Unknown Wireless Network Discovery

The end goal for this research is the delivery of a software application capable of detecting and characterizing non-cooperative hidden nodes (NHN) which can be installed and operated on military and commercial communications equipment. The research effort will define and study the threat, define and evaluate detection and characterization algorithms, and estimate their performance through a parametric trade study. The key contributions will be an assessment of what measurements can be made through RF sensing and their value in discovery & characterization, a framework for the cognitive function that schedules and combines probes/measurements towards discovery and characterization, a definition for performance metrics for NHN discovery & characterization, and estimates of performance in various scenarios. The NHN threat focus will be towards the future RF environment, which is expected to contain primary users and secondary users using software defined radio-based dynamic spectrum access and other cognitive radio techniques. Emphasis will be placed on scenarios where the NHN operates by"joining"a target network to achieve its objectives of surveillance, impairment, or spectrum resource capture. BENEFIT: In both military and commercial radio network environments, the opportunity exists through emerging technology in software defined platforms, cognitive behavior and networking to deploy non-cooperative hidden nodes (NHN) with malicious intent. This technology will be required to detect and characterize these threats, and to generally enhance battlefield situational awareness. In addition to the direct benefits of this research in addressing the NHN future threat, it has great value towards on-going cognitive jamming research activities. The efforts towards defining the NHN threat is directly usable, as an NHN may become a key threat that a cognitive jammer must address. The discovery algorithms are also usable, as the cognitive jammer must also sense and characterize the NHN to prepare jamming strategies. Finally, many of the sub-functions necessary for NHN discovery are applicable to cognitive jammer, including the cognitive engine and cooperative networking approach.