High Fidelity
by Frank Higgins
Harnessing simulation for mission systems integration.
The advent of effects-based operations and network-centric weapons, systems, and doctrines has been made possible in part by the development of lightning-fast microprocessing, guided by a willingness to tackle technical challenges in new and innovative ways. But the warfighter rightly demands and needs proper verification of these new systems and concepts. That’s where simulation and modeling come in. Ever-increasing complexity in military systems has meant that the simulation community has also had to change dramatically to cope with the demand for high-fidelity modeling. It’s no easy task. How do you realistically assess systems, networks, and concepts of operation that may not even exist yet?
Systems Integration
That thorny question is answered through the application of superior mission systems integration (MSI) skills. Effective MSI is absolutely vital to networking future and legacy technologies across the Services and platforms. Raytheon, which has long excelled at MSI, recently created a collaborative and totally immersive environment to assist in this task, based on the use of realtime simulation that is flexible enough to meet the broadest possible range of Service requirements. The resulting laboratory, launched in 2005, is the Raytheon Netcentric Integration and Experimentation Center (NIEC). This facility, based in Rosslyn, VA, is connected virtually to many centers of technical excellence across the Raytheon company, Department of Defense (DoD) laboratories, and industry partners and suppliers. The state-of-the-art NIEC provides a common framework to explore new architectures, modeling and simulation, and critical mission systems integration issues. The NIEC can be physically reconfigured to meet user demands and offers certified 10-gigabit-per-second data transfer rates, 400 local area network (LAN) drops, and more than 90 separate video channels for display and workstations. Numerous exercise participants can be linked from around the country, and every Raytheon laboratory can be “visited,” allowing the most complex level of connectivity between the military customer and partner organizations.
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| Engineer conducting realtime, remote program demonstration. (Photo courtesy of the Raytheon Company.) |
Such architecture means that more than just “systems of systems” can be realistically demonstrated. It means that Raytheon’s System of Elements™ can be introduced, a concept where all available kinetic and nonkinetic capabilities—not just platforms—are tracked, managed, and leveraged. Instead of connecting the various systems alone, in a System of Elements environment the sensors, “effectors” (including weapons), platforms, and command, control, and communications (C3) capabilities of a combined force can be shared across the battlespace.
This sharing allows a commander to substitute capabilities on demand. For instance, if a reconnaissance vehicle’s sensor is disabled, information can be imported from another node on the network, such as by harnessing a nearby unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to serve as the vehicle’s “eyes.” The resulting architecture creates a single, common interpretation of the battlespace that encompasses space, air, ground, sea, and subsurface sensors. The benefits of such a concept include the ability to create a virtual kill chain that can select the most effective weapon or sensor available among networked platforms. Moreover, it provides a level of built-in mission robustness; nodes that have failed can be bypassed by “adjacent” ones.
The NIEC in Rosslyn was recently joined by a second facility in the Tidewater area of Virginia, doubling the ability to collaborate across the country and within the company, and bringing the results of that effort to the military customer in operational terms they use and understand. The ability to conduct live, distributed experiments across the network replicates the burgeoning global information grid (GIG) and ensures the customer that Raytheon engineers understand how these systems will be used and how they will function together to turn information into knowledge. The Tidewater facility is ideally located in close proximity to the requirements headquarters of all four Services.
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| The Raytheon Netcentrics Integration and Experimentation Center in Roslyn, VA. (Photo courtesy of the Raytheon Company.) |
The First Experiment
The Rosslyn NIEC went “live” for the first time in December 2005 when it conducted a command and control (C2) experiment for the benefit of a DoD customer. The experiment was based on the implementation of a Service-oriented architecture and core-enterprise services being used to support joint C2 (JC2). The Raytheon JC2 Team (now called the Joint Net Enabled C2 Team) successfully integrated the advanced field artillery tactical data system (AFATDS), the distributed common ground system (DCGS), UAS control, commercial collaborative services by WebEx,1 and a Raytheon JC2 web portal. AFATDS provides fully automated support for planning, coordinating, controlling, and executing fires and effects. It also acts as a fire support “server” to LAN-based and tactical Internet-based clients including the Marine Corps C2 personal computer management tool. The DCGS is rapidly evolving to become the net-centric “backbone” of the U.S. Armed Forces.
In the exercise, the JC2 battle captain, with a simple laptop and browser, was able to coordinate and actually task intelligence resources, analyze information from sources, initiate call for fire missions directly into the AFATDS, and remotely pilot a UAS, all from one screen. The experiment drew intelligence information from the DCGS servers located in Garland, TX, and they generated simulated UAS C2 from a facility in Falls Church, VA. Participants also looped in the mobile enhanced situational awareness service via a Raytheon operations center in Fullerton, CA. The experience was proof positive that you don’t have to have all of the people and associated systems collocated in order to exercise C2 over them.
This ability to share and consume information across a network could minimize the number of personnel put in harm’s way, as well as reduce the time necessary to detect, decide, engage, and assess. Systems that were willing to publish information into an open architecture could be pulled together by the JC2 battle captain into a user-defined operational picture. Imagine a tactical operations center that doesn’t require an intelligence officer and a fire support officer and their staffs because they don’t have to be physically there to do the job. Granted, there are plenty of cultural issues to be overcome with the implementation of such an operational concept. However, the possibilities have been demonstrated. This experience is a far cry from just a Microsoft PowerPoint demonstration on a big screen. The NIEC environment not only shows what could be, it shows what is and what effects can be realized on the battlefield. Those who utilize the NIEC can take advantage of the visualization center to play out scenarios and then see the results. The audience can see, hear, and feel the effects of the technology that is being demonstrated, reinforcing the experience in their minds. There’s nothing like watching a missile hitting its target during the demonstration and watching the audience try to hit the floor because they see, hear, and feel the explosion. The idea is to make operational platforms more lethal and to greatly boost the situational awareness of the people who command them across the battlespace.
The Road to the Future
The NIEC is designed to replicate and then experiment with the net-centric environment of the future, an environment that will allow the sharing of information across an open-architecture network, supported by common enterprise services and allowing the user to define the operational picture he needs to do his mission at whatever level. The laboratory facility can be turned from a ship’s bridge one day into an air operations center the next, letting operators work applications across the One Raytheon Integrated On-Demand Network the same way they would use the GIG. Additional layers can be brought in, reconfiguring the scenario and adding net-centric capability to show how C3 can be done in the future.
Attitudes and knowledge about the wired world have changed dramatically in little more than a decade. For instance, at the time of Operation DESERT STORM, U.S. Central Command informed all of the component commanders that there would be no e-mail systems introduced into the theater. It’s difficult to conceive of units making do without such a capability today. Today’s warriors have grown up in a world where information is provided on demand from anywhere, by multiple means. Information tools are expected. That’s what net-centricity is all about. On the DoD secret Internet protocol router network one knows the information viewed is reliable, clean, and ready for use because it is controlled, tagged, registered, and stored in trusted systems in a secure environment. The NIEC is a place where that kind of futuristic technology can be demonstrated today because Raytheon has already headed down the net-centric road.
Our engineering philosophy is that every weapon and every C2 element is a node in the chain. Our goal is to dramatically improve the quality, speed, and results of decisionmaking to provide commanders and troops with a greater range of options in a transformed environment.
Note
1. WebEx is a company that provides web conferencing, online meeting, and web event services.
>Mr. Higgins is the Senior Manager, Strategic Planning and Business Development, Raytheon.
