mmWave: A resilient and secure defence solution

All communications require secure data transfer but for military communications this is ever more vital due to the need to avoid the possibility of adversaries intercepting the data. On the battlefield and when operating in challenging terrain, a robust and secure network remains essential for the Armed Forces.

But the ability to share massive quantities of data from electronic weapons and sensors is incredibly complex.

In this article, we will explore the impressive level of security that IEEE 5G mmWave technology provides with particular reference to its use in defence scenarios.

For vital data straight from the frontline to be shared across multiple platforms, the technology must work for soldiers navigating difficult terrain in the Middle East, to pilots who need up-to-the-minute surveillance information and data from the ground to those operating naval ships. This requires very high levels of bandwidth and resilient wireless networks capable of connecting across the air, sea, land and space.

IEEE 5G mmWave technology is the secure technology that ensures high-speed connectivity even in the most challenging of situations.

mmWave mesh networks are vital to ensuring a secure and resilient connectivity solution for mobile military communications

A mmWave mobile mesh platform is a sophisticated system that uses connection nodes to dynamically create a mesh network. It operates at the mmWave frequency bands at 57 – 71GHz, which provides six 2GHz wideband channels, providing many dynamic connectivity options, flexing of range, speed, and interference management. Link performance is over 3Gbs at 500m and connects over ranges of 4km. This mesh provides short range high performance over a wide area but has long-range connections if needed.

Even though the technology uses point-to-point beamformed links, the intelligent control plane network management ensures the most optimal performance during operation, maximising the opportunity to form the most resilient mesh network.

In a military operation where a number of vehicles are on the move in a convoy, there’s often the need to increase the distance that the mesh network can operate over, therefore each node on a vehicle uses a packet switched network to hop between vehicles, placing no limits on the extent, the range and number of vehicles the mesh network supports.

This active management of narrow beamforming mmWave links minimises the probability of detection and intercept, and given the receiver also utilises a narrow beam angle, it minimises anti-jam probabilities, whilst simultaneously maximising network performance and range the mesh operates over.

Illustrating this, as a vehicle moves or rotates, the node’s mmWave beam is managed to track its remotely connected node, even switching the beam to an alternate antenna to continue the connection. Nodes are also managed to track multiple connectivity options such that alternate links can be quickly utilised, forming the high resilience of the mesh.

The mesh operates in a way that new vehicles are quickly incorporated. Vehicles can also bring with them their already connected mesh, coalescing multiple meshes into a single larger mesh. Similarly, if a vehicle were to go out of range or to become inoperable, the mesh network would rapidly self-heal, providing alternative routes for data packets to cross the mesh so that the network continues to operate.

Multiple layers of security for defence operations

We have explored how the narrow beams between vehicle nodes mean that there is a low probability of intercept, detection or jamming when using IEEE 5G mmWave technology. But there are additional levels of security across the IEEE 5G mmWave mesh network, starting from the physical layers and working up to applications layers.

Each node operates with a secure boot, establishing a root of trust for all the subsequent software layers during the node’s operations. This encompasses the entire network and beamforming modem control and data stack.

In addition, any vehicle, for example, which wants to join the mesh network would need to go through a managed authentication procedure using an enterprise level digital certification. The certificate revocation management across the network is updated to ensure that only authorised vehicles can join.

In addition to these levels of security, an end-to-end encryption operates at each node, such that communication across the mesh is secure. All in all, each layer (physical, data, control and management) of the mmWave mesh is protected by multilayers of authentication, encryption and security.

The IEEE 5G mmWave mesh technology provides a resilient and secure connectivity solution at multiple levels that enables high-speed communications over long ranges whilst overcoming key communication challenges faced by military operations in challenging environments whether on land, sea or air.

Learnings from the use of 5G mmWave technology in military scenarios, and its impressive layers of security, can be applied in any industry or sector that requires robust, stealthy, and secure multi-gigabit connectivity.