Performance evaluation of disruption tolerant networks on warships' tactical messages for secure transmissions

Abstract

Disruption tolerant networks (DTN) are an evolution of mobile adhoc networks (MANET) working in scenarios where nodes are sparsely distributed, with low density, connections are intermittent and end-to-end infrastructure is not accessible. Therefore, DTNs are recommended for high latency applications that can last from hours to days. The maritime scenario has characteristics that would justify the use of DTN networks, but the concern with data security is also a relevant aspect in such scenarios. Thus, this paper proposes to evaluate the DTN approach in the maritime Scenario involving warships and helicopters, for sending tactical messages, taking into consideration security aspects at the perimeters where contacts occur. We set up a simulation experiment to compare the performance of Epidemic, Spray and Wait, and Direct Delivery protocols in three scenarios with different sizes. We also propose the application of discriminant analysis as a classification technique to select secure connections to improve the security of the DTN architecture.