Operational Views of Vertical Tactical 5G

Tactical network architects are exploring ways to leverage 5G capabilities in military communications. 5G offers many capabilities that can benefit tactical networks to include directionality, dynamic spectrum management, abundant bandwidth and low latency. There are different areas of 5G that are considered by the tactical community such as security enhancements, interfacing 5G technologies with existing tactical links and waveforms, developing new MIMO antennas that meet tactical requirements, enhancing 5G spectrum emission to meet EW requirements and exploring how to adapt an open architecture for tactical 5G. This paper approaches the adaptation of 5G to tactical networks from the high-level operational views leading to a proposed lab architecture that is specific for a vertical tactical 5G solution. This is a top-down study that exposes the pros and cons of following a vertical path for tactical 5G. Vertical 5G here means the augmentation of 5G standards (e.g., 3GPP) for an open-architecture-based, tactical-specific 5G solution that can eventually lead to the full utilization of 5G capabilities within tactical networks.