A Cautionary Tale on Testing and Evaluating Tactical Wireless Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Transformation dictates that the nature of future warfare will be network-centric where netcentricity is contingent on a ubiquitous network. At issue are the capabilities that this network must have to make network-centric operations (NCO) possible. Wireline and commercial wireless technologies have colored the expectations of what is possible and, in many cases, the requirements for the network and the applications as well. This article argues that these technologies are fundamentally different than what is required on the battlefield and, if caution is not exercised, these technologies could easily misdirect requirements and subsequent testing and evaluation strategies toward performance measures that are orthogonal to those required to enable NCO. The article reviews several contemporary discussions of NCO and networks to arrive at the thesis that the critical networking technology for the tactical edge is one that allows users to communicate with each other locally regardless of their organization and without dependence on connectivity to a network infrastructure. This article suggests test and evaluation approaches to validate this capability and to measure its effectiveness.