| This paper describes MITRE research on a cross-domain network management solution, Adaptive Bandwidth Management System (ABMS), to improve IP performance in satellite and other challenged (a.k.a. mobile and tactical) environments where link throughput varies. Tactical communications “on-the-move” are doubly disadvantaged because of relatively low bandwidth (compared to terrestrial communications), at the same time that reliability is compromised by link outages and signal attenuation. Efficient use of all available RF capacity is essential. Performance Enhancing Proxy’s (PEPs) can mitigate the negative effect of radio frequency (RF) wireless links on the performance of TCP-based communications, but QoS mechanisms such as PEPs rely on static aggregate link capacity and become non-optimally configured when aggregate link capacity changes. The ABMS optimizes use of wide area network (WAN) capacity via an adaptive, QoS-aware PEP which responds in real-time to feedback about changing aggregate link capacity. The ABMS PEP is based on the Space Communications Protocol Standards (SCPS), developed by MITRE in 1992 for NASA and the US Air Force, and standardized by International Standards Organization (ISO), the Consultative Committee on Space Data Systems (CCSDS) and the US Department of Defense (DoD). The corresponding ABMS security architecture researched includes a cross-domain solution (CDS) for multiple cryptographically isolated plaintext (PT) user enclaves competing for wide area network (WAN) resources from a single cyphertext (CT) core that accesses multiple RF channels on the WAN. The adaptive QoS-enabled PEP reference model (software) and OPNET model that were developed for this project are public domain and available upon request from MITRE |