| Existing communications solutions are unable to meet the data throughput, latency, and network topology requirements for supporting multiple military sensors and effectors in a dynamic battlespace. Data throughput requirements are increasing; latency requirements are decreasing; and the network topology is migrating from point-to-point and hub-spoke to mesh and mobile ad-hoc. In addition, packet loss in Internet Protocol systems results in re-sent information and additional latency. The Multiple Path Management Protocol (MP2) pulls from the features of existing transport protocols, existing routing protocols, and recent traffic engineering extensions to provide an edge router service to mission critical real-time systems. MP2 minimizes latency and packet loss at the cost of data throughput by selecting multiple low latency routes to transmit mission critical data. The ability to operate MP2 on existing routing and transport protocols supports the Department of Defense vision of "Everything over IP" without the sacrifice to mission performance and the additional cost of modifying existing applications. |
