Tactical Edge Triad Architecture: Adapting the Next-Generation Security Triad for DIL Autonomous Sensing Systems

The Next-Generation Security Triad—integrating post-quantum cryptography (PQC), Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), and AI security—provides comprehensive protection for autonomous sensing systems. However, existing frameworks assume enterprise connectivity is available in tactical environments operating under Disconnected, Intermittent, and Low-bandwidth (DIL) conditions. This paper presents the Tactical Edge Triad Architecture (TETA), adapting enterprise substrate components for disconnected operations through five modules: Edge Cryptographic Module (ECM), Tactical Identity Cache (TIC), Edge Analytics Engine (EAE), Mission Policy Store (MPS), and the Autonomous AI Governance Framework (AAGF). Three mechanisms address DIL-specific challenges: Authority Decay provides a DIL-specific operationalization of continuous verification through progressive privilege reduction with formal attack mitigations; Pre-Mission Consensus Packaging provides cryptographically signed governance envelopes satisfying human oversight requirements; and Triad Integration demonstrates cross-pillar security dependencies. The AAGF systematically adapts established governance mechanisms, behavioral envelopes, watchdog models, autonomy-downgrade, and consensus-backed approval for disconnected operations. Analytical evaluation across two tactical scenarios demonstrates feasibility: PQC overhead estimates derive from published pqm4 benchmarks; governance function estimates (policy evaluation, watchdog inference, audit logging) are engineering projections based on comparable embedded workloads. Combined governance latency is estimated at ~15 ms on Cortex-A53 class processors (±40%), with 0.5% steady-state bandwidth increase for PQC. TETA enables Triad implementation at the tactical edge while preserving security properties and governance accountability.