CONTEXT

Modern military field operations face critical bandwidth constraints due to reliance on satellite uplinks, tactical radio systems, and the need for low electromagnetic signatures. Despite these limitations, legacy network traffic including advertisements, telemetry, background updates, and tracking scripts consume substantial portions of available bandwidth, negatively impacting mission-critical communications. While existing research has explored Software-Defined Networking (SDN) approaches for agile routing and load balancing in constrained military environments, a significant gap exists in solutions targeting traffic filtering at the DNS level to reduce overhead and enhance security posture. This study addresses this gap by examining DNS-based traffic optimization as a complementary approach to existing military networking strategies, building upon proven civilian applications of DNS filtering technologies that have demonstrated bandwidth savings of 10-30% in non-military contexts.

PURPOSE OR GOAL

This research investigates whether deploying Pi-hole—an open-source DNS-level filtering solution—on low-power Raspberry Pi hardware within military field networks can effectively minimize non-essential traffic, reduce latency, and augment security in bandwidth-constrained operational environments. The study seeks to answer the primary research question: Can DNS-based filtering provide measurable improvements in bandwidth utilization, network performance, and security posture when integrated with enterprise-grade routers in simulated military field conditions? The motivation stems from the critical need to maximize available bandwidth for mission-critical communications while simultaneously reducing security vulnerabilities associated with advertising networks, tracking services, and malicious domains. This work aims to demonstrate a scalable, cost-effective solution that complements existing SDN capabilities and can be rapidly deployed in tactical environments where every transmitted byte impacts operational effectiveness.

APPROACH

The study employed a controlled deployment methodology using Raspberry Pi Model 3B hardware (selected for its low power draw of approximately 5W and rugged potential) integrated with an ASUS RT-AX1800U enterprise-grade router in a simulated field environment. The Pi-hole DNS filtering solution was configured as the primary DNS resolver for all client devices, with security enhancements including DNSSEC validation, query rate limiting, and curated military-specific blocklists. The network topology utilized a hub-and-spoke architecture with Cat-6 wired connections, DHCP configuration assigning Pi-hole as primary DNS, and QoS rules prioritizing mission-critical traffic. Data collection focused on four primary metrics: total bandwidth utilization, external DNS query frequency, web page load times, and simultaneous connection counts. Performance was measured by comparing network behavior with Pi-hole active versus inactive states across multiple simulated mission scenarios. Security effectiveness was evaluated by testing detection and blocking capabilities against known malicious domains from military threat listings. The deployment incorporated network segmentation via VLANs to isolate mission traffic, and comprehensive logging enabled detailed analysis of DNS query patterns and potential security incidents.