AI-Driven Tactical Communications and Networking for Defense: A Survey and Emerging Trends
It addresses the need for more resilient and efficient tactical communication systems in defense, but as a survey, it is incremental in synthesizing existing knowledge and proposing a roadmap.
This survey tackles the problem of enhancing military communications and networking by exploring AI-driven technologies, such as adaptive signal processing and multi-agent coordination, to improve secure data exchange and autonomous decision-making, though it does not present specific numerical results.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in military communications and networking is reshaping modern defense strategies, enhancing secure data exchange, real-time situational awareness, and autonomous decision-making. This survey explores how AI-driven technologies improve tactical communication networks, radar-based data transmission, UAV-assisted relay systems, and electronic warfare resilience. The study highlights AI applications in adaptive signal processing, multi-agent coordination for network optimization, radar-assisted target tracking, and AI-driven electronic countermeasures. Our work introduces a novel three-criteria evaluation methodology. It systematically assesses AI applications based on general system objectives, communications constraints in the military domain, and critical tactical environmental factors. We analyze key AI techniques for different types of learning applied to multi-domain network interoperability and distributed data information fusion in military operations. We also address challenges such as adversarial AI threats, the real-time adaptability of autonomous communication networks, and the limitations of current AI models under battlefield conditions. Finally, we discuss emerging trends in self-healing networks, AI-augmented decision support systems, and intelligent spectrum allocation. We provide a structured roadmap for future AI-driven defense communications and networking research.