Military forces set to use new peer to peer tech in the field

The military could be the latest organisation to adopt peer to peer networking as a viable technology, in order to share information with different units in the battlefield without the need for a central server, thereby cutting back on much of the technological overhead often found with such military tech.

Developed by DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency), the technology, currently known as Content Based Mobile Edge Networking (CBMEN), would replicate information across multiple devices help by officers that allows them to have all the information of their peers in different parts of the country. This includes documents, images and video across many different types of devices.

Ars has suggested that this technology could see its first use in Afghanistan, as well as humanitarian efforts around the world that require a coordinated disaster response. It could help provide up to date information on supplies, as well as potential IEDs, or casualty locations.

I hope they go with this logo…

The technology works in a similar fashion to typical peer to peer file sharing networks, except that it's more automated. Instead of waiting for data to be requested, it is shared automatically on a constant basis, the idea being that all connected devices share the same information as one another, regardless of the time or place. Each compatible device is able to broadcast this information through a variety of different mediums, including Wi-Fi, traditional 2G networks or over radio frequencies.

Currently the program is in the early testing stages, but so far has performed well under scrutiny.

KitGuru Says: This seems like something that should have been around for years doesn't it? I always picture the military being at least ten years ahead of consumer technology, so why has peer to peer taken so long to implement? 

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