Mother Nature is proving a most resourceful teacher for leading researchers in the burgeoning communications technology world. In a revolutionary approach to managing networks for the next generation of military battlefield communications, inspiration has been found in the lifestyle of a humble insect.
It has long been known that the efficient use of the radio spectrum is the vital key to maintaining effective communications for many civil and military radio systems. In the continued search over the years for this elusive matter, many techniques have been investigated ranging through such diverse and arcane approaches as genetics and the crystallisation process.
Now, innovative scientists from BTexact, QinetiQ, and the Ministry of Defence in the UK are adapting a complex algorithm based on the development of the common fruit fly. The algorithm basically allows the base stations in a mobile phone network to negotiate with each other to decide how the available radio frequencies will be divided to meet the demand for calls without causing unacceptable interference.
The patented invention was inspired by the behaviour of cells in the fruit fly Drosophila Melanogaster that has been the subject of intensive academic research for nearly 100 years. During the fly's development, some cells must decide whether to make bristles - the sensory hairs of the adult fly. They do this by sending signals to the neighbouring cells and 'listening' for signals from those neighbours. As a result the fly gets the right pattern of bristles without any central control.
It was realised that this principle of self-organisation could be exploited for modern mobile phone networks and allow the network to adapt continuously to changes in demand for calls, and to 'heal' in the event of a base-station failure. There would no longer be the need for a central organiser to track events in the network and replan frequency use to accommodate faults and changes in demand.
At the same time, researchers at QinetiQ's R&D facility had been looking into novel designs for a future battlefield spectrum-management architecture using dynamic and distributed frequency assignment.
In a battlefield environment, networks must continue to function in the face of serious disruption such as unplanned movements and accidental or deliberate interference from other radio transmitters. Central planning then becomes very challenging and may be overtaken by events.
Key to this problem is to distribute the assignment process throughout the battlefield, rather than relying on a centralised process. The self-organising features of the BTexact algorithm could be exploited and integrated within the proposed QinetiQ architecture. Research work with BTexact has been initiated, with a view to adapting the algorithm to operate within a battlefield spectrum management system.
For more information contact QinetiQ, Douglas Millard, dmillard@QinetiQ.com
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