Slective DoS on enemy communication by a P2P WLAN

[Thomas Shaddack]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/32361.html

US forces to target enemy mobiles with P2P WLANs
By Tony Smith
Posted: 15/08/2003 at 11:22 GMT


The US military is developing a weapon based on peer-to-peer technology to
take out mobile phone communications, the US Department of Defence has
revealed.

The system also has the capability to covertly monitor cellular traffic.

Codenamed 'WolfPack', the device is intended to prevent an enemy from
using its communications technologies, including cellular, without
hindering US forces' own communications systems.

WolfPack is a 6 x 4in cylinder weighing 6lbs, capable of being dropped by
parachute or fired into the target area as a missile payload. Each device
zaps mobile phone communications within a radius of half a kilometre.

"The idea is to litter the battlefield with these small objects," WolfPack
programme manager Preston Marshall in a statement.

The battery-powered device contains an inflatable antenna. Fins mounted
inside the cylinder extend from the device on touchdown to lift it into a
vertical position. Once in place and with the aerial up, each WolfPack
until begins communicating with any others it can detect.

Together, they quickly establish a network. Other networks in range can
tie in too, creating, if you will, an 'Internet' of WolfPack nodes, which
ultimately allows data from any single device to be routed across the
network of networks to the command centre.

Each cylinder can generate radio signal to disrupt cellular traffic, said
Marshall. "Each WolfPack is very small, but collectively they gang up on
the signal," he added.

Equally, the units can used to monitor enemy communications signals. Think
of it as a Napster for military intelligence - each device can share the
signals it picks up with all the others.

Units can stay powered for up to two months in the field, and can be later
collected and re-used. Each node costs around $10,000. Together, they are
cheaper, less obtrusive and a much less obvious target for enemy
intervention than the aircraft-based systems used to jam or monitor
communications at the moment.

WolfPack prototypes will be put to the test with in the next 18 months,
the DoD said. .