The visualization, high-performance computing and networking technologies
initially developed for the simulation and training market now are
being applied to command-and-control systems, to help commanders
make decisions faster.
Command-and-control systems today provide operational commanders
with a real-time, common and accurate view of the environment in
which their forces operate. The tools enable the military commanders
to know the location of friendly and enemy forces. Command and control
is about knowing what assets are available and how to bring them
to bear on the mission.
Meanwhile, the proliferation of sensors in the battlefield has
created what is known as “data overload.”
Signals, imagery and human intelligence can be available to the
commander at or near real-time speeds. As more sensors are put into
the field, more data is captured that can be analyzed for the purposes
of enhancing the decision-making process. There is a risk, however,
that a large inflow of data could jeopardize the decision-making
process, if the information is not managed properly.
Today, there is an abundance of data, but a shortage of information
that supports the decision-making process. In the future, the amount
of data will continue to grow, as more sources and sensors become
available. The data typically includes text, video, audio, imagery,
scans, electronic emissions and other geo-referenced data to support
a variety of command-and-control applications.
Graphical representations—highlighting differences between
data types and sizes—turn data into information. Military
applications, where each piece of data can have a geo-spatial element,
are served well by the ability to graphically represent the relative
locations of people and objects.
Simply stated, using computer graphics, logistics information can
be overlaid on maps. Positions of friendly forces can be represented
pictorially on accurate and realistic three-dimensional terrain.
Signal data can be fused with imagery to show the locations of transmissions.
Video taken from unmanned aerial vehicles can be visually referenced
to map locations where the video was taken.
To deal with this data overload problem, enhanced capabilities
are required to manage, correlate, fuse and visualize data, in order
to help commanders see the threat. The challenge for today’s
military commanders is that they are inundated by too much data
and not enough information.
Visualization and computing technologies are now available to allow
commanders to rapidly assimilate the diverse streams of data being
What is needed is a “decision support center” that
can act as a data fusion engine, to help decision makers see the
big picture and focus on making the right decisions.
A useful example of a decision support center is the U.S. Navy’s
Area Air Defense Commander (AADC) system, already fielded onboard
naval vessels. AADC is a battle-space management system that helps
plan and coordinate joint theater air and missile defenses against
ballistic and tactical missile attacks.
The system provides a single, integrated picture of the battle
space, so that a joint-forces commander can gather data quickly
on air and missile attacks and develop an air-defense plan that
recommends tactical placement of air-defense assets from land and
AADC’s real-time collaboration and war-gaming capability
is embedded, so that every potential course of action and outcome
is demonstrated before it is executed. Once commanders select a
course of action, they can monitor events as they unfold, reacting
to new threats and changing situations as they arise.
President George W. Bush said, after seeing the AADC system: “We’re
witnessing a revolution in the technology of war. ... Advantage
increasingly comes from information such as the three-dimensional
images of the simulated battle that I have just seen.”
Decision support centers increase the value of collected information
by allowing multi-source data fusion and presentation in a realistic
digital environment where commanders can see the entire battle space
using an intuitive interface.
These applications require significant gra-phics power to display
the data in real time. They also require complex data management
and high-performance computing.
Decision support centers could be described as an outgrowth of
the so-called “reality center,” developed by SGI. Close
to 600 centers have been installed worldwide and are used for a
broad range of applications including oil and gas exploration, drug
research and virtual prototyping of automobiles.
In the commercial market, reality centers are used to support some
kind of decision-making process—which car to build, where
to drill an oil well or what molecule is required to attack a virus.
Now, that same technology is being applied to military command-and-control
A typical reality center in the commercial world is a theater environment
with usually one point of control—one person, in the back
of the room, controlling a graphics supercomputer with a single
keyboard and mouse.
In a decision support center, there can be anywhere from five to
100 direct participants in the decision-making process. The majority
of these participants will be specialists, contributing specific
talents or skills to the center. Many of them will use special-purpose
workstations or consoles that perform unique tasks, such as radar
processing, weather forecasting, traffic control or logistics.
In the military market, decision support centers are used to collect
data and analyze, predict, rehearse, operate and review actions
for exercises and operations. These actions range from targeting,
defensive tactics to search and rescue missions.
The centers allow massive amounts of critical data to be shared
and analyzed around the world in real time, resulting in effective
and timely decisions. These centers are places for groups to make
decisions quickly, collaboratively and confidently. Huge amounts
of complex data-imagery, signal, terrain, geographical coordinates
and more—are fused into a large-scale display that provides
decision makers with a complete view of the situation and all its
variables. Using that real-time data, decision makers can collaborate
to find the best solutions during a crisis, for example.
Additionally, the decision support centers defy geographical boundaries.
Decision makers anywhere in the world can collaborate. The technology
allows users to access data and share information up and down the
chain of command in real time.
The next evolutionary step for the decision support centers is
the concept of visual area networking. This means that individual
users and geographically dispersed teams can collaborate and have
universal access to advanced visualization capabilities using any
mix of client devices, including laptops and palm-sized computers.
In addition, separate decision support centers can be linked, so
that the right visual information can be sent to the right person
at the right time, compressing the decision cycle.
Over the past several years, technology has become available that
has made it feasible for high-fidelity simulations to use large-area
geographically specific visual databases. These geo-specific databases
are emerging as the de facto standard in high-fidelity flight simulation.
The training and simulation industry has developed a process to
produce real-world, geo-specific visual databases for pilot training
that involves the collection and processing of raw image data to
produce an earth-referenced product that can be visualized in two-
or three-dimensions, using high-performance graphics hardware and
Pilots training in these simulators view scenes that look exactly
as they do in the real world. The textures used in these applications
have moved from geo-typical to geo-specific databases representing
real-world images taken from aerial photography or from satellite
imagery of a geographic location.
The value of this fidelity is that pilots can move almost instantly
beyond basic part-task training to full mission training. However,
the true value of geo-specific visual databases goes far beyond
their use in simulation and training.
Because these visual databases are earth-referenced, they can be
fused with a variety of other data, presented in different formats
using different types of display products, annotated and modified.
At the same time, the commercial availability of high-resolution,
satellite imagery is growing. All these elements, when properly
combined and integrated, create an opportunity to develop a series
of collaborative visualization capabilities for command and control
applications. This merging of simulation and training technologies
is a watershed event for the command and control community, which
will benefit from years of development in synthetic environments,
resulting in useful applications for network-centric warfare. nd
John Burwell is senior director of government industry at Silicon
Graphics Inc., in Mountain View, Calif.