geointelligence inprecision warfare

securing the nationthrough geospatial

geospatial standardsfor the military

at the helm: general VK singh

Vol. 1 Iss. 1 May-Jun 2010

INR 100 US$ 10

may-june 2010 inside

Chairman MP NarayananEditor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta Publisher Sanjay Kumar

Publication TeamDirector Publications NirajAssociate Editor Bhanu RekhaAssistant Editor Deepali RoySub-Editor Anand KashyapProduct Manager Shivani Lal

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Circulation TeamCirculation Manager Priyanka Ujwal, Vijay Kumar Singh

Printed and Published by Sanjay Kumar at MP Printers, B220 Phase II, Noida, Gautambudh Nagar, UP, India. Publication address P-82 Sector 11, Gautambudh Nagar, Noida, India

Price INR 100, US$ 10

GIS Development Pvt LtdA-146, Sector 63, Noida, IndiaTel +91 120 4612500 Fax +91 120 4612555/666

Geo Intelligence does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in the publication. All views expressed in this issue are those of the contributors. The publication is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to the information provided.

This article discusses some of the challenges that we face in mapping the human dimension of global security, and what we must do to prepare for the security challenges of tomorrow.

Energy efficient solutions for unmanned aircraft systems

We speak with George Bye, President and CEO of Bye Aerospace to find out that innovative solutions don’t always come with

hefty price tag.

interviews

Enterprise GIS for seamless COP 22Robert BurkhardtTopographic Engineering Center, US Army

Energy efficiency gets value proposition 28George ByeBye Aerospace Inc.

Geointelligence is key in precision warfare 32KK SinghRolta India Ltd

Securing the nation through geospatial 39Rajesh C MathurNIIT GIS

Featured articles

Mapping the human dimension 18Dr. Christopher K TuckerUS Geospatial Intelligence Foundation

Intelligent GIS 24Wg Cdr (Retd) Ashok K JhaERDAS

Birth of an enterprise 35Jamal B BeckUS Army Geospatial Center

www.geointelligence.net

sections

Chairman’s message .........5

News .................................6

People ............................ 17

Events ............................ 42

Cover image courtesy

General Dynamics Itronix

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May – June 2010

chairman’s message

Geospatial technology owes its origin to defence sector. Though technological advancements are redefining how wars are waged, a good knowledge of terrain remains a prerequisite to win a war – external and internal. Today, geointelligence is gaining

greater significance, courtesy unstable geopolitical situation, rising threat perception and the urgent need to meet the challenges of security. Inspite of developments, geointelligence remained in laboratories and not adequately used on the ground. Equipping with latest geointelligence and ensuring seamless flow of information among different intelligence agencies can help security forces effectively combat terror attacks across and within the borders.

India is a vast and varied country and occupies a strategic position in Southern Asia and dominates the northern Indian Ocean with a 7,683 Km long coast line. India’s land borders exceed 15,000 km which it shares with seven countries. With not-so-friendly neighbours and a long and vulnerable coast, India’s internal security challenges are inextricably linked with border management. This apart, proxy wars and ideology based extremism are leading to internal strife. The 26/11 Mumbai attack shook the nation’s psyche and exposed the security vulnerabilities. It also brought to the fore the under utilisation, rather no use of geointelligence by Indian forces. This has propelled a debate and eventually a steep hike of 34% for defence spending

in the 2009-10 budget, investing majorly into modernisation of the defence forces to derive maximum benefits from state-of-the-art, cutting edge technology, especially geospatial technology.

Much is done, but much more awaits. Security is paramount but effective security is possible only if there is free flow of information down to the sepoy (soldier) level. There is a great need to create awareness, update outmoded technology, train manpower and integrate various technologies to harness the true potential of geointelligence. Understanding the need to create awareness and to address the dearth of information in this sector, GIS Development is endeavouring with dedicated bi-monthly magazine – GeoIntelligence.

GeoIntelligence will be a unique medium to know the latest news, views, technology and market developments in geospatial intelligence domain from around the world reaching the defence and internal security audience in India and the region. It will be a window of business opportunity for companies in the West and a platform of latest technical know-how for Asian countries in the region.

MP NarayananChairman – GIS Development Pvt Ltd

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May – June 2010

news

Centre to tackle cyber attacks

Strengthening its ability to identify and respond to cyber attacks on its networks, Lockheed Martin has officially opened the Corporation’s second Security Intelligence Center (SIC) in Denver, Colorado, US.

Operated by the Lockheed Martin Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT), these two, fully-integrated facilities serve as Lockheed Martin’s focal points for computer network defence including detection, identification and response to all information security incidents. This is accomplished by bringing together three primary capabilities: pervasive sensors, data management and analyst collaboration.

According to Anne Mullins, Lockheed Martin’s chief information security officer, intelligence analysis relies on complete and timely data. To meet this need, information collected by Lockheed Martin’s diverse sensor grid of commercial off-the-shelf and custom-developed technology converges in the two SICs. This provides the Corporation with a full range of vantage points to observe attacks, including: reconnaissance, intrusion, compromise, command and control, and lateral movement.

Business

Situational awareness strengthened

Harris Corp. has acquired the technology assets of OSI Geospatial’s land-based, situational awareness business. These technologies will enhance the company’s capabilities in delivering assured communications systems and applications for defence and public safety customers. With this acquisition, Harris has gained advanced software for capturing, viewing and disseminating critical strategic and tactical information to domestic and international defence and public safety customers.

The situational awareness software provides commanders and team members in the field with real-time information, such as the location of deployed personnel. These applications are capable of being embedded into both tactical and public safety radios, as well as electronic devices such as laptop computers. As part of the transaction, Harris is hiring the nine employees who engineered the land-based, situational awareness system technology.

Geospatial systems division created

ITT Corporation has announced a strategic realignment of its defence segment. The company’s defensc segment will be renamed ITT Defense and Information Solutions. Its current organisational structure, comprising seven separate business units, will be consolidated into three larger ones.

The Electronic Systems and Communications Systems divisions, as well as a portion of the Intelligence & Information Warfare division, will

be merged to form a more versatile Electronic Systems division. This division will deliver advanced protection measures that work together to help ITT’s customers defend their networks and disable enemy networks. The Space Systems and Night Vision divisions will merge to form Geospatial Systems.

The new centre will focus on providing networked sensors, such as next generation imaging, including space and air sensors, image/infrared/digital sensors and air/ground/space systems, which transition the company’s capabilities from disparate image acquisition to image processing and distribution across the network.

The Advanced Engineering & Sciences and Systems divisions will be combined with a portion of the Intelligence & Information Warfare division to form the Information Systems division.

Projects

Platform for threat monitoring

The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has selected Solace System’s Unified Messaging Platform as a prototype integration platform to enhance threat monitoring and response capabilities of local, state and federal emergency organisations in urban areas.

Under this prototype, Solace message routers will be used in conjunction with strategically placed sensors, as well as applications responsible for recognising threats and coordinating responses, to improve the country’s ability to protect population centers and critical infrastructure. With Solace technology, location can be defined as a

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May – June 2010

GPS support

for Air Force

Boeing has announced that, as part of the Raytheon team awarded the space-based Global Positioning System (GPS) advanced control segment programme (OCX), it will develop portions of the U.S. Air Force’s new ground control segment. GPS OCX will provide more secure, accurate, and precise navigation around the world for military, humanitarian and commercial applications. The development contract, awarded recently by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s GPS Wing, is valued at more than USD 880 million over six years, including five option years for sustainment.

Under GPS OCX, Boeing will provide infrastructure, development of the ground systems, and continued 24/7 operational and sustainment support for the current and future GPS satellite systems. The company will install hardware and software at GPS control stations at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. GPS OCX will replace the current GPS Operational Control System while maintaining backward compatibility with the Block IIR and IIR-M constellation, providing command and control of the new GPS IIF and GPS III families of satellites, and enabling new, modernised signal capabilities.

Northrop Grumman Corp. will extend its research agreement with US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) through 2012, continuing to work together to improve how military forces conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). The research effort brings together warfighters and virtual simulation to conduct analysis and evaluate how to effectively execute command and control of ISR operations in support of asymmetric warfare. Concepts of operation and tactics, techniques, and procedures demonstrated through this research effort will directly translate into improving current day International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) operations in Afghanistan.

Northrop Grumman and USJFCOM established the research agreement in April 2007. During the first three years of the agreement, researchers introduced real-time human-in-the-loop virtual modeling and simulation-to-live demonstrations. The research team has successfully conducted numerous experimentation spirals and actively participated in the Empire Challenge demonstrations in 2007, 2008 and 2009, which were sponsored by the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD (I)). The research has led to improvements to existing ISR platforms and better ways to coordinate command and control of ISR to improve operations for conducting irregular warfare.

Research agreement for ISR concepts

single point of longitude and latitude, by proximity to a particular point or by inclusion within irregularly defined areas like security zones, flood plains or radioactive plumes. Any event that occurs within an area of interest generates a message which is securely delivered in real-time to all appropriate first responders, decision makers, complex event processing systems and data warehouses within government agencies and non-governmental organisations.

DISN access expansion announced

CapRock Government Solutions an-nounced the expansion of its satellite and terrestrial infrastructure to include bandwidth-on-demand to more than 35 major US Department of Defense locations and direct connections at 24 critical Defense Information Systems

Network (DISN) access points. Cap-Rock’s carrier-class network plays a critical role in the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) integrated DISN services plan.

CapRock’s terrestrial expansion is part of its DISN Access Transport Services (DATS) contract with DISA. Under DATS, CapRock plays a significant role in integrating US Defense installations onto the DISN backbone network, interconnecting DoD and intelligence facilities throughout the world.

CapRock’s terrestrial team provides end-to-end system engineering, architecture and configuration management to connect DoD customers to a secure information-sharing environment with access to decision-quality data. The bandwidth-on-demand available is 24 DISN access points.

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May – June 2010

Intelligence system for US Navy

A BAE Systems-led team will partner with the military to develop the US Navy’s primary intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting (ISR&T) system. Under a USD 72 million contract from PEO C4I PMW 120, the team will enhance the current version of the Distributed Common Ground System-Navy and continue to transition DCGS-N to an application-based system through the DCGS-N Prime Mission Product.

Making ISR&T data visible, accessible, and understandable across services, DCGS-N is part of the Department of Defense’s DCGS family of systems and integrates ISR&T support capabilities into a Web-enabled, net-centric, and interoperable enterprise. Along with BAE Systems, the team also consists of General Dynamics, Sun Microsystems, MTCSC, Space Dynamics Laboratory, InVisM, Argon ST, and Athena Consulting. As a DCGS-N Block 1 contractor, BAE Systems participated in the system’s development and operational evaluation aboard the USS Harry S. Truman.

Credant Technologies has been awarded a contract to provide security software and services for the US Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC).

Credant will provide AMRDEC with Credant Mobile Guardian to ensure compliance with government data protection requirements, including OMB-M-06 and FISMA. Credant Mobile Guardian will safeguard all data on mobile devices such as laptops, desktops, and removable media. The solutions will provide audit and

reporting capabilities that comply with data breach notification laws and can help prove that data has been encrypted if lost or stolen.

Credent sells security software to US Army

Cray Inc. has signed a sub-contract with Los Alamos National Security LLC to provide the US National Nuclear Security Admin-istration (NNSA) with a next-generation Cray supercomputer. Currently valued at more than USD 45 million, the multi-year, multi-phase contract can be expanded if the NNSA exercises an option for a future upgrade. The new system will create a new supercomput-ing platform, named Cielo, for the Advanced Simulation and Computing programme at the NNSA.

The Cielo platform will support

all three of the NNSA national laboratories,

which include Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The NNSA will use the new supercomputing system to ensure the safety, security and effectiveness of the United

States’ nuclear stockpile, and will

run the NNSA’s largest and most

demanding modeling and simulation workload. Cray

supercomputer will be housed at the Strategic Computing Complex at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and is expected to be delivered in the second half of 2010.

Supercomputers for nuclear stockpile

NAVTEQ to provide data for HSIP

NAVTEQ has been selected by National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to provide map data for the Homeland Security Infrastructure Protection (HSIP) programme.

The HSIP programme was created as a collaborative project between NGA and the US Geological Survey (USGS). HSIP provides government

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May – June 2010

Harris Corp. has completed site-acceptance testing of a new radio interface that will provide two-way communications to the coastal radar sites of the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND).

The Harris interface provides the DND’s radar sites and its control

officials with information necessary to support the response and recovery efforts for natural and man-made disasters. To keep the map database up-to-date, NAVTEQ deploys a variety of maintenance methodologies to capture and validate changes to the road network and points of interest, including use of geographic analysts who drive millions of miles annually.

In NAVTEQ True, through a combination of LIDAR, panoramic and high resolution cameras, GPS and IMU positioning, all of the data collected is

geo-referenced, resulting in a more highly detailed digital representation of the road network.

Airborne network node developed

General Dynamics C4 Systems has been awarded a USD 12.4 million contract modification to the Warfighter Information Network – Tactical (WIN-T) Increment 3 contract by the US Army to lead a defence-industry team in the development of a line-of-sight commun ications payload for extended range/multi-purpose (ER/MP) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

Once aboard the UAS, the WIN-T communications payload will use the highband networking waveform (HNW) to serve as a radio repeater while the UAS is in flight. This capability is critical in an urban environment or on rugged terrain where there are barriers to ground communication. HNW is a key technology on the WIN-T programme, providing automation in establishment of a communication link that results in increased robustness of the communication network.

WIN-T enables warfighters to communicate and collaborate on the move, in urban areas, mountains or isolated locations where there is no communications infrastructure. General Dynamics will lead the WIN-T Increment 3 team that includes Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and Harris Corporation.

Software for geospatial collaboration

TerraGo Technologies has released a new version of TerraGo Mobile, which enables users to interact with GeoPDF maps on smartphones and ruggedised handheld mobile devices. The latest version of TerraGo Mobile makes geospatial collaboration easy for everyone, with an enhanced user interface, improved export features, and expanded functionality for embedding multimedia at points on a map. Users responding to a natural disaster, policing a high-profile event, researching a proposed roadway route, repairing power lines, or operating on a military mission can navigate with TerraGo Mobile as well as complete forms, measure distances and add comments, audio, photos and video to maps and imagery.

units with a scalable, upgradeable open-architecture radio interface that can withstand the unique communications challenges posed by the harsh coastal environment. The system enables Canadian air defence operators to run a two-way communications system from remote locations.

Two-way communications for coastal radar

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May – June 2010

GeoDecisions has released Trailer Tracking Service (TTS) for military freight in its patented IRRIS technology. In accordance with the US Defense Transportation Regulation, Part II, Chapter 205, TTS augments the Satellite Motor Surveillance Service (SNS) to enhance the security and visibility of Arms, Ammunition, & Explosives (AA&E) and Other Sensitive Materials (OSM) shipments moving in commercial closed-box van trailers.

Defense Transportation Tracking System (DTTS) II, a module of IRRIS, was expanded to include TTS as part

Trailor tracking for military freight

of the suite of capabilities offered to track AA&E and OSM for the US Department of Defense. With the addition of TTS, DTTS II enables simultaneous and independent tracking of both the commercial carrier power unit (tractor) and the trailer. The DTTS Operations Center can receive an alert if a closed-box van trailer has unhooked from a tractor or if a trailer door has opened.

Products Ruggedised router for military applications

Parvus Corp. has announced DuraNET 3825, a ruggedised version of the 3825 Series integrated services router (ISR) from Cisco Systems. Designed to meet MIL-S-901D Grade B shock levels and MIL-STD-461 radiated emissions requirements, the DuraNET 3825 comes in a rugged rack-mountable 2U chassis fitted with circular MIL-DTL-38999 connectors. This Internet Protocol (IP) networking device integrates embedded security processing, high memory capacity, and high-density interfaces to deliver the performance, availability, and reliability required for scaling mission-critical applications.

Solution to streamline mapping

Intergraph has introduced an enhanced geospatial solution that will enable efficient production of high-quality map products by United States state departments of transportation and military and national mapping agencies around the world. The latest version of the product Intergraph GeoMedia Map Publisher includes significant

TeleCommunication Systems Inc. has won an additional USD 7.1 million in funding from the US Army for the maintenance of Secret Internet Proto-col Router (SIPR) and Non-secure In-ternet Protocol Router (NIPR) Access Point (SNAP) Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Satellite Systems deployed outside the US. This award is part of the US Army Communica-tions-Electronics Life Cycle Manage-ment Command (CECOM LCMC) order that was announced in August 2008. This increment of SNAP fund-ing will support the maintenance of TCS’ reliable SwiftLink deployable communications products.

The US Army Project Manager for the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (PM WIN-T) Commercial

Satellite Terminal Program (CSTP) is funding these procurements through the Army’s USD 5 billion World-Wide Satellite Systems (WWSS) contract vehicle. The SNAP programme includes options for

Funding for satellite systems’ maintenance

approximately 1,500 terminals and supporting equipment for delivery by the third quarter of 2011, to be deployed in various sizes and configurations, along with up to 30 field support positions.

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May – June 2010

Multi-frequency GNSS receiver

Septentrio has launched the AsteRx3, a compact multi-frequency GPS/GLONASS/Galileo and Compass/Beidou-ready receiver. AsteRx3 is designed for integration in demanding precision positioning, navigation, and automation applications such as land and maritime survey, machine control, and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) payloads. APME, a multipath mitigation algorithm, has been extended for use with the modernised signals and provides multipath mitigation, especially for the predominant and harmful short-delay multipath. Septentrio’s Advanced Interference Mitigation (AIM+) technology protects receivers against in-band interference and allows users to identify the interference in a “spectrum plot” view.

Portable simulator for GNSS receivers

Aeroflex has introduced GPSG-1000, a portable GPS and Galileo positional simulator. GPSG-1000 supports civil and military avionics field and bench maintenance technicians, production test technicians, and system integrators with a modern simulator for L1, C/A code and L1C, L2C, L5 GPS modernisation signals, as well as new Galileo E1, E5, E6 services. It can be configured with single channel, 6-channel, or 12-channel simulation. Typical tests include acquisition sensitivity, tracking sensitivity, time-to-first-fix for cold/warm/hot starts, time-to-second-fix, positional accuracy, RAIM failure tolerance, and subsystem stimulation for 3D flight execution.

enhancements to streamline map collaboration and creation and boost quality assurance, including features that allow multiple users to collaborate on the same map products.

The product also manages cartographic data separately from the source data, which is important in enterprise environments in which the source may be owned by other departments and could be read-only to the cartographic group. With GeoMedia Map Publisher, there is no need to copy and manage multiple versions of the source data for map production. Instead, the source data are linked with the cartographic data so that when changes are made to the source data, GeoMedia Map Publisher automatically determines which cartographic data changes need to be made to publish new editions of the mapping products, creating a much simpler, more streamlined revision workflow.

WiFi Ethernet on the high seas

Vlinx ESR41xW series Ethernet serial servers offer simple yet reliable wireless Ethernet connectivity to remotely located

serial devices – with no additional cabling expenditure. Users can connect any RS-232, RS-422, or RS-485 device to IEEE 802.11b/g networks with TCP server and TCP client modes. The wireless serial servers also offer exceptional data security with WEP/WPA/WPA2 security and TKIP/AES data encryption. Dual AC/DC power inputs ensure power supply redundancy. Remote or local programming is easy with included web server configuration software.

Magnet mount GPS/GLONASS antenna

Tallysman Wireless Inc. has released the TW2400 Magnet Mount GPS/GLONASS Antenna. The TW2400 is a professional-grade GNSS antenna covering the GPS L1, GLONASS L1 and SBAS (WAAS, EGNOS & MSAS) frequency band (1574 to 1606 MHz). It is designed for precision industrial, agricultural, and military applications and offers excellent circular polarized signal reception, multipath rejection, and out-of-band signal rejection, according to the company. Applications include high-accuracy and mission-critical global positioning, precision agriculture,

military, avionics, law enforcement and public safety and fleet management and asset tracking.

GPS condor receivers and antenna modules

Trimble has introduced its new Condor family of GPS modules, featuring advancements in signal tracking for applications in poor signal environments, as well as two antenna companion modules. Compatible with active or passive antennas, the Condor L1 C/A-code GPS receivers can be used in portable handheld, battery-powered applications such as sport accessories, PDAs, cameras, computers and communication peripherals as well as vehicle tracking, navigation, and security products.

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May – June 2010

Recording systems for Chilean Air Force

RADA Electronic Industries Ltd. has signed a USD 1 million contract with the Chilean Air Force (FACH) to produce and deliver its advanced airborne video and data recording system as well as ground debriefing systems for installation onboard FACH F-16 aircraft.

The contract was signed during the FIDAE 2010 International Air and Space Fair at Santiago de Chile.

Recording and Debriefing systems are part of RADA’s current most-selling products worldwide, in production for several years now. The Chilean Air Force has selected RADA’s recording and debriefing products to equip all its front-line fighter fleet. Deliveries will be completed during the first half of 2011.

Trimble has also introduced two antenna companion modules (ACM) that combine a GPS receiver and a matched antenna in modules designed to ease integration: the Trimble Silvana ACM and Anapala ACM. Both are compatible with Trimble’s Copernicus II, Panda and Condor GPS receivers.

Covert license plate antenna

Mobile Mark is marketing a license plate antenna as convenient solution for wireless users looking to camouflage their use of a wireless radio or GPS tracking system. The antenna also works well for wireless users looking to combine or consolidate multiple antennas.

The disguised antenna is particularly beneficial for undercover and discreet security applications, according to the company. The patented license plate antenna accommodates multiple antennas in one package by hiding the antenna elements inside the plastic frame itself. Anyone looking at the vehicle will see the license plate and frame but will see no evidence of an antenna. The car or truck can have GPS for tracking, Wi-Fi or WiMAX for networking and cellular channels for voice or data communications. The license plate antennas can accommodate up to three different applications.

Upgradeable aviation receiver

The AiRx2 by Septentrio is a compact TSO-certifiable GPS+SBAS Beta-3 OEM receiver, specially designed for integration in precision aviation applications such as ADS-B, LPV approach, or RNP-NAV applications. AiRx2 is built around the multi-system aviation ASIC AReCo. This ASIC was designed according to the strict aviation requirements described in DO-254, and contains capabilities to process not only GPS L1 and SBAS signals, but also GPS L5 and Galileo signals. AiRx2 is compact and low power, and is suited for applications where size constraints, weight, and minimal power consumption are critical, such as in helicopter cockpits or for UAV applications.

Security systems for South Korean vessels

Herley Industries Inc. has announced that the Republic of Korea Navy has awarded the company a follow-on contract valued at approximately USD 7.5 million for IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) shipboard interrogators, transponders and ancillary equipment for installation on a series of patrol vessels.

Herley’s IFF system will interface with the ship’s air search radar, surface search radar, and central fire control system, along with the ESM (electronic support measure) equipment. Herley Lancaster will produce the equipment and will also provide the necessary on-site field engineering while performing the ship’s radar integration and assisting in the cryptographic certification.

Voice communications system for Iraq

Frequentis Defense Inc. has received a contract from Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors to supply its voice communications system (VCS) for the Iraq Air Command and Control System (I-ACCS) Program.

Frequentis will deliver the voice communication system and digital voice recorder as part of Lockheed Martin’s project to supply a networked communications infrastructure including a Sector Operation Center (SOC) and training suite, a Ground-to-Air Transmitter and Receiver (GATR) site and an AN/TPS-77 long-range air surveillance radar system. The heart of the communications system of the Iraq SOC is the VCS 3020X designed and manufactured by Frequentis and produced and integrated in the US by Frequentis using American manufactured parts and modules.

Bridge systems for India’s fleet tankers

Northrop Grumman will supply integrated bridge systems (IBS) for two new fleet tankers being built in Italy for the Indian Navy, under a contract awarded by Fincantieri. Under the contract, Northrop’s Sperry Marine will equip each of the ships with a complete Sperry Marine VisionMaster FT IBS.

The VisionMaster FT IBS includes radars, electronic chart display and information systems, adaptive self-tuning autopilots, gyrocompasses and repeaters, speed sensors, echosounders, differential GPS, and other navigation subsystems and sensors. In addition, Sperry Marine will also supply the ships’ inertial navigation system and data distribution systems, which will be interfaced with the combat management systems. The 175m-long fleet tankers being built at Fincantieri’s shipyards in Liguria and Palermo are intended for use for marine pollution control. The tankers are scheduled to be delivered in 2010-2011.

Mission computer systems for Indian Navy

BAE Systems is developing mission computer system suite for the P-8I aircraft for the Indian Navy. The aircraft is a variant of the US Navy’s P-8A Poseidon. Developed by a Boeing-led team, the P-8I is a multi-mission maritime patrol aircraft with a broader range of capabilities to operate over land or water while performing anti-submarine warfare; search and rescue; and long-range intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance.

BAE Systems’ mission computer system suite for the P-8I is a flexible and ruggedised processing platform that can be configured to meet the general purpose, input and output, video, voice, and graphics processing needs for modern military battle management requirements. The P-8A Poseidon is a long-range; anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface warfare; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft.

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May – June 2010

Egypt upgrades integrated air defence

system

AAR has been selected by the US Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) to upgrade and modify the Government of Egypt’s Integrated Air Defense Command and Control System. This work will be performed by AAR Precision Systems located in Huntsville, Alabama. The contract is valued at approximately USD 8 million.

The Integrated Air Defense Command and Control System is a single command and control, communication, computer, intelligence and battle management (C4I/BM) network designed to integrate airborne and land-based air defences. AAR will upgrade and modernise the system by replacing older electronic components with advanced solid-state circuitry to increase reliability and operability, minimise obsolescence issues and increase system longevity. AAR is currently under contract to support the Government of Egypt on a separate engineering services program administered through the US Army.

Integrated mast installation on Dutch naval ship

The Netherlands Defence Materiel Organization and Thales Nederland signed a contract for the delivery and installation of an integrated mast that is to be installed on the Joint Logistic Support Ship (JSS).

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) is becoming a focus area for science and technology (S&T) within the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), working with industry and academia to create battle-winning technologies.

From 1 April 2010, DSTL has become responsible for leading the defence science and technology research programme – designing, formulating and commissioning programmes with industry (large and small), academia and other research organisations. This change follows a review and consultation process. The changes will reduce overheads with around 100 posts removed from science and technology management within the MOD and those savings reinvested in research. The offices of the Defence Technology

Emphasis on technology within defence

& Innovation Centre will close and its responsibilities and functions will move to DSTL. SIT, (Science | Innovation | Technology) will also step down and be replaced with a small head office team working directly within the Ministry of Defence.

Sectra has been commissioned by FMV, the Swedish defence material administration, to develop a high-speed crypto. The new crypto will protect sensitive information in national networks used by Swedish government authorities and defence forces. The speed is 10Gbit/s, which is significantly faster than the encryption applied today. The order value is SEK 23 million. Sectra’s high-speed crypto protects voice, data

and video and the security level is the highest. Delivery will be in 2012.

Traffic in the Swedish civil and military networks is already protected by encryption from Sectra, of which the fastest version at high security levels encrypts at a speed of 155Mbit/s. Sectra is the leading supplier of crypto products to the government authorities and defence forces in Sweden. Encryption

Swedish network encryption on fast track

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May – June 2010

This ship is presently being designed and engineered by Damen Schelde Shipyard in Flushing. This integrated mast is an I-Mast 400, identical to the integrated masts that are to be installed on the four patrol ships, also for the Royal Netherlands Navy. The integrated mast is an other design approach compared to the traditional sensor layout on board of naval vessels. One central mast structure houses most radar, optronic, and communication sensors and antennas as well as all cabinets and peripherals. It provides solution to the sensor problems encountered on many naval platforms that often have more than 50 antennas for surveillance, communications, fire control and navigation.

Downlink systems for Bulgarian Ministries

Augusta Westland has announced that the Ministries of Finance and Interior of Bulgaria have ordered an AW139 medium twin helicopter, fully equipped with a state-of-the-art COFDM downlink system supplied by Enterprise Control Systems Ltd. (ECS). The main mission of the helicopter is to provide a

from Sectra covers all security levels and protects everything from radio communications in TETRA networks to test data from the JAS 39 Gripen aircraft and the tactical radio communications of Sweden’s peacekeeping forces.

High frequency communications system deployed

Boeing Defence Australia has announced that the Modernised High Frequency Communications System (MHFCS) has completed testing and been introduced into service with the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Australia’s Defence Materiel Organisation granted Final System Acceptance on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia. Developed under Joint Project 2043, the MHFCS has been independently recognised as one of the world’s most advanced high-frequency communications system due to its levels of automation and performance, long range and clarity, traffic volume and connection speed. Boeing plans to market the MHFCS internationally and is discussing the system with several potential customers.

reliable air surveillance capability on the outer EU borders.

Aided with ECS’s equipment capabilities, the Bulgarian border police will be able to provide an enhanced aerial policing service in the country as well as a comprehensive SAR capability over the sea and in mountainous areas. Having developed a full motion video (FMV) secure microwave link and high definition (HD) broadcast quality microwave link using high grade encryption, ECS is developing true end-to-end data networking. This capability provides the user with real-time imagery and data that can aid significantly in the intelligence gathering process and air surveillance situations.

Rugged servers for the Italian Navy

Z Microsystems has partnered exclusively with Eurolink Systems, an Italy-based defence systems integrator, to provide its ZX series of rugged computer servers to the Italian Navy. Eurolink Systems will supply the ZX1, ZX2 and ZX3 servers to a global communication supplier for integration into on-board computing systems used in the FREMM European multi-mission frigate programme.

The FREMM European multi-mission frigate is a joint programme between France and Italy that originally included plans for a total of 27 FREMM frigates to be built: 17 for the French Navy and ten for the Italian Navy. The frigate is a ship designed to operate in anti-air, anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, with the capability of carrying out deep strikes against land targets. The ZX 1-2-3 Series integrates the latest computing technology with a system architecture supporting any extended ATX form-factor motherboards with support for up to 3, 6 or 12 rugged hot–pluggable TP2 removable drives, a slim line DVD-RW dual layer, and an environmental control board to support proper thermal regulation. The ZX 1-2-3 Series is designed and built for harsh military environments. The chassis are designed to meet MIL-STD-810G requirements for shock, vibration, humidity, and high/low temperature.

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SYMANTEC IS

SYMANTEC IS THE WORLD LEADER IN SECURITY.Find out more about Symantec’s solutions at www.symantec.com/in/cio

© 2009 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec and Symantec Logo are registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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General VK Singh has been appointed as India’s Chief of Army Staff by the Indian Defence Ministry. General Singh took over the office on March 31, 2010.

An alumnus of Birla Public School, Pilani and National Defence Academy, General Singh is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington with a competitive vacancy. He is also a graduate of US Army Rangers Course at Fort Benning, USA and US Army War College, Carlisle. He was commissioned in 2 Rajput (Kali Chindi) in 1970 and commanded the same battalion from June 1991 to May 1994 General Singh, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC, is a third generation officer of the Rajput Regiment. . He was involved in the liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 and Op Pawan in Sri Lanka in 1987 where he was awarded Yudh Seva Medal. He has vast operational experience in counter insurgency operations, LC, LAC and HAA environment.

General Singh has vast experience in high profile command, staff and instructional appointments. He commanded his battalion in an active LC environment and Brigade in an operationally sensitive area. While in command of a counter insurgency force in J&K, he was awarded Ati

Vishisht Seva Medal for his distinguished service as General Officer Commanding. On staff, he has served in MO Dte at Army HQ, Col GS of an Infantry Division and BGS of a Corps during OP Parakram. The General Officer also commanded the Strike Corps in Western Sector before taking over the command of the Eastern Army in March 2008. He has been an instructor at Inf School, Mhow and Chief Instructor at JLW (Commando Wing) at Belgaum. He has also served as an Instructor at HQ IMTRAT. The General Officer was awarded with Param Vishisht Seva Medal by the President of India in recognition of his exceptional and distinguished services on Republic Day in 2009.

The General Officer is a keen sportsman and plays almost all troop games as well as tennis, badminton and golf. His hobbies are trekking and photography.

people

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May – June 2010

Dr. Christopher K. Tucker

Member, Board of Directors,

U.S. Geospatial Intelligence

Foundation

christopher.tucker@gmail.com

“Human terrain” has been a popular, if controversial, term for describing and discussing the knowledge that national security professionals and warfighters have of the socio-cultural dynamics of their Area of Operations (AOR). In the evolution of U.S. military doctrine, the renewed focus on Counter-Insurgency (COIN) doctrine that accompanied the population-centric operations of Afghanistan and Iraq brought with it investment in new military capabilities for characterising the human terrain. However, the investment in capabilities for characterising the human terrain in support of COIN has been fraught with difficulty and today the human terrain enterprise is at a crossroads. In the meantime, future global security challenges portend great change in the nature of military, civilian, and non-governmental security and humanitarian operations, and their dependence on accurate, timely, high resolution, geospatially-enabled knowledge of socio-cultural dynamics. This article discusses some of the challenges that we face in mapping the human dimension of global security, and what we must do to prepare for the security challenges of tomorrow.

global security

COIN and the focus on mapping the human terrain

Many articles have been written about previous forays into the mapping of cultural information in support of US national security, whether during World War II or during the Vietnam conflict. Indeed, enormous efforts have been expended on the military’s use of social scientific approaches to better understand the people and populations that they face over certain geographies. However, for a variety of reasons peculiar to the Vietnam conflict and the US national security community’s struggle with organisational learning, much of this capacity was forgotten and lost. With the rise of the population-centric conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the renewed focus on Counter-Insurgency (COIN) doctrine, much effort was applied to resurrecting this knowledge and organisational capability for understanding the human geography of these military AORs.

As with any process of organisational adaptation, there is awkwardness. One example of awkward adaptation was when military commanders, seeking to better understand the populations that they were now charged with protecting under COIN doctrine, would ask their terrain analysts to simply add the “human terrain” atop the physical terrain products that they generated during the Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) process. With

no formal training in understanding or representing the socio-cultural dimensions of any particular geography, particularly as it related to some specific set of tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), these terrain analysts were left to improvise. And, as with any improvisation, the results were sometimes amazingly effective and sometimes they were abject failures. Much reflection has been spurred by this experience, but no real technological, tradecraft, organizational, or leadership solutions have arisen to deal with these human terrain challenges, to that commanders are assured success in prosecuting COIN directives.

But, the adoption of the term “human terrain” ensured the sustained attention from the traditional geospatial community as it struggled with how to incorporate socio-cultural dynamics information into the Geospatial Intelligence or GEOINT tradecraft.

"Future global security challenges portend great change in the nature of military, civilian, and non-governmental security and humanitarian operations, and their dependence on accurate, timely, high resolution, geospatially-enabled knowledge of socio-cultural dynamics"

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Geospatial support to humanitarian operations

As human terrain products continued to benefit from investment in support of COIN-oriented, population-centric operations, the same organisations, technologies, data, and tradecrafts were being applied to natural disasters and the resulting humanitarian crises. In the United States and in the nations with which it collaborates in humanitarian operations, geospatial support to humanitarian operations repeatedly drew attention to the inadequacies of our basic institutional knowledge of human dynamics in each geography. These inadequacies have manifested themselves in many ways. Whether with Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Haitian earthquake, Rwanda, or the conflict zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, humanitarian responses have by their very nature made us think more deeply about our crucial shortfall in the realm of human geography.

The lack of cadastral (e.g., land parcel ownership) data has made response and recovery unnecessarily complicated. Poor geospatial resolution on ethnic, religious, and linguistic data – and the cultural implications of this data - has led humanitarian operations to be culturally insensitive in ways that have undermined their intent. A failure to understand the geographic boundaries, and contested geographic boundaries of various tribes, clans, and communities has led commanders to suffer the wrath of

insurgencies by indelicately transgressing invisible boundaries that could have been avoided with superior geospatial knowledge of local cultural dynamics. Ignorance of the traditional behaviors of communities in specific regions and geographies have led western forces to unnecessarily escalate tensions. There are countless lessons learned on how our poor grasp of the human terrain has undermined the operational intentions of military, governmental and even non-governmental operations in the realm of humanitarian operations.

However, this period also saw the rise of the “crisis mapping” community. This is a community of volunteers who, in times of crisis, crowd source geographic information into publicly available media channels that can be leveraged by NGOs, first responders, government agencies, and the like. Their work often begins with the extraction and provision of topographic mapping features, in regions where no such data exists, or in scenarios where the devastation has obliterated all prior topographic features. However it quickly ends up focusing on the populations at risk, and the aspects of this population that are relevant to the response and recovery for the particular crisis at hand.

As such, this community has come to learn that often humanitarian crises occur in geographies with the least amount of administratively conveyed socio-cultural data. That is, crises are often most acute in places where there is less

vigorous government capacity to collect socio-cultural data within a geospatial framework, whether it is census data, cadastral data, or critical infrastructure data. Often, this is because the lack of collection of such data is highly correlated with the lack of systems such as building codes, emergency response, and robust public works.

Regardless, iterations in the provision of spatially-enabled socio-cultural situational awareness to humanitarian operations have both helped us better understand how to think about the human terrain challenge and also show us the tragic shortfalls in our existing data and tools.

History and local stories

A major part of the problem we face is that we are not only challenged by issues of human geography in a static sense. We are plagued by our lack of a historical sense of these human dynamics. It is surprisingly difficult to manage our knowledge of human dynamics both geospatially and temporally. And, this is a major impediment to mapping the human dimension of global security because in many ways the people we are trying to help (an overused euphemism to be sure!) behave in ways that are grounded in historical consciousness, local stories, and the ghosts of yesteryears. We cannot hope to plan a successful security operation, whether it be COIN, humanitarian operations, stability operations, nation building, or what have you, unless everyone involved in the operation (from the policy maker to the low level operator) shares a common understanding of the historically-animated mental models motivating the behavior of the population you are seeking to engage. And, this is surprisingly local and rooted in the geographic experience of a population.

The more isolated a geography in which a people live, the longer their historical memory tends to be. Some tribal people of Afghanistan still tell stories of when Alexander the Great ruled. In much of the Middle East, people talk of the Ottoman Empire and the indelicate map making of the European powers following World War I as though it was yesterday. African tribal territorial animosities can

"To realise its full potential, geospatial intelligence will clearly need to integrate human dynamics data into its core and this human dynamics data must be organised geospatially and temporally"

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go back hundreds of years. For many in South America, the geographic pattern of Spanish arrival is a recent memory and the ancient Incan geography is built into their identity.

Until we move beyond the notion of a static human geography and somehow more fully embrace the complexity of geospatially-enabled socio-cultural history, we will likely continue to stumble.

Is the human dimension of global security GEOINT?

Perhaps our biggest challenge is one of definition, both of the problem and the means by which we hope to address it. Surely there will remain differences in how different disciplines view the body of knowledge necessary to address the mapping of the human dimension of global security. Anthropologists, human geographers, diplomacy/security scholars, geopolitical thinkers, survey experts, sociologists, historians and more will continue to leverage their disciplinary

bodies of knowledge, their collective experiences, and their biases. Moreover, those involved in the geospatial intelligence or GEOINT mission space, as it continues to evolve, will, as a matter of practice, continue to refine their methodologies and products in support of an evolving set of TTPs. Some of these TTPs are related to COIN. Some are related to the kill/capture side of the security business. Still others are related to humanitarian response and various civil affairs oriented missions.

At least in the U.S., as the military seeks to better institutionalise skill sets far afield from the traditional mode of Major Combat Operations, and the intelligence community continues to struggle with its role in a post-Cold War era, it is far from clear that the discipline of GEOINT is the proper home for organising the world’s knowledge about the human dimension of global security. To realise its full potential, GEOINT will clearly need to integrate human dynamics data into its core. And, this human dynamics data clearly must be organized

geospatially and temporally. Yet, if the human dimension of global security is to be properly mapped (geospatially and temporally), it will require the organization of the vast reservoir of human dynamics knowledge that exists outside the security community. Rather than being GEOINT – fostered by the defense and intelligence community, this will be an open repository of knowledge that is iteratively built and refined by a global community of experts.

Any publicly available human dynamics knowledge will be exploited, for any range of missions, by many different parties to a conflict or more ambiguous security situation. This is an unavoidable fact of open data in open societies. But, despite this threat, it is clear that having a better, publicly accessible knowledge of human dynamics that is both geospatially and temporally exploitable by a broad global population will better our citizens' education about the peoples of the world, reduce social conflict, and improve global security.

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defence & intelligence

What led to the creation of a post like “Geospatial Information Officer”?

In 2007, the US Army undertook two geospatial studies, one among them being the Geospatial Functional Solutions Analysis (FSA). This FSA was conducted by a US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) – led Integrated Capabilities Development Team (ICDT). The FSA outlined major geospatial capability gaps the army was facing in terms of the quantity and fidelity of foundation data, application of standards, fusion in intelligence and battle command systems, lack of advocacy on the army staff and absence of governance of geospatial functions and the inability of units to seamlessly transfer operational areas to other units preserving the knowledge they had gained through combat.

As a result, the army Vice Chief of Staff established a Geospatial Governance Board who appointed me as the first Geospatial Information Officer. Almost simultaneously, the army’s Acquisition Executive established a policy to bring all the army’s systems acquisition organisations and their respective systems into an Army Geospatial Enterprise. He stood up the Geospatial Acquisition Support Office inside Topographic Engineering Center to do data modelling, standards creation, system of systems engineering and certification of the geospatial enterprise army wide.

What are your views on the usage of geospatial technologies in defence sector?

We are in transition from geospatial information being just background maps to interactive distributed enterprise geodatabases synchronised and managed by the entire defence community. In the past few years, we have undertaken several joint geospatial enterprise services (JGES) demonstrations, experiments and prototypes. The success of these activities gives me great confidence that we are on the right path and that establishment of an army-wide geospatial enterprise is an achievable goal. We have demonstrated there are enterprise GIS software and hardware tools available that can be tailored to accommodate the breath of defence requirements for a shared and seamless common operating picture (COP)

Robert Burkhardt

Geospatial Information Officer (GIO) and Director,

Topographic Engineering Centre (TEC), U S Army

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where every soldier is a contributing sensor. We, in defence, are late adaptors – particularly because our problem was so large and that our transport layers (communications) are so spotty. But if you look at many industries, non-governmental organisations, states and local governments, it is clear this technology makes for better, more timely and cost-effective decisions. Their COPs are becoming integrated and fused from data collected on public utilities, to real estate to taxes and crime fighting. Somerset County, New Jersey and the State of Pennsylvania are two great examples of what you can do to reduce your costs, preserve data, share data and make better decisions. Defence command and control and intelligence systems are nearly devoid of best practices in enterprise geographic information systems that have existed for years in other sectors. We are still primarily a collection of stovepipes with proprietary ways to collect, display and analyse geo data.

What are the prime necessities and key challenges involved in the utilisation/ implementation of geospatial technology in defence?

In no particular priority order, we must: a. Have commanders as advocates for this architectureb. Have the resources to build out the infrastructure and

integrate various legacy data streams into a common distributed geodatabase.

c. Adopt and enforce the minimum set of data, hardware and software standards to enable the geospatial enterprise.

d. Provide strong geospatial oversight to our acquisition programmes, quick response capabilities and joint capabilities, technical demonstrations and S&T developments in adoption.

e. Build towards a single enterprise geographic information system (EGIS) implementation for synchronisation across DoD and the intelligence community.

f. Modify our training, tactics and procedures to get the most out of the powerful capabilities a geospatial enterprise will give us.

g. Establish unified command and control of all geospatial units.

h. Continue to establish great working partnerships with National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), all services, coalition partners, commands, programme executive officers (PEOs), industry and S&T organisations.

With NSDI in the background, are there security issues involved in sharing data with civilian agencies/organisations?

If we get to a point where we have a robust NSDI, there are no reasons why sharing data of the US should be of concern unless it is of classified facilities. The defence sector, except at the request of the local/state government and with proper executive direction, during emergency operations for disasters does not focus collection on the US.

What are the trends in geospatial intelligence in terms of product development and applications? In your view, what is the direction software providers/industry should take while developing solutions for defence sector?

Product development and application in geospatial intelligence have been a revolution of sorts in the past five years. Developers should concentrate on giving us the ability to deploy a distributed geospatial enterprise (governed by our standards) while understanding that we have to service disadvantaged communications users. Tools for analysis are robust and getting better. Tools for network analysis and turning data into information services are being brought into commercial use. Direct use of geodatabases into modelling, simulation and rehearsal systems is progressing well. But we must remember we are moving from project oriented fusion to enterprise fusion. The major benefit we are looking at is to enable the unintended user to look at data for his or her purposes under the same geospatial frame of reference.

What are your thoughts on implementation of GIS in services in countries of Asia?

Any country, city, province, state or territory interested in moving people and materiel from Point A to Point B efficiently and cost/time-effectively should consider implementing GIS in their operations. Many do so without realising that they are utilising a GIS tool to get there-anywhere-quicker and safer. Review the relief and recovery efforts taking place in the Sichuan province of China, where an 8.0-magnitude earthquake occurred on May 12, causing the country’s worst natural disaster in 30 years. The impact of GIS on their operations is clearly evident. Engineers supported imagery and data processing as aerial photos and remotely-sensed data depicting damage assessments and road collapses were fed to desktop computers, wireless laptop computers, Web-enabled phones or other mobile devices to view spatial data as it was being collected. This data was collected to produce a common operating picture, from which officials could orchestrate the movement of staff and supplies.

What is in store for GIS in defence?

We live in exciting times. It will take us some time to turn the DoD and the intelligence community into a coherent geospatial enterprise. As we do, it will reduce cost and increase our efficiency giving our soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and special operators a terrific advantage over their adversaries. Solutions are here today. It is possible to accelerate development, acquisition and deployment. We need a team effort to do so and an acceptance of dramatic change. I am proud of what the army is doing and prouder yet of our partners in NGA, USMC and SOCOM who are with us on this journey. I am very interested in the defence and intelligence industry joining us and coming aboard.

(First published in GIS Development)

Wg Cdr (Retd) Ashok K Jha

General Manager - Business

Development, ERDAS

Ashok.Jha@erdas.com

The past decade has seen the convergence of imaging and geospatial communities within defence organisations around the world. NIMA, now NGA, was founded upon such principles, thus creating a new discipline - Geospatial Intelligence.

Development of this discipline through a combination of events and trends within the geospatial industries and the changing world’s events resulted from a shift in the following:

• Ourstrategicenvironment

• Regionalconflicts

• Technologyadvancements

Intelligent GIS

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Strategic environment: • Nationsarenowconfrontedwith

regional conflicts, international crime and cross border terrorism.

• Intelligencetargetshavemultipliedtremendously in different regions.

• Needforimageryintelligenceisevengreater.

Evolution of conflicts has led to: • Everincreasingneedforinformation

superiority to support the decision cycle.

• Decisionmakersrequireanever increasing level of detailed knowledge of the area of conflict.

• Geographicawarenessisevermoreapparent as a component.

• Interoperabilityofdistributedintelligence producers required to support the increase in pace of the targeting and decision cycle.

Advancing technology

Convergence has been enabled by developments in: • Advancedremotesensing• Commercialsources• Europeancentricimagingsystems• HELIOS• SARLupe• TopSatdemonstrationmission• Spectralresolution• Spatialresolution

Precision Geopositioning• Digitalinformationprocessing

•

Interchangeably between imagery products, maps and charts

• Databasesreplacemaprooms• Imageryandvectordataare

integrated

C4ISR and geospatial intelligence inherently require spatial data infrastructures that are interoperable, distributed, secure, temporally-enabled and enterprise-class. As such, C4ISR and geospatial intelligence architects have long sought five clear system goals:1) Multiple, distributed sources of

(spatio-temporal) C4ISR data must be brought together on-the-fly, via the Web;

2) Commanders and decision makers must be able to dynamically discover all relevant spatial data and services available across the C4ISR enterprise, subject to need-to-know security constraints;

3) Enterprise components (e.g., targeting, line of site, etc.) must be integrated across enterprise APIs that enable the sophisticated management of command and control objects (e.g., targets, aircraft, ships, tanks, *int, etc.) for advanced analysis;

4) Advanced portrayal capabilities must enable a common operational picture to be built upon data from multiple, distributed spatial web services, and;

5) Seamless collaboration is required between C4ISR spatial data

producers and users, since all members of a net-centric enterprise are both users and producers.

Discovery and dynamic web access

C4ISR relies upon a distributed set of spatial data resources, spread across multiple agencies, services, commands and theatres. These resources often are multi-INT, multi-source and multi-sensor in nature. Discovering and accessing these widely distributed resources can be an insurmountable challenge, leading commanders and decision makers to operate with less than total operational knowledge.

With the rise of OGC standards, it is now possible to dynamically discover and then ‘reach-back’ into enterprise spatial data stores, without replicating data sources and forward-deploying them. These data stores can be built on any vendor’s products, and invoked remotely, as long as they conform to OGC interface specifications such as Web Map Service (WMS), Web Feature Service (WFS), or Web Coverage Service (WCS).

Products now exist that can expose many C4ISR databases as OGC web services, regardless of database vendor. Additionally, specialised vector or raster engines can be wrapped and exposed as

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a WMS or WFS, respectively.

Distributed C4ISR systems can be implemented within a complete web service – publish, find, bind – framework when they draw upon the power of OGC Catalog Services (CS-W). This sort of infrastructure enables dynamic growth of C4ISR infrastructure, since new services can be published, that can be dynamically discovered, bound and then chained to other relevant services.

Enterprise application integration

Enterprise APIs based on OGC interoperability specifications enable C4ISR architects to integrate powerful enterprise components in local environments while also exposing their data and functions as OGC Web services. For instance, ERDAS products offer powerful JAVA APIs that can integrate enterprise components that track locations of platforms, troop movements, or targets; generate line-of-site calculations; define emerging targets; or calculate ELINT obstacles.

The data generated by these source systems, if within local computational environment, can be accessed and exchanged via the enterprise API. Such access can then be integrated into a variety of Enterprise Service Buses. Remote access for the larger net-centric enterprise would be through OGC standard interfaces.

Access to such an enterprise API enables system developers to manage complex and hierarchical relationships between C4ISR objects. Sophisticated queries can be built against multiple, distributed Web Feature Servers. Multiple feature collections can be assembled. Business logic can be applied, providing feature collections that can be input into a downstream business process. Or, portrayal rules can be applied to the feature collection.

Logical relationships can be configured for the aggregation of lower order objects into higher order objects (e.g., ships into a battle group or armored

platforms into a brigade, etc.). Iterative feature discovery can also be managed, allowing initial feature type generalisations to be refined over time (e.g., vehicle, tracked vehicle, tank, T-54 –therefore, enemy T-54 tank). The status information and other attribute information can also be used for logical operations.

Common and user defined portayal of distributed spatial resources

C4ISR architects have sought to implement a ‘Common Operational Picture’ (COP) comprised of data from multiple, distributed data sources. However, different military services and different operators often require their map view to conform to a variation of the COP, which has come to be called the “User Defined Operational Picture” or UDOP. These variations may simply apply to the attribute information that is displayed, or how it is displayed. Or, these variations may be more substantial, such as the utilisation of non-standard ‘lay-person’ symbology. Regardless of these variations, C4ISR architects require that the underlying data is maintained completely separate from the style (or symbology) applied in the generation of the UDOP. And,

C4ISR architects require that this ‘on-the-fly’ portrayal capability be applicable to real-time changes in the features and attributes within this distributed federation of data sources.

As mentioned above, enterprise APIs can enable sophisticated portrayal of C4ISR objects. ERDAS’s JAVA API comes with a powerful portrayal engine that supports not only the OGC Style Layer Descriptor (SLD) standard, but also the development of customised multi-pass portrayal rules – all in SVG. This allows for scale dependent, application dependent, and user dependent portrayal based on standard feature schemas and symbol sets (e.g., GeoSym, Mil2525B/C, meteorological, etc.).

OGC interoperability has enabled real-time access to multiple, distributed sources of data. The portrayal capabilities of ERDAS products now enable OGC C4ISR architectures to achieve the dynamic, real-time portrayal of a UDOP.

Net-centric user/producer collaborations

In a net-centric view of C4ISR, all actors are both users and producers of spatial data. As an architect, it is

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In the future, this community will not only require that each user/producer publish their spatial data for C4ISR collaboration so that others can enjoy comprehensive situational awareness, but it also requires that any operator be able to discover archives of previous spatially-relevant information

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important to consider how/where spatial data generated across this C4ISR ‘food chain’ is archived and served as a Web service. OGC Web services enable powerful distributed architectures for enabling authoritative data stewards to serve their data as Web services that any community user can access via a need-to-know Web infrastructure.

Historically, C4ISR community has differentiated between data producers (e.g., GCCS, MIDB, Tactical Sensors, *INT, Open Source, etc.) and user communities (e.g., policy makers, joint operation centers, commands, units, etc.). In the modern world of net-centric C4ISR and geo-spatial intelligence, this differentiation has largely been abandoned. Frontline users are now often the producers of the most reliable data, and therefore are not only some of the most critical users, but potentially the most valuable contributors of GEOINT to the National System of GEOINT.

In the future, this community will not only require that each user/producer publish their spatial data for C4ISR collaboration so that others can enjoy comprehensive situational awareness, but it also requires that any operator be able to discover archives of previous spatially-relevant information, including

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intelligence products, targets, or historical activity.

Scalable and secure

None of the issues discussed above matter if your Web services infrastructure fails in terms of scalability or security. The transition to a net-centric C4ISR model that offers real-time integrated geospatial intelligence will require massive scalability and a fail-over clustering model that enables 99.99% uptime and 100% disaster recovery. It will also require the implementation of OGC spatial Web services within a role based need-to-know infrastructure based on DoD PKI (Public Key Infrastructure).

ERDAS has proven the ability of its Web service products in large-scale production deployments, scaling via J2EE application servers on top of multi-terabyte clusters of Oracle Spatial. Clustered fail-over and redundancy solutions have been implemented ensuring continual uptime for high-performance, mission critical applications. Major benchmarking exercises have been run for thousands of concurrent users, with no scalability problems.

ERDAS has also implemented container

level DoD PKI security with its Web services products, as part of several DoD/Intel sponsored activities. Standard LDAP/CA configurations are easily accommodated with ERDAS products. A system architect has the option of configuring multiple servlet interfaces to the same server, with each one having a different security profile. And, these servlets can be configured with either coarse grained security, or fine-grained security using Oracle Label Security. This provides the flexibility to accommodate multiple need-to-know regimes over the same Web service. Also, ERDAS enables a system architect to securely proxy remote WMS resources. This means that an ERDAS server easily enables the dynamic combination of both secured and unsecured data into a single map view, based on a user’s security profile.

Implementing tomorrow’s c4isr spatial data infrastructure today

ERDAS’s implementation of the OGC architecture enables the secure, high-performance spatial Web services infrastructure necessary for the next generation of net-centric C4ISR and geo-spatial intelligence. While some would have C4ISR organisations rely upon stilted, single-vendor implementations, ERDAS enables them to build multi-vendor, best-of-breed, C4ISR implementations. And, rather than replicating data from operational systems into a GIS stovepipe, ERDAS lets you expose your real-time operational data as OGC spatial Web services.

It is incumbent upon architects of the next generation of C4ISR to understand how OGC interoperability can enhance our national security. Then, architects are faced with the selection of OGC conformant products, since such industry based standards are being widely implemented in commercial off the shelf products. With the most complete commercially available product implementation of the OGC® architecture, C4ISR architects will be interested in seeing how ERDAS can help solve their priority technology (First published in GIS Development)

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What was the motivation for creating Bye Aerospace?

We started Bye Aerospace with a mission to integrate clean, efficient energy solutions with innovative aircraft designs, with the end-goal of transforming aviation. The global community is pushing and promoting green technology and renewable energy amid fears of environmental collapse due to man’s CO2 contribution to the atmosphere. The green phenomenon has brought about a rise in the popularity of electric and hybrid solutions most commonly associated with automobiles that are more expensive than their combustion engine counterparts. Buyers of electric or hybrid cars pay a premium in the form of cost and sometimes performance in exchange for some long term breakeven point and the opportunity to feel good about lowering one’s carbon footprint. In other words, electric and hybrid is usually

associated with a larger price tag and a less than clear value proposition.

The core of our company, including myself, is made up of industry veterans from military and civil aviation. We recognise that innovation in general aviation has languished when compared to other industries. There are some very practical

reasons for this, but some of those reasons are beginning to fall by the wayside. The

benefits of new technology and industry pressure are aligning to create a great

environment for innovation. With regard to electric and hybrid electric propulsion systems, recent political, economic and industrial factors have combined in a manner that threatens aviation gasoline’s (avgas) long term viability. At the same time, some new technologies are proving to deliver a better result at equal or lower initial

George Bye

President & CEO,

Bye Aerospace Inc.

aViation

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"The benefits of new technology and industry pressure are aligning to create a great environment for innovation"

cost, not to mention lower operational costs. Innovation is sometimes inspired by incremental operational or cost benefits. It can also come as a result of significant external threats. It appears to us that both factors are in play and that is a great environment for us to develop and bring some of these alternative energy solutions to the market.

Can you provide examples of how electric and hybrid propulsion are being applied to unmanned aircraft systems?

Our current and available product is Silent Eagle, which is a small unmanned aircraft system (SUAS), also called a mini electric remote piloted vehicle (Mini E-RPV) designed for land-based and maritime operations. Because of its extraordinary endurance, the Silent Eagle surpasses the ‘mini’ category into the ‘close range’ 10-30 km, 3,000 m altitude UAS class and empowers the operator with exceptional economics, and an operational flexibility never before available in the ‘mini’ RPV class.

The Silent Eagle is rugged, reliable, man portable, and requires no auxiliary equipment for launch or recovery operations. The system is quiet with low thermal signature to avoid detection, providing persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting data (ISRT). The Silent Eagle carries both an electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensor on a lightweight mechanically and digitally stabilised gimbaled payload, allowing the operator to keep “eyes on target.” With 10 km communications range and daylight flight endurance estimated at 6 hours, the Silent Eagle provides multi-fold value and capability of competitive systems.

We are also in the conceptual design phase for a future programme called Silent Sentinel, which is the first of its kind Hybrid-RPV. Silent Sentinel is similar in size to a U2 and utilises stored electric power, thin film solar photovoltaic (PV) and other technologies to enhance its endurance, quiet operations and low emissions.

An efficient turbofan engine will provide Silent Sentinel, with remarkable climb rates to high altitude which will facilitate quick access to areas requiring surveillance. Once on station, it will employ a combination of very low sink rate, an efficient electric motor and other design features proprietary to Bye Aerospace to remain on station for extended periods of time. I am excited about the multitude of missions that Silent Sentinel will be able to perform.

Can you provide us with some practical examples of how Silent Eagle delivers new benefits to personnel on the ground?

Let us use a hypothetical example in India. As one already knows, one of the biggest challenges India faces is the threat posed by Maoist or Naxalite insurgents. To my understanding, tens of thousands of police and special forces have been deployed to fight this menace. Silent Eagle is designed to support operations where small units can autonomously engage in reconnaissance and targeting activities for days or longer. Since Silent Eagle is powered by an electric propulsion system and the wings include a thin film solar array, the system can stay airborne for up to six hours during daylight missions, and batteries can be recharged on the ground using a collapsible and highly portable photo voltaic system that incorporates the same solar technology as Silent Eagle’s wing. This primarily means three things. First, an agency needs fewer people and fewer systems to cover the same area of terrain. This saves lives and money. Second, it is highly unlikely that a unit will require resupply due to the UAS. If I were engaged in a field surveillance operation, I can imagine that one of the last things I would want is to have the enemy locate my position due to a resupply requirement caused by my UAS. In addition, resupply means putting additional personnel in harm’s way. Third, the electric motor adds the advantage of a low heat and acoustic signature and the ability to

3D CAD rendering of Silent

Sentinel

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May – June 2010

operate at broader ranges of altitude. The low acoustic signature minimises the chance of tipping off the enemy to how they’re being watched. The advantage of operating at any altitude means that Silent Eagle will deliver the same high level of performance at sea-level as it will along the mountainous border region in the north.

On a general note, I would add that Silent Eagle is easy to use and the advanced composite construction means the airframe is extremely durable and not prone to damage during recovery. Silent Eagle is poised to exceed our expectations for military and security applications and is proving to be a great force multiplier that overcomes some major operational obstacles created by earlier systems.

You mentioned that Silent Eagle is equipped with electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors. Do you offer optional or additional payloads?

Not at this time. The most notable application for this class of UAS appears to be surveillance and reconnaissance so the version of Silent Eagle discussed earlier is packaged to meet that mission. The gross weight of Silent Eagle (with payload) is around 20 lbs. Depending on the wing span which can range from 7 to 9 feet, the payload weight can range from 5 to 7 lbs. With the micro sensor technology

7ft. wingspan version of Silent Eagle as presented in front of autoclave at manufacturing

facility in Colorado

available in the market today, this allows a customer to be very creative with how they use the platform. This and other requirements have led us to create a subsidiary company called Bye Engineering. The focus of Bye Engineer is to give us the capability to rapidly respond to specific customer requirements without sacrificing the integrity or quality of the platform. We know from experience that some customers may just want the platform delivered to their specifications so that issues such as mission specific payloads can be dealt with locally and in the confines of a customer’s security protocol. Bye Engineering gives us the ability to respond to this requirement as it emerges.

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Rolta is the leader in providing geospatial solutions for defence establishments in the country addressing the complete requirements in the sensor-to-shooter chain. Can you elaborate on the kind of products and solutions offered by Rolta?

Militaries across the globe have realised that it is not the number of forces that ensures victory, but the side which harnesses technology as enabling force multiplier. India is also looking to rapidly modernise its armed forces to derive maximum benefit from state-of-the-art, cutting edge military technology and has increased its budget for defence and homeland security segments significantly.

Rolta is indeed a leader in providing geospatial solutions and has been working with the Indian defence forces for more than two decades now and commands over 95% of their geospatial segment. Rolta is uniquely positioned to offer solutions covering the entire range of command, control, communications, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (C4ISTAR) systems to meet the most stringent requirements of defence forces. The tremendous insights gained from close proximity support in conflict zones under extremely demanding conditions have led Rolta to evolve its offerings into a range of C4ISTAR solutions to address the entire spectrum of challenges faced by defence and security agencies.

Rolta C4ISTAR range of solutions include battlefield management systems for field units and higher echelons, multi-sensor data fusion systems to fuse inputs from various ground and air based sensors and present a coherent intelligence picture (CIP) to the decision makers, Miltrak & Soldier Radio systems to provide situational awareness capability in the battlefield down to the soldiers organised in companies, platoons and sections.

Rolta is rich in intellectual property (IP). This is an important differentiation. Indian defence is populated with our IP. We serve the needs of our customer without worrying about the cost factor. The Indian government, defence and homeland security agencies feel comfortable dealing with a company which is Indian and which has ownership of technology with them.

KK Singh

CMD

Rolta India Ltd

geospatial solutions

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May – June 2010

Modern war has three distinct levels — strategy, operational art and tactics. Can spatial intelligence play a prominent role in each of these levels and how?

Whether it is war or peace, geospatial information is essential for an intelligent and updated situational awareness at all levels. Any strategic decision related to movement of assets is assisted by geospatial information. Commanders can build scenarios for location of assets, such that they are easy accessible and resources can be speedily mobilised in case of outbreak of war or situations like natural or man-made calamities, acts of terrorism or insurgency.

Military commanders of all modern armies working in ‘digital’ battlefield environment utilise geospatial information of ‘intelligent’ maps and geospatial data as the foundation, on which they operate the C4ISTAR solutions to make effective command and control decisions, be it in strategic, operational or tactical context. At tactical level, soldiers upwards to their commanders at section, platoon, company and battalion level, are inter-connected and together see the common operations picture (COP) on a near real-time basis based on the geospatial backbone.

Such multiple tactical battlefield management systems at battalion level are further connected at the operational level to the higher level battlefield management system being operated by headquarters at brigade, division and corps. At strategic level of corps, command and army headquarters use geospatial intelligence system in a networked environment where a comprehensive and complete view of the theatre of operations is made available for strategising and monitoring the operations.

Network-centric warfare is increasingly used today. How do you see the changing way wars are fought and what is in store for the future?

Yes, the era of network-centric warfare is here with its precision sensors, battlefield management systems and effectors. For example, during the war in Iraq, high

precision technologies were deployed to minimise civilian casualty. Military commanders are increasingly moving towards integrated C4ISTAR solutions to make effective command and control decisions in the ‘digital’ battlefield environment.

All nations are currently on the road to digitisation, transforming their armed forces into a coherent and synchronised organisation, enhancing the speed of sensing, decision making and proactive action, beating the enemies in ‘observe orient decide and act’ – OODA cycle. Today, it is possible to network digitised platforms and soldiers into a coherent sensor-command-shooter grid, with sensors, weapon systems, decision makers and shooters/actors connected with state-of-the-art communication systems.

Apart from the conventional war, anti-nationals like Naxals are creating new and asymmetrical threats. Low intensity conflicts between terrorists/anti-national elements are growing all over the world and India is one of the worst affected countries. Beyond conventional methods of engagement, security forces across the world are now required to actively counter terrorism, insurgency and other such homeland security operations. C4ISTAR systems configured to these specific needs can bring efficiency to sensor-to-action chain.

Rolta’s Geosptial Fusion offers a decision support system for security agencies. Can you elaborate on its functionality?

Security is more than protection from terrorist attacks. It means protecting life, property and critical infrastructure from any disaster. Rolta’s Geospatial Fusion enables multi-source data collection, integration, analysis and dissemination (data fusion from disparate databases) and supports over 200 non-geospatial database types. This solution provides the power to bring information together from various systems including legacy systems. Automated systems of various agencies like police, national and State intelligence agencies, municipal corporations, transport departments and hospitals can all be brought on to the same platform to provide a common operational picture for decision making and action.

“Military commanders of all modern armies working in ‘digital’ battlefield environment utilise geospatial information of ‘intelligent’ maps and geospatial data as the foundation”

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May – June 2010

Automation and real-time imaging analysis is the need of the hour for rapid mapping and feature extraction, change detection and assisted target detection and recognition. Is India catching up with these latest technological requirements?

Absolutely. India is very much catching up with these technologies. India’s fast growing economy has led to an increased spending in defence and homeland security segments, year on year. A quantum jump is expected in defence CAPEX spending, which is likely to touch 50 billion USD over the next few years.

The need for rapid modernisation of the army, navy and air force has resulted in the government allocating a large budget for the year 2010-22 to Rs 147, 344 crore with about 40% allocated for capital acquisition budget – for new acquisitions, clearly indicating the trend towards modernising the defence sector.

India is investing in systems for multi-sensor data fusion, automated change detection including feature extraction, mission planning, GIS and MIS info exchange and image exploitation. Armed forces have initiated several modernisation programmes including soldier systems, radios, GPS tracking, night vision goggles, night vision weapon sights, automated minefield recording systems and thermal imaging fire control systems for tanks.

Besides, key projects are also being launched in maritime safety and security space for coastal surveillance by coastal police, national AIS by DG light house and light ships, vessel traffic management systems by various ports, night navigator system for high speed boat by Coast Guard, amongst others.

Rolta is ready with solutions to address these modernisation needs with state-of-the-art technology, brought in from its foreign collaborators and its own R&D facility. With 20 years of domain knowledge in the country, Rolta has further customised and modified the solutions to enhance its usability in the Indian context. There is a tremendous momentum among internal security agencies after 26/11 to lap up latest technologies. Many States like Rajasthan J&K, Maharashtra are using our homeland security solutions. The real effect of a homogenous system will be felt only after some more time though.

GIS Development is launching a dedicated publication for defence and internal security community.

Defence and homeland security are the key for the survival of a nation, more so for a country like India, which is developing at a fast pace. Today, India’s GDP has touched 1 trillion USD after 63 years of independence. But in the next 10 years, India’s GDP is expected to touch 3-4 trillion and 5-6 trillion in 15 years. This is possible only when the country remains on a peaceful path of growth. GeoIntelligence magazine comes at the right time to create more awareness about the use of geospatial technologies in defence and internal security aspects. This is a laudable step.

"Security is more than protection from terrorist attacks. It means protecting life, property and critical infrastructure from any disaster"

The U.S. Army relies heavily on geospatial information and services

(GI&S) for all of its warfighting and peacetime operations. GI&S is more than simply “maps” – it includes the presentation and setting of operational, intelligence, human, social, cultural, and weather information overlaid in context with all other spatial and temporal information, to provide not only an Army Common Operating Picture (COP), but also situational awareness and actionable information within the battlespace. GI&S also is used in support of logistics, training ranges, installation management, modelling and simulation, civil works, remediation, and environmental activities.

However, the intricacies inherent in the numerous, complex data formats and standards used today to generate,

manage, analyse, and disseminate geospatial information rendered the Army’s management of its geospatial operations environment a formidable task. Many activities had only partial oversight of its GIS policies, procedures, requirements, and standards. In effect, there was no real enterprise from which to coordinate and synchronize Army GIS activities. For example, over 40 geospatial data standards were used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, multiple collections of geospatial data were made in a commander’s area of interest with little correlation or fusion, and many commercial firms were being used in a disjointed effort to create and process nonstandard mission-specific geospatial data.

The absence of enforceable

Jamal B. Beck

Public Affairs Officer, U.S.

Army Geospatial Center

Jamal.B.Beck@usace.army.mil

standards 35

May – June 2010

36

May – June 2010

policy and standards results in an inability to allow rapid data transfer/sharing, disconnected unit transfers, and a lack of unified ground force synchronisation –particularly among Army, Marines, and Joint forces. Unfortunately, these mismatches translate into operational disarray, lost agility for information operations, and slowed threat responses – all of which have a detrimental impact on mission success.

Closing the geospatial gaps. In 2006, the U.S. Army directed its Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) to identify geospatial capability gaps and document solutions needed to establish an Army Geospatial Enterprise (AGE). This construct will allow geospatial information to be collected, stored, managed, fused, and disseminated vertically and horizontally, from peer to peer, and from national to the soldier level (and back) – effectively giving the army the ability to collect geospatial information once and allow discovery and exploitation by all.

TRADOC presented its findings to Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA) in 2007. The study

identified many system shortfalls as well as functional capability gaps, and a number of solutions across doctrine, organisation, training, materiel, leadership, education, personnel, and facilities domains were recommended. It became abundantly clear that the Army’s geospatial community needed to eliminate stovepipes, consolidate resources and work towards the development and enforcement of data collection, processing, and dissemination standards – or risk passing these inefficiencies to today’s soldiers as well as future force.

Solution: Standardise and Synchronise In January 2008, the Army appointed Robert Burkhardt, director of the U.S. Army Geospatial Center, as the service’s first Geospatial Information Officer (GIO). Burkhardt serves as the HQDA central manager responsible for coordinating, assessing, and synchronising all Army policies, standards, and requirements for an AGE. The GIO reports directly to an Army Geospatial Governance Board (GGB) comprised of high-ranking general officers, each of whom is responsible for specific functional interests within the Army. Together, the Army GIO and the GGB are chartered to unify Army GI&S

activities by establishing cohesive policies and protocols, enforcing standards, coordinating requirements, and ensuring synchronisation of actions. Having such a governance structure in place will allow the Army to administer and facilitate the development of a network-enabled geospatial enterprise that allows geospatial information to be collected once, but discovered, processed, exploited, and shared among all soldiers and their organisations in a timely manner.

The army geospatial enterprise. The AGE is an army-wide, network-enabled system of systems comprised of people, organisations and technology involved in the acquisition, production, analysis, exchange and use of geospatial data, information and services that support the Army mission. Its distributed database structure is based on a common core of interoperable software, standards and data formats, allowing geospatial information to be collected, stored, managed, fused and disseminated vertically and horizontally, from peer to peer, and from national to the soldier level (and back). The AGE is comprised of the following elements:• Logicaldatamodel• Distributeddatabaseservice-oriented

AGC Buckeye imagery over an urban area

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May – June 2010

architecture• Accountabilityprocedures• Standardtoolkitelements• Datavalidationprocesses• OpenGeospatialConsortium

alignment for software and data

The AGE brings the Army one large step closer to its realisation of a network-centric enterprise system that allows geospatial information to be collected, stored, managed, fused and distributed from the national to the soldier level, enabling senior leadership and troops in theatre to acquire, assess, and act based on a common picture of the battlespace.

The Army Geospatial Center: Building geospatial products and partnerships

In order to bring this enterprise to fruition, Lieutenant General Robert Van Antwerp, Chief of Engineers, directed that the Army Geospatial Center (AGC) focus entirely on the enterprise function. His decision was also driven by TRADOC’s 2007 Functional Systems Analysis, which recommended the stand-up of a geospatial knowledge centre that could develop

and propagate geospatial solutions across the army. A Geospatial Tiger Team was convened to lay the foundation for this new organisation, suggesting that the AGC, formerly known as the Engineer Research and Development Center’s Topographic Engineering Center (TEC), serve as the lead element of an Army geospatial implementation agency and report directly to the US Army Corps of Engineers as a Major Subordinate Command.

“The development of the Army Geospatial Enterprise required an organisation that the Army could go to for help in engineering, the design, the standards, and also the actual operation of that enterprise,” said Robert Burkhardt, Army GIO and AGC director. “To meet this need, LTG Van Antwerp mandated an expansion of the Topographic Engineer Center’s mission to one that really focussed on that enterprise, the acquisition piece of it, partnerships with programme managers and programme executive offices, the ability to work experiments and try to come up with some standard operating procedures across all of our programmes and warfighting functions, and then actually execute through our operations

divisions. To that end, the AGC will provide standard and shareable geospatial information necessary to enable a common operational picture, support battle command on the move, and allow soldiers to operate effectively and efficiently in a net-centric environment within an overall Army-wide, network-enabled system of systems.”

In order to accomplish this expanded mission, the AGC will develop and exploit robust partnerships that promote the creation of seamless flows of geospatial data and information between US ground forces at all echelons, the intelligence community, and the Defense Information Systems Agency. To achieve this strategic intent, the AGC:• Executespolicyandimplements

standards; monitors emerging technologies; validates army geospatial enterprise technical solutions;

• Servesasanarmyknowledgecentreof excellence for geospatial expertise, providing direct support to army units (geospatial data production, analysis and reachback).

• Providestechnical,acquisitionintegration and logistical support for select army programmes of record and transitional technical capabilities

LIDAR digital elevation model of Samarra, Iraq

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May – June 2010

under army and joint capability technology demonstrations.

• Buildsandmaintainsthearmy’sgeospatial enterprise architecture, to include the geospatial data model, common tools and applications, as well as information protocols, in order to provide commander-centric, interoperable, geospatial enterprise services supporting battle command from the modular through the future force.

• Conductsresearch,development,testing and evaluation aimed at increasing the agility of battle command through characterisation and application of geospatial data and information.

The centre’s development of an Army Standard Data Model agreed upon by all battlefield functions, development

and fielding of enterprise-enabled systems and capabilities and direct geospatial support and products to the warfighter will address the geospatial gaps impacting the U.S. Army’s ability to carry out its missions efficiently and effectively. These efforts to standardise and synchronise geospatial data will allow warfighters to view relevant information across every level of the battlespace, helping them better understand the operational environment for full-spectrum operations and make forces more effective, survivable and lethal.

“The AGC’s role as an army knowledge center of excellence for geospatial expertise allows us to enhance military battle planning systems by looking at a functional data model that bridges data stovepipes and provides the

military planner the ability to use the data collected by anyone, but in a fused form as opposed to one that has different geometries and data dictionaries associated with it,” said Burkhardt. “Being able to standardise among those areas has given us the key, and doing that not just as the Army, but also as part of the National System for Geospatial-Intelligence, and working hand in glove with them.”

The AGE and AGC bring the US Army and its joint partners one large step closer to its realization of a network-centric enterprise system that allows geospatial information to be collected, stored, managed, fused and distributed from the national to the soldier level, enabling senior leadership and troops in theatre to acquire, assess, and act based on a common picture of the

"The Army Geospatial Information Officer and the Geospatial Governance Board are chartered to unify Army geospatial information and services activities by establishing cohesive policies and protocols, enforcing standards, coordinating requirements, and ensuring synchronisation of actions"

For what aspects of internal security can geospatial technologies be used and how?

One of the key dimensions in all matters related to internal security is spatial – whether one is securing place, property or people who inhabit those properties. Be it the identification of locations which are vulnerable or the places from where some of the groups involved in the disastrous activities operate; the route they are likely to take to get to their target as well as their likely escape route, geography has a role to play. Identifying the likely escape routes of perpetrators helps in creating blockades so that they can be intercepted before they can escape. Introducing geographic content to the information being processed by agencies engaged in intelligence and operations will enable them to take more informed decisions; intelligence by way of creating an information database and updating it regularly and operations by making use of the information. It an integral part of any IT system created for internal security.

Human mind is so unpredictable. Can geointelligence integrate a terrorist’s psyche

and accordingly predict solutions?

In any such activity, there is a pattern. This pattern emerges as one consolidates the information

gathered and puts it into a certain simulation model. The pattern and trends based on past data can be studied and extrapolated from

there. One can analyse various incidents in which a certain group has been involved,

determine the geographies where they normally operate and also the kind of

geoinformation 39

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May – June 2010

activities in which they seem to have expertise. Based on that one can try to make a prediction on the most likely places where they would strike next so that one is better equipped to deal with the situation. After an incident one can also try to determine the likely exit route of perpetrators and plan the blockade. While one can’t predict the psyche of a person involved in such activities, one can make some kind of predictions based on patterns of their activities and as the data gets refined over a period of time, one can start making more accurate predictions. It is good to be better equipped.

We, in India, are seeing many terrorist activities in the name of religion/communist ideology and social justice. Can geointelligence offer a holistic solution to such activities?

I think it can. The starting point can be the mapping of all such incidents which occur over a period of time. This will give a pattern which can be seen on the map of a state or country. Geospatial intelligence can be used to create a database of the locations which have witnessed incidents and observe aspects like the relationship between them and their terrain which can in turn contribute towards giving the right kind of training to personnel involved there. A security plan is no longer a state level problem, it is a national problem because there are multiple states involved and zones are continuous in nature geographically. Therefore any initiative taken to secure those areas will has to be more comprehensive and holistic. Demography is another consideration, including the profile of the people who live there and the alternate opportunities. The geographic knowledge base thus created can be used for both prediction of possible incidents and also preparation of a strategy to deal with it, if it occurs. It can also be used as part of the strategy to secure our cities from such incidents.

Can you brief us on the status of use of geospatial technologies for internal security purposes in India? And how is ESRI India contributing to the same?

Several organisations involved in internal security in India have been using geospatial technology. ESRI India has partnered with some of them in capacity building and

also creating-GIS based applications. The use of geospatial technologies for internal security purposes in India is poised to grow because many of the organisations involved are planning to enhance their GIS capabilities and other information systems.

Authentic information availability, exchange and integration – is a challenge with multiple organisations involved in internal security in the country. What needs to be done to bring all involved on the same page and strengthen the country’s security system in the country? Do you see the need for national-level GIS system to be built exclusively for internal security purposes?

One of the key requirements while dealing with any matter of national safety is that all the stakeholders, including state police, central paramilitary organisations, ministry, or any other government organisation should be on the same page at any given time. Also there is a need to reduce duplication of content creation. We should invest in a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) for the agencies engaged in internal security The SDI will not only disseminate spatial content but also provide various services required by the stakeholders. The agencies involved in intelligence and operations would both contribute in building the database and will also access it for information and services while dealing with matters related to internal security. It would also have access to the data sets created by other agencies like municipal corporations, utilities and other amenities in case a disaster strikes. There is a need to have one comprehensive database which is populated regularly.

India has a very long coastline. The Mumbai attacks through the sea showed a lot of vulnerability. Can these technologies help protect the coasts?

There is a definite need to secure the coastline. This could include identifying the vulnerable entry points, keeping track of movements at these points through sensors and building a plan to respond to any unusual activity.

What kind of security system would be required for Delhi during the upcoming Commonwealth Games?

Commonwealth Games is one of the biggest events we are hosting in India this year. The Games will require fool proof security in view of the possible threats to athletes and infrastructure. I would not be able to comment on the specifics. However, I am sure geospatial technologies would figure prominently in their plans. Some of the application areas could be logistics for movement of the participants; location of surveillance cameras using 3D maps of the city; emergency response systems; eviction plan in the event of a disaster; traffic management among others.

Introducing geographic content to the information being processed by agencies engaged in intelligence and operations will enable them to take more informed decisions

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June

IT Infrastructure for Defense7-9 June, 2010 Tysons Corner HotelViennaVirginia, US www.itfordefense.com

Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance 9-10 June, 2010 Sheraton National Hotel, Washington DC, US www.ttcus.com/view-about.cfm?id=126

Biodetection Technologies Conference 17-18 June, 2010 ArlingtonVirginia, USwww.knowledgefoundation.com

Balt-Military-Expo 201023-25 June, 2010 The Baltic Maritime Economy ShowroomGdańsk, Poland www.baltmilitary.pl

Military Satellite Communications (MilSatCom) 28-30 June, 2010 M Hotel Singapore www.militaryc4i.com/satcom

Army Aviation Summit 28-30 June, 2010 Key Bridge MarriottArlington, Virginia, US www.armyaviationsummit.com

July

IQPC Combat Engineering 20101-2 July, 2010 CCT Venues Canary WharfLondon, United Kingdom www.combatengineering.org/Event.aspx?id=294676

International Missile Technology Seminar7-8 July, 2010DRDO BhavanNew Delhi, Indiawww.ciidefence.com/missile_defence.asp

Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles 2010 13-14 July, 2010 CCT Canary WharfLondonUnited Kingdom www.ucavconference.com SAFE 201028-30 July, 2010NSCI Exhibition ComplexNew DelhiIndiawww.ciidefence.com/safe_world01.asp

August

World Space Biz 20102nd International Conference on Space Technology25-28 August, 2010BIECBengaluruIndia www.bsxindia.com

September INDESEC Expo 20106-8 September, 2010Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, Indiawww.indesec-expo.com IQPC Cyber Security 201022-23 September, 2010 Hotel La Plaza, Brussels, Belgium www.internationalcybersec.com/Event.aspx?id=306454

Geospatial Intelligence Summit28-30 September, 2010 Vienna Intercontinental Vienna, Austriawww.jacobfleming.com/jacob-fleming-group/conferences/defence/GEO?partner=defensemarket

Africa Aerospace and Defence 2010 21-25 September, 2010 Cape Town, South Africawww.aadexpo.co.za

eVents

GIS—Supporting Capability, Enabling Interoperability

Spatial capabilities need to be embedded into defense systems in every domain and at every level of command, demanding a robust definition of openness. The ESRI® ArcGIS® platform is engineered to participate in an enterprise information system environment. Interoperability is built into the heart of the ArcGIS scalable family of software products. This ensures the sharing of spatial data and applications throughout defense enterprises.

ESRI supports a wide range of standards:

�Operating systems including Windows®, UNIX®, and Linux®

�DBMSs such as IBM® DB2® Universal Database and Informix®

Dynamic Server™, Microsoft® SQL Server™, and Oracle®

�Spatial data formats including direct read and data access via SQL, XML, and GML; support for DIGEST, NITF, and other defense standards; published APIs; and other GIS formats

�Developer environments including VB, C++, Visual Studio .NET, and Java (J2ME, J2SE, J2EE, and ASP/JSP)

�Enterprise applications such as SAS, Oracle, SAP, IBI, and FileNET

�Defense enterprise standards such as NCES, SDSFIE, MIL-STD-2525B, and GEOSYM

�Enterprise security protocols such as LDAP, SSO, HTTPS, WSS, and managed logins

�Web services such as XML, SOAP, UDDI, and WSDL; OGC specifications such as WFS, WMS, and GML; and application servers such as Oracle and WebSphere

To learn more about ESRI’s commitment to developing standards-based GIS products, visit www.esri.com/interoperability.

Copyright © 2010 ESRI. All rights reserved. ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, ArcMap, ArcInfo, ArcGlobe, ESRI–The GIS Company, ArcGIS, and www.esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

The ArcGIS 9 Data Interoperability extension provides direct support for 70 formats.

The fusion of data in defense systems demands an enterprise .

ArcGIS software’s open architecture enables defense developers, such as Concurrent Technologies Corporation, to embed powerful GIS capabilities into C4ISR applications.

info@esri.com • In the United States: 1-888-620-2477Outside the United States: 1-909-793-2853, ext. 1-1235

or visit www.esri.com/international for your local distributor

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