Raytheon BBN team wins overlay network development deal
NewsSeptember 15, 2015
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. The BBN Technologies unit of Raytheon has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to research optimized information flow for military operations over wide area networks under the Edge-Directed Cyber Technologies for Reliable Mission Communication (EdgeCT) program. The goal of the program is to ensure communications are secure and less susceptible to network failures that result from cyberattacks and common errors.
In order to accomplish this goal the program focuses on adding capabilities to the communications devices at the edges of the network. The team, led by BBN, seeks to develop an overlay network, in which the software could monitor events in the larger network and their effect on traffic flow. It may also exchange information between nodes in each user group about network conditions and then configure how the network handles the application.
"Recovering from network attacks or working around misconfigurations can disrupt traffic for hours," says Greg Lauer, EdgeCT principal investigator at Raytheon BBN. "Our aim on the EdgeCT program is to minimize that disruption to minutes or less. Our approach does not require control or direct observation of the wide area network and so it can be easily deployed in end user enclaves."
Read more on cyber:
On DARPA's cybersecurity radar: Algorithmic and side-channel attacks
Raytheon and SMU form a partnership for cyber research
Software development and cybersecurity support to U.S. Army continues in contract with CACI
