simulation Communication Traffic

Communication bandwidth and latency reduction techniques are developed for Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) protocols. DIS Protocol Data Unit (PDU) packets are bundled together prior to transmission based on PDU type, internal structure, and content over a sliding window of up to C adjacent transmission requests, for 1 \u3c C \u3c 64. At the receiving nodes, the packets are replicated as necessary to reconstruct the original packet stream. Bundling strategies including Always-Wait, Always-Send, Type-Only prediction, Type-Length prediction, and Type-Length-Time prediction are developed and then evaluated using both heuristic parameters and a gradient descent back-propagation neural network. Several communication case studies from the One Semi-Automated Forces (OneSAF) Testbed Baseline (OTB) are assessed for multiple-platoon, company, and battalion-scale force-on-force vignettes consistent with Future Combat Systems (FCS) Operations and Organizations (O&O) scenarios. Traffic is modeled using the OMNeT++ discrete-event simulator models and scripts developed for a hierarchical communication architecture consisting of eight en route C-17 aircraft, each carrying three Ethernet-connected M1A2 ground vehicles, a wireless flying LAN based on Joint Forces Command\u27s Joint En route Mission Planning and Rehearsal System (JEMPRS) for Near-Term (JEMPRS-NT) and follow-on bandwidth capacities. The simulation traffic includes Opposing Force (OPFOR) control through a CONUS-based ground station via its corresponding satellite links. Different bandwidth capacities are simulated and analyzed for PDU travel time and slack time, router and satellite queue length, and number of packet collisions are assessed at 64 Kbps, 256 Kbps, 512 Kbps, and 1 Mbps capacities. Results indicate that a Type-Length prediction strategy is capable of improving travel time up to 85%, slack time up to 97%, and queue length up to 98% on bandwidth restricted channels of 64 Kbps. © 2004, The Society for Modeling and Simulation International. All rights reserved