HYBRID THREATS, HYBRID THINKING
Known as the Integrated Sensor Architec- ture (ISA), this framework identifies the critical capabilities to be adopted for sensor interoperability. Tis strategic approach enables program management offices to instantly refresh their programs with the latest technology and adapt existing Army portfolio assets to this new environment. Tus the Army could leverage the often very fast development cycle of cheap com- mercial sensor technologies (like those on cellphones) and integrate them into cross- domain solutions with existing, expensive and unique military sensors (like those on satellites and military platforms). To accomplish this task, CERDEC NVESD has developed a five-step strategy.
IDENTIFY A CATALYST Te Deployable Force Protection Techni- cal Focus Team (DFP TFT), a joint service working group led by the Army, provided the necessary catalyst for the ISA. Te DFP TFT participates in quarterly tech- nical support operational analysis (TSOA) assessment events. Tese events provide an opportunity for representatives from government research and development organizations, academia and industry to interact with operational personnel and determine how their efforts might sup- port capability gaps and high-priority mission deficiencies.
Te DFP TFT needed a mechanism by which sensor technologies from industry and government developers could quickly be integrated into a common operating picture. Tis need became the impetus for NVESD to develop ISA. While DFP TFT had a specific focus of base protection, the ISA pursued a broader architecture approach that is extensible to all Army sensor interoperability needs.
ESTABLISH THE END STATE Te second step was establishing a dem- onstrated vision of the ISA end state. Te value of this step is well understood by industry, and government organizations increasingly recognize it as imperative when trying to influence a common view across a diverse community. One such example is the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency (NGA) Map of the World Initiative, which provides easy access to the agency’s most complete and spatially accurate geospatial intelligence ( GEOINT) data. NGA established
a
working, functional vision of its desired end state, a centralized, dynamic visual interface to explore GEOINT data and link natural and man-made features on, above and beneath the Earth to intel- ligence observations, using only a small portion of representative data. NGA then challenged the geospatial intelligence
community individually to build an inte- gration path toward that goal.
NVESD began working hand in hand with a small subset of carefully picked sensor developers from industry and government to create the first vision of a working integrated sensor architecture and what interoperability capabilities would be developed. Te vision that emerged was
an interoperable, systems
environment where information could be shared automatically between sensors and
plug-and-play using common telecom-
munication languages that operate in disadvantaged networks without major modifications to the sensors or systems themselves. It was important that this vision would show a value proposition for the sensor development community (i.e., what’s in it for me?) that would encourage voluntary adoption of sen- sor integration standards and protocols. Moreover, this value proposition must be clearly understood and communicated, as it would be the foundation for the desired cascading effects associated with the next strategic step.
NVESD carefully constructed an initial ISA demonstrator, which consisted of sensors dynamically communicating on a tactical network using an intuitive visual interface that enabled operators to share sensor data and cross-cue other systems. Te demonstrator successfully showcased the following features:
THE EXPERIMENTATION AND DEMONSTRATION COMMUNITIES CONTINUE TO VOLUNTARILY ENCOURAGE THEIR PARTICIPATING SENSOR DEVELOPERS TO ADOPT ISA COMPLIANCE AS PART OF ENGAGEMENT IN THESE GOVERNMENT- SPONSORED ACTIVITIES.
70 Army AL&T Magazine January–March 2015
• Open source products and industry standard protocols.
• Fast and simple integration process for sensor developers.
• “One-and-done” integration process with no follow-on requirements for updates. Once a sensor is deemed ISA- compliant, it can interoperate with any other ISA-compliant sensor.
• Consistent and trustworthy dynamic
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184
