Exploring value-of-information-based approaches to support effective communications in tactical networks

Niranjan Suri, Giacomo Benincasa, Rita Lenzi, Mauro Tortonesi, Cesare Stefanelli, Laurel Sadler
2015 IEEE Communications Magazine  
Tactical networking environments present many challenges in terms of bandwidth, latency, reliability, stability, and connectivity. Sensors increasingly generate very large data sets that exceed the ability of tactical networks to transfer and disseminate them in a timely manner. Furthermore, a rapid decrease in the cost of sensors, combined with the desire to cover larger areas with persistent sensing capabilities, have resulted in a wide-scale deployment of sensors in increasing numbers,
more » ... r widening the gap between the volume of information that is generated and the subset that can be successfully delivered to consumers. This paper explores the notion of determining the value of information in order to prioritize and filter information that is disseminated over these tactical networks, focusing on the dissemination of information to and from dismounted soldiers in a battlefield environment. This is a promising approach to mitigate the constraints of tactical networks and to reduce information overload on soldiers. These trends have motivated researchers to increasingly focus on the challenging problem of filtering information and of prioritizing and transmitting only those subsets that would be useful to consumers. In fact, recent research in multiple disciplines has raised the question of determining the Value of Information (VoI) as an enabler for effective decision-making [2], thus enabling the filtering and prioritization of information according to the corresponding value perceived by the consumer on an individual basis [3] . Solutions that can analyze information and infer its value represent a natural complement for tactical communications middleware. In fact, the latter were designed to withstand node mobility and communication path disruptions and to exploit the scarce communication resources in the most efficient way, typically by implementing smart and reliable message prioritization mechanisms [1] and data fusion [4] . VoI-based solutions help by further reducing the bandwidth requirements and improving the communication latency, essentially trading off the delivery of non-critical information to ensure that important and high-priority information can reach consumers that need it in a timely manner. An equally important motivation for filtering information based on value to the consumer is to reduce information overload. Delivering and presenting unnecessary information to soldiers actively performing a task at the very least results in an unnecessary increase in their cognitive workload. In the worst case, it could become a distraction and cause them to make mistakes.
doi:10.1109/mcom.2015.7295461 fatcat:5lnfm2kr2ff6bigc4q2br5ijny