The advantages of 5G technology applied to future U.S. military networks

The article shows that the United States is paying more and more attention to the application of 5G technology in national defense and military construction. 5G technology will strongly promote the development of future US military networks and equipment.

1. 5G will improve the security and efficiency of future U.S. military network services

The 5G dynamic network slicing capability is the key to improving the efficiency and security of future military network architectures. Achieving end-to-end slicing requires the U.S. Department of Defense to modernize the current transmission network. One of the most important functions of 5G is to provide "slicing" for specific users and their applications to meet their specific network requirements. For example, video surveillance cameras require reliable high bandwidth. UAV control requires extremely short response time, and the network performance required by each application can be provided by constructing slices.

(1) How 5G can improve the security of future U.S. military network services

5G dynamic network slicing can protect the confidentiality of multiple network services. Military networks usually have multiple levels of confidentiality. Slicing can provide virtual network partitions. Even if all network services share the same physical infrastructure, virtual network partitions can completely protect the confidentiality of different services. Slicing can also be implemented in 4.9G/LTE networks, but 4.9G/LTE networks cannot dynamically establish slices.

(2) How 5G can improve the efficiency of future U.S. military network services

With the release of the 17th version of the 5G standard (expected to be completed in the middle of 2022), it will be possible for military networks to create end-to-end slices when missions are launched and delete slices after missions are completed, instead of aligning missions with unused ones. The services are bundled together to optimize resources such as spectrum and bandwidth and reduce latency. For example, at a naval base, 5G can provide video and tactile feedback, provide precise locations of vehicles and assets, and track logistical operations; ships can start downloading data before berthing, and use 5G to realize ship-to-shore data connections, effectively improving service efficiency .

2. 5G will realize the automation of future U.S. military networks

The 5G dynamic network slicing capability provides the feasibility of military network automation, and each slice can be quickly configured to support combat needs.

(1) Manual configuration of the U.S. military network is a major difficulty

Slicing is a virtual network that interconnects applications running in the cloud with devices and users. Slicing management must be able to connect to radio, transmission, and core segments to provide the required level of performance across the entire network. In particular, the underlying transmission network must also ensure that the bandwidth and delay on the end-to-end link match the requirements of the wireless network. At present, the transmission architecture cannot configure network resources on demand across IP, microwave, satellite, terrestrial and submarine optical fiber networks. End-to-end slicing using virtual private network technology requires hours or even days to manually configure.

With the development of military transmission networks, there are more and more problems in operation and management. The number of digital services running on distributed cloud infrastructure will increase exponentially, generating huge traffic, and the number of network nodes and capacity requirements will also increase significantly. This will increase the complexity of the network and make it more difficult to manually configure the application. How to configure the application to ensure the performance and reliability of the application is a major difficulty.

(2) Future U.S. military network automation and its advantages

Therefore, the end-to-end slicing between the various transport layers must be established in an automated manner to convey the performance requirements of a given slice to all nodes in each network layer to ensure end-to-end implementation. Once the slice is created and all the underlying network resources are aligned, it is also necessary to use telemetry data for continuous measurement to ensure that each network layer continues to operate. If the performance is lower than the service requirements, the network will access new resources (such as redundant circuits or new virtual resources) , To ensure that the task can be executed. Automated networks can not only support on-demand services and slicing, but also improve the efficiency of skill development, reduce the requirements for technical personnel, and reduce the total cost of operation, transmission, optimization and guarantee services. With the increasing complexity of the digital defense architecture, the U.S. defense department is beginning to realize that now is the time to understand and automate the 5G and cloud era transmission networks.

3. 5G will realize the real-time transmission of future U.S. military equipment and its system data

5G improves bandwidth performance and reduces response time. The application of 5G will enable the real-time transmission of future US military equipment and system data. U.S. military equipment using 5G in the future mainly includes:

① Command, control and communication system. 5G supports wireless and wired access and can provide a ubiquitous access layer for U.S. defense operations to improve command, control, and communication system capabilities. This is also one of the goals of the U.S. Department of Defense's 2019 digital modernization strategy.

② 5G-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. 5G can improve real-time information sharing for situational awareness.

③Autonomous vehicles and drones. 5G can support the real-time transmission of high-resolution video, remotely control autonomous vehicles and drones, and can also use 5G to transmit real-time low-power sensor data, facilitating more extensive monitoring of the environment and equipment by warfighters.

④ Virtual reality and augmented reality based on 5G. The use of 5G will expand the scope of deployment of virtual reality and augmented reality, enabling wider deployment indoors and outdoors, around facilities, and on-site, mainly for combat personnel training.

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