Towards a COTS-Enabled Federated Cloud Architecture for Adaptive C2 in Coalition Tactical Operations: A Performance Analysis of Kubernetes

Abstract

Nowadays, ever-increasing processing and storage resources are available at all echelons, from operations centers to tactical units. However, tactical-edge communications still suffer from scarce network resources such as limited bandwidth, intermittent connectivity, and variable latency. In addition, modern military missions typically involve coalition operations, where heterogeneous mission partners (even belonging to different nations) cooperate in the field. As a result, the distribution of mission-critical information is more complicated than ever. On the one hand, the dynamic nature of the tactical environment frequently disrupts communications. On the other hand, individual resource-sharing policies prevent mission partners from taking full advantage of the available resources in situ. The NATO IST-168 RTG has been exploring commercial-off-the-shelf orchestration technologies for implementing a federated cloud architecture that enables adaptive information processing and dissemination while living within the constraints of the tactical domain. This paper is a follow-up study that assesses the behaviour of Kubernetes under the disadvantaged network conditions characterizing tactical edge networks.