Feng Yuan, Li Menglin, Zeng Chengyi, Liu Hongfu
College of Intelligence Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China.
Entropy (Basel). 2020 Oct 16;22(10):1166. doi: 10.3390/e22101166.
Through the combination of various intelligent devices and the Internet to form a large-scale network, the Internet of Things (IoT) realizes real-time information exchange and communication between devices. IoT technology is expected to play an essential role in improving the combat effectiveness and situation awareness ability of armies. The interconnection between combat equipment and other battlefield resources is referred to as the Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT). Battlefield real-time data sharing and the cooperative decision-making among commanders are highly dependent on the connectivity between different combat units in the network. However, due to the wireless characteristics of communication, a large number of communication links are directly exposed in the complex battlefield environment, and various cyber or physical attacks threaten network connectivity. Therefore, the ability to maintain network connectivity under adversary attacks is a critical property for the IoBT. In this work, we propose a directed network model and connectivity measurement of the IoBT network. Then, we develop an optimal attack strategy optimization model to simulate the optimal attack behavior of the enemy. By comparing with the disintegration effect of some benchmark strategies, we verify the optimality of the model solution and find that the robustness of the IoBT network decreases rapidly with an increase of the unidirectional communication links in the network. The results show that the adversary will change the attack mode according to the parameter settings of attack resources and network communication link density. In order to enhance the network robustness, we need to adjust the defense strategy in time to deal with this change. Finally, we validated the model and theoretical analysis proposed in this paper through experiments on a real military network.
通过各种智能设备与互联网相结合形成大规模网络，物联网（IoT）实现了设备之间的实时信息交换与通信。预计物联网技术在提高军队战斗力和态势感知能力方面将发挥重要作用。作战装备与其他战场资源之间的互联被称为战场物联网（IoBT）。战场实时数据共享以及指挥官之间的协同决策高度依赖于网络中不同作战单元之间的连通性。然而，由于通信的无线特性，大量通信链路直接暴露在复杂的战场环境中，各种网络或物理攻击威胁着网络连通性。因此，在敌方攻击下维持网络连通性的能力是战场物联网的一项关键属性。在这项工作中，我们提出了一种战场物联网网络的有向网络模型和连通性度量。然后，我们开发了一个最优攻击策略优化模型来模拟敌方的最优攻击行为。通过与一些基准策略的瓦解效果进行比较，我们验证了模型解的最优性，并发现随着网络中单向通信链路数量的增加，战场物联网网络的鲁棒性迅速下降。结果表明，敌方会根据攻击资源的参数设置和网络通信链路密度改变攻击模式。为了增强网络鲁棒性，我们需要及时调整防御策略以应对这种变化。最后，我们通过在真实军事网络上进行实验验证了本文提出的模型和理论分析。
