This piece is really fun. There's great info relating to the topic and MITRE, with a prisonplanet spin... Enjoy.
http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2692
DoDAF
"9/11 is a
prime example of what Indira Singh calls "extreme
event risk." In the months prior to
the attack, she was working on a program capable of providing data in
real time to prevent these types of events from happening. She had
pitched this very idea just one week before 9/11 at In-Q-Tel
Headquarters (CIA) in Virginia, giving a final presentation
for an ICH (Interoperability
Clearinghouse) project code named "Blue Prophet." Indira explained
to CIA why she was supporting ICH in this project.
She told the
In-Q-Tel team, "The intelligence and other agencies need this now."
One
of the men with CIA looked at Indira with what she describes as the "blackest, coldest look anyone has ever given her."Official Document
W N 99W 0000066
WORKING
NOTE
Adapting Information Engineering for the
National
Airspace System and Its Application to
Flight Planning September 1999Michael A.
Hermes
Sally E. Stalnaker
Dr. Nels A. Broste
Gary L. Smith
1999 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved. This is the
copyright work of The MITRE Corporation and was produced for the U.S.
Government under Contract Number DTFA01-93-C-00001 and is subject to
Federal Acquisition Regulation Clause 52.227-14, Rights in Data-General,
Alt. III (JUN 1987) and Alt. IV (JUN 1987). No other use other than
that granted to the U.S. Government, or to those acting on behalf of the
U.S. Government, under that Clause is authorized without the express
written permission of The MITRE Corporation. For further information,
please contact The MITRE Corporation, Contracts Office, 1820 Dolley
Madison Blvd., McLean, VA 22102, (703) 983-6000.
Sponsor:
Dept.
No.:
Federal Aviation
AdministrationF062
Contract No.:
Project No.:
DTFA01-93-C-00001
02991208-IA
1999 The MITRE
Corporation. All rights reserved.
MITRE
For internal
use and not an official position of The MITRE
Corporation
Center
for Advanced Aviation System Development
McLean, Virginia
Abstract
A
combined team from the FAA, the aviation community, contractors, and
CAASD jointly adapted the information engineering process for the
information flows in the National Airspace System. Information
engineering was then applied to the information flows necessary for
flight planning in a Free Flight environment. The combined team created
high level information engineering products and an interactive
prototype. CAASD documented an overview of the information engineering
approach in this assessment. The application of information engineering
to flight planning shows that an enhanced and more dynamic flight
planning process is necessary to implement Free Flight advances for
improved access, predictability, flexibility, and capacity in the
National Airspace System. The study also demonstrates the power of the
information engineering process in assessing system needs.
KEYWORDS:
Free Flight, Flight plan, information engineering, object-oriented
Acknowledgments
The concepts documented in this paper were the results of the
combined effort of the
Flight Object Working Group under the aegis
of the NAS Information Architecture Committee (NIAC). The Working Group
was comprised of FAA, CAASD, SETA, DMR,
Ptech,
and ILOG staff. The Flight Object Working Group included:
FAA:
Josh Hung (project leader),
Felix Rausch,
Carol Uri
SETA: Dick Sullivan (TRW), Phil Prassee (JTA), Tony
Rhodes (TRW)
DMR: Bill Holden
Ptech:
Dr. Samer Minkara, Walid Assad
ILOG: Alain Neyroud, Olivier NicolasIn
addition, Long Truong and Ron Schwarz of CAASD provided significant
insight and commentary on this work. The following operations experts
at CAASD also provided valuable assistance: Jerry Baker, Dusty Rhodes,
Don Olvey, and Larry Newman. The authors would also like to thank Lynn
McDonald and Patricia Palmer for documentation, cleanup, and
administrative support.
6.2 Object-based DevelopmentThe
development of the Dynamnic Flight Planning demonstration integrated
elements across many different NAS user and FAA domains. These domains
included NAS and engineering elements. Figure 6-1 illustrates many of
these elements and their inter-relationships. The NAS operations were
reviewed to identify and develop scenarios for assessment. The NAS
services and capabilities provided definition for the prototype. The
object-oriented prototype development required the definition of
sequence diagrams and use cases. The assessment of information sources,
sinks, and flows required reevaluation of scenarios and use cases.
Several iterations were required to produce the final demonstration.
The Ptech Framework object modeling tool was
used to develop the Dynamic Flight Plan framework and rules for moving
and processing information. Figure 6-2 is a high-level view
of the much more detailed object models developed for the demonstration
[Rumbaugh, 1991]. The shaded portions of Figure 6-2 were the focus of
this study. The detailed models reside in the tools themselves and are
to be documented at a later date. Many of the objects were derived from
the entity-relationship model developed for the NAS data model
analysis, see Figure 3-4.
Figure 6-3. High-Level Scenario
Flow (see the document for image)
The Dynamic Flight Plan
demonstration was developed with a commercial set of prototype
development tools. This tool set, from ILOG Inc., used the object
models developed with the Ptech Framework modeling tool to populate the
object core, see Figure 6-4. The use cases and sequential meetings of
the development team allowed the evolution of the views and validation
of the core objects and rules. As the actor views were developed, the
scenarios were played out. Each session uncovered more opportunities
for improvement in the demonstration, and even more importantly, a
broader conception of the extent that dynamic flight planning could be
exercised under the appropriate circumstances.
__________________________________________________________________
Official Document
MT R 00W 0000097
MITRE
TECHNICAL REPORTFAA Data
Registry (FDR) Concepts of Use and
ImplementationSeptember 2000Dr. Nels A.
Broste
Ronald G. Rhoades
Ronald A. Schwarz
The MITRE
Corporation. Al rights reserved.
MITRE
Center for Advanced
Aviation System Development
McLean, Virginia
2000 The
MITRE Corporation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
3.3.2
Additional Attributes
The basic attribute list can be extended to
meet
FAA administrative
requirements.
An FDR prototype developed in FY99 using the Ptech, Inc.'s Framework environment [AOP] identified a requirement for additional attributes beyond those
suggested in ISO/IEC 11179. A combined list of additional attributes is
shown in Table 3-2.
_____________________________________________________________
http://www.mitre.org/news/the_edge/july_01/sanders.html
July
2001,
Volume 5
Number 2
Information
Support to Multinational Operations
A Global Diplomatic Common
Platform
New Architecture to Ensure Interoperability of the NATO
Bi-Strategic Command Automated Information System with U.S. and Allied
Systems
Worldwide Air Traffic Control Analysis
Bringing
Visibility, Efficiency, and Velocity to America's Mobility Forces
Joint
Force Integration - A Challenge for the Warfighter
Global
Information Grid Architecture
Implications and Challenges of the
Global Combat Support System
Homeland Defense
IDEX II
Replacement Project: Leveraging MITRE's Unique Role and Global Presence
Hexagon:
A US Joint Force Command Solution to Coalition InteroperabilityWorldwide
Information Systems Issue!
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.mitre.org/news/the_edge/july_01/sanders.html
Joint Vision 2020,
building on Joint Vision 2010, focuses on interoperability in joint,
multinational, and interagency operations, with particular emphasis on
alliance/coalition operations. One of the fundamental issues confronting
commanders in a multinational operation is the sharing of information
among participants. “Need to know” has been operationally overtaken by
“need to share.” MITRE has played a significant role in this shift. A
number of approaches are identified in this article for addressing this
“need to share” issue.
Two principle aspects to information
sharing are what to share and how to share it. How the information is
shared is a technical issue and more easily solved. What to share is
constrained by the foreign disclosure policies under which the sharing
takes place. The first step to sharing is getting the information into a
form that enables foreign disclosure. In many ways the first step is
the most difficult and time consuming. Currently it is a manual process
that is not consistent with the growth of processing of command and
control information, especially intelligence. The second step is
providing the system capabilities for providing access to the
information after it has been cleared for disclosure.
Deciding
how to share the information can be driven by the information itself,
the update rate required, the fidelity required for the mission, and the
capabilities of the systems employed by the participating nations. For
example, in the case of nine Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries, the
objective is to share air situation information between military and
civil air traffic control systems and across bordering countries. The
PfP nations determined that defining common systems and interfaces that
provide the level of interoperability required and acquiring that same
system for all participating nations was the best approach. The PfP
countries now have a common baseline with common business rules to build
upon as the capabilities of their systems grow. The interfaces were
defined to facilitate the exchange of track data with the NATO command
and control centers as the PfP countries are accepted into NATO. One of
the challenges is for the nations to continue to maintain functionally
equivalent baselines in the future in order to enhance interoperability.
From
a broader perspective, a number of technical solutions are being
employed to share information within the political constraints. One of
these is to maintain a set of servers at an alliance or coalition level
of security that can be accessed by all participants. An example of this
is the U.S. European Command’s Linked Ops/Intel Centers/Europe (LOCE).
LOCE consists of a set of servers containing databases and imagery
information and a network supporting more than six hundred workstations
distributed among U.S. and multinational users. LOCE has been used in
support of operations in both Bosnia and Kosovo. LOCE is also an element
of the Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation System
(BICES). BICES is a network connecting the National Contribution
Databases (NCDs) of participating NATO nations. As with LOCE, BICES
makes use of a dedicated communications network with bulk encryption
devices. LOCE and BICES have been evolving over a number of years and
have been making ever-greater use of Internet technology to facilitate
the movement of information. The U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) is
carrying out Proof of Concept experiments for a Coalition Wide-Area
Network employing a capability similar to LOCE. This LOCE-derivative is
called the Central Region Information Exchange System (CENTRIXS), with
servers to be placed in Tampa and the USCENTCOM area of responsibility
(AOR) for use with coalition partners in the Middle East.
The
U.S. Southern Command and 20 Caribbean nations have adopted a BICES
approach as a model for sharing information among themselves and have
fielded a capability called the Caribbean Information Sharing Network
(CISN). The CISN employs commercial encryption for sharing unclassified
but sensitive information and uses the Internet rather than a dedicated
communications network as used with BICES.
A number of other
approaches for information sharing in a multinational environment are
being assessed. Two of these are the Multi-Domain Dissemination System
(MDDS) at the U.S. Pacific Command and the Content-Based Information
System (CBIS) at the U.S. Joint Forces Command. (See the related article
on Hexagon.)
Briefly, the MDDS effort is investigating ways of
providing access from multiple security domains to one source of
Web-based information, a common data set of authoritative information.
MDDS will acquire information from multiple sources, provide a security
review, and place the information in appropriate repositories for access
by those who have been cleared for access to the repository.
CBIS
is taking a different approach. Information is protected based on its
content. Two elements of this approach are content labeling and user
security attributes. Information is labeled and encrypted electronically
to identify classification, dissemination, and release controls. At a
user’s workstation, the user is identified by a personal authenticator
smart card that includes, among other things, biometric templates,
cryptographic keys, and a digital certificate providing authorization to
access secure material.
There have been proposals for the
development of a generic U.S. Multinational Information Infrastructure
(USMII) that is derived from the LOCE capability and experience. The
USMII would be developed to facilitate deployment and employment in a
multinational operation as situations demand. It would support both
intelligence and operations, connecting the U.S. with coalition partners
worldwide for the two-way exchange of information. Also, it would
provide U.S.-releasable information such as intelligence products,
target folders, missile alerts, and mission plans. It would also be
connected through necessary guards with appropriate U.S.-only
capabilities. Operational missions could include support to offensive or
defensive operations, drug interdiction, humanitarian assistance, and
peacekeeping.
How can these various initiatives be brought
together to capitalize on their strengths and avoid duplication of
effort? One approach is to develop a set of coalition servers similar to
that used in the USMII that would have as their primary purpose the
support of worldwide multinational operations. The servers would be
transportable, have a set of software that would be applicable to a
range of situations, and make use of Web technology with Web browsers to
facilitate employment in multiple theaters. Another approach to
consider is coupling servers employing Web technology as the coalition
servers. The coalition servers could have interfaces with a Web access
secure server as well as local U.S. and allied servers. Similarly, a
server using the CBIS technology could be employed as the coalition
server, with users from multiple nations having access to the
information as a function of the content-based protection mechanism. As
the Worldwide Web technology evolves, new opportunities are provided for
nations to more easily share information in support of multinational
operations.
MITRE believes a worldwide information
infrastructure, relying upon many different technologies, will evolve to
support the multitude of multinational operations across defense
commands and civil organizations.
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.mitre.org/news/the_edge/july_01/maybury.html
In 1999, the
President, Secretary of State, and members of Congress commissioned a
blue ribbon panel, the Overseas Presence Advisory Panel (OPAP), to
assess needs and make recommendations for improving our ability to
conduct foreign affairs overseas. OPAP’s November 1999 report begins:
“The United States overseas presence, which has provided the essential
underpinnings of U.S. foreign policy for many decades, is near a state
of crisis. Insecure and often decrepit facilities, obsolete information
technology, outmoded administrative and human resources practices, poor
allocation of resources, and competition from the private sector for
talented staff threaten to cripple our nation’s overseas capability,
with far-reaching consequences for national security and prosperity.” (Download report [PDF])
Among its key
recommendations, the report proposes the creation of a common operating
platform to enable the more than 40 agencies operating in nearly 200
countries to increase U.S. global engagement and influence in an
increasingly complex and dangerous world. A few months after the
November release of the report, the Department of State proposed
creating a “collaboration zone,” providing a common platform for the
worldwide diplomatic community. On June 22, 2000, because of MITRE’s
extensive systems engineering and research involvement in distributed
collaboration systems (see The Edge Collaboration issue), MITRE testified as
the industry expert before the Congressional Committee on International
Relations, alongside the Department of State Chief Information Officer,
the Head of Diplomatic Services, and the General Accounting Office.
MITRE’s statements and recommendations to Congress included:
1. Collaboration and knowledge management technologies offer great
promise for helping to create a common platform to enhance our overseas
presence across multiple countries and operating agencies.
2. The
infrastructure must be secure to manage risk.
3. Success comes
from a step-by-step creation of a solution with milestones leading
toward the implementation of a clear vision with explicit objectives and
measured outcomes.
4. Effective collaboration between technical
and operational experts and organizational commitment are necessary for
success.
5. Cultural change is required to fully realize business
process improvements.
Establishing a system to support the
varied needs of more than 40 agencies in nearly 200 countries with
varied communications infrastructure is a great challenge for the
foreign affairs community. MITRE continues to share its knowledge with
key decision makers. For example, the Chairman of the International
Relations Committee, Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (R-NY), requested that
MITRE share its extensive collaboration knowledge with Department of
State executives. Acting in the public interest, MITRE held a series of
technical exchanges at MITRE and the Department of State with former
Undersecretary of Management Bonnie Cohen, Chief Information Officer
Fernando Burbano, and senior intelligence personnel to share MITRE’s
corporate expertise in the areas of extranets, expert finding, and
automated information management.
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.mitre.org/news/the_edge/july_01/wells2.html
United States
military forces are and will continue to be involved in coalition
operations involving NATO and NATO allies. To remain successful, these
coalition operations will need a greater degree of interoperability than
required in the past. This can only be achieved if the U.S., NATO, and
NATO allies utilize the same set of specified standards and, to the
greatest degree possible, the same set of tested interoperable products.
To
achieve this goal, MITRE is supporting the U.S. Mission to NATO in
NATO’s efforts to develop a NATO Consultation, Command, and Control (C3)
technical architecture for implementing a Bi-Strategic Command (SC)
Automated Information System (AIS). The Bi-SC AIS will provide a single
core capability for the command, control, and information systems for
both of NATO’s Strategic Commands—Allied Command Europe (ACE) and Allied
Command Atlantic (ACLANT).
NATO policy requires the Bi-SC AIS be
implemented with the mandatory core set of standards and products
specified in the NATO C3 Technical Architecture (NC3TA). MITRE is
actively supporting U.S. efforts to align our national systems (e.g.,
Global Command and Control System (GCCS)) with the Bi-SC AIS in order to
support multinational operations. To promote interoperability, Bi-SC
AIS must be implemented with the standards specified in the NATO Common
Standards Profile (NCSP) and the products specified in the NATO Common
Operating Environment (NCOE). These are volumes 4 and 5 respectively of
the five-volume NC3TA, which includes:
* Volume 1: Management
* Volume 2: Architectural Models and Description
* Volume 3:
Base Standards and Profiles
* Volume 4: NATO Common Standards
Profile (NCSP)
* Volume 5: NATO Common Operating Environment
(NCOE)
As part of our support on this initiative, MITRE is
chairing the NATO Ad-Hoc Working Group for NCOE, which has the
responsibility for developing the NCSP and NCOE. Volume 4: NCSP,
provides guidance on mandated and emerging standards for NATO
information system acquisition. Volume 5: NCOE, is a NCSP
standards-based computing and communications infrastructure, composed of
selected off-the-shelf products and supporting services, that provides
the structural foundation necessary to build interoperable and open
systems.
Version 2 of the NC3TA was completed in December 2000
and; approvedal by the NATO C3 Board (NC3B) is expected in May 2001.
Once With NC3B approvaled, the standards in the NCSP and the products in
the NCOE will have become mandatory for the Bi-SC AIS. By aligning
NATO’s NCSP and NCOE with the analogous U.S. Joint Technical
Architecture (JTA) and Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) Common
Operating Environment (COE), the NATO Bi-SC AIS will be interoperable
with GCCS and thus facilitate U.S. leadership or participation in any
NATO-led operation.
Version 2 of the NC3TA was completed in
December 2000 and approval by the NATO C3 Board in May 2001. With NC3B
approval, the standards in the NCSP and the products in the NCOE are
mandatory for the Bi-SC AIS. By aligning NATO's NCSP and NCOE with the
analogous U.S. Joint Technical Architecture (JTA) and Defense
Information Infrastructure (DII) Common Operating Environment (COE), the
NATO Bi-SC AIS will be interoperable with GCCS and thus facilitate U.S.
leadership or participation in any NATO-led operation.
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.mitre.org/news/the_edge/july_01/wieland.html
The United States air
traffic control (ATC) system currently handles as many as 100,000
passengers per hour on 4,000 aircraft, or about 650 million passengers
per year. The volume of air traffic is increasing at least as fast as
the general economy. During the 10 years ending in 1998, the number of
domestic passenger-kilometers flown increased at a 3.8 percent annual
rate. Overseas the growth is even higher, increasing at a 6.3 percent
average annual rate. Because the numbers of airports and runways are
growing more slowly, and the volume of airspace is static, increased air
traffic leads to increased congestion and its resulting delays.
Increasing congestion is a global phenomenon, and air traffic analysts
must be prepared to think and act globally to resolve near- and far-term
problems.
MITRE’s Center for Advanced Aviation Systems
Development has been actively involved in ameliorating overseas ATC
problems for a number of years. MITRE currently has active long-term
projects with Egypt, Belgium, Japan, and Canada. Additionally, it is
engaged in projects in Mexico, Latin America, Switzerland, and other
regions. Within these areas, MITRE has worked on air traffic safety
analysis through infrastructure evaluation, modernization, and project
management support.
MITRE’s international program has succeeded
in providing substantial and tangible support in every region. For
example, MITRE’s current work in Latin America focuses on configuring
the airport and airspace regions for both Sao Paulo, Brazil and Buenos
Aires, Argentina. Although the volume of air traffic is small relative
to other regions of the world, these large metropolitan areas in Latin
America have a substantial delay problem due to their airport and
airspace configuration. MITRE is not only helping Brazil and Argentina
identify and solve these specific problems, but is also teaching
customers and local resources in the area about the use of modeling
tools and the process of analysis so that they develop the ability to
solve future problems themselves.
We need to be continually
evaluating air traffic volume, procedures, and growth both on a local
and a global level. In many cases, problems are not unique to any one
country, but are common across national boundaries. Solutions to air
traffic problems in one region can often be implemented in other
regions. Additionally, air traffic problems that appear to be local
often affect distant airports either on the same continent or overseas.
These factors combine to create a continuing need for a global view of
air traffic and for access to tools that can analyze problems globally.
The
Detailed Policy Assessment ToolOne such tool that has been
used for international aviation analysis is a MITRE-built simulation
model called the Detailed Policy Assessment Tool (DPAT). First developed
as a MITRE-Sponsored Research project in fiscal 1994 and 1995, DPAT has
subsequently been used in numerous national and international projects
by MITRE staff. Its extensive use of data-driven software, its parallel
computation for processing speed, and its avoidance of built-in ATC
logic that could have made it region-specific enable its use
internationally.
DPAT’s main contribution to aviation analysis is
its ability to predict and measure congestion-related delays.
Congestion delays occur when system resources are overworked. Over 70
percent of the time this situation occurs during bad weather; the
remaining delays occur for a variety of other reasons, including airline
scheduling practices, equipment outages, unplanned incidents, and so
forth. Because DPAT can be configured with data representing an
historical situation, the current live situation from radar feeds, or a
hypothetical future situation, it has great use in predicting traffic
throughput and delays.
DPAT is derived from an earlier MITRE
product called National Airspace System Performance Analysis Capability
(NASPAC), originally built as a domestic model only. There are no limits
to the number of airports, flights, or en route airspace sectors it can
simulate. As such, DPAT can be configured for different regions of the
world. Already, DPAT has been used for analysis in the United States,
East Asia, Latin America, Canada, and Egypt. Its versatility is enhanced
through an interface that allows it to be accessible through Web
browsers.
The Use of DPAT for Global Air Traffic EvaluationOne
of the original DPAT studies concentrated on East Asian air traffic.
The team produced air traffic forecasts for each year from 1995 (the
study year) through 2015, looking at expected arrivals and departures
from each airport as well as at the expected cities of origin and
destination that are served by each flight. In developing the forecast,
the team consulted with a variety of industry and government sources,
fitting exponential models to predictions of regional Asian growth
rates. Subsequently, the team ran DPAT with over 400 different
configurations, constituting a sensitivity study of every combination of
forecasted demand and capacity. Among other findings, the team isolated
several Asian airports where delayed construction programs could result
in severe delays that would propagate to surrounding airports.
A
second example of how DPAT can be used to evaluate global air traffic
is an analysis of two Canadian airports, one in Montreal (Dorval) and
the other in Toronto. In both cases, the Canadian aviation authority,
NAV CANADA, requested an analysis of the expected reduction in delay due
to the installation of new metering systems and procedures. The team
considered up to six different aircraft metering technologies, and used
DPAT to show how system delay would be affected as the capacities of the
airports changed with the different metering technologies.
Because
DPAT contains a Web-based interface, the first of its kind when MITRE
produced it in 1995, it is a useful system for demonstrating MITRE
capabilities at conferences and to potential international sponsors.
DPAT’s Web-based capabilities have been demonstrated during two
different Asia-Pacific aerospace conferences on the West Coast, as well
as during conferences and technical exchange meetings with the Egyptian
government. Additionally, DPAT has been integrated with a Java-based
flight visualization tool for use in graphically displaying current air
traffic in Asia.
ConclusionsAs the world economy
continues to globalize and as worldwide air traffic continues to rise,
it becomes increasingly important to maintain a global focus on air
traffic management. Problems in distant regions can propagate and become
local problems. Solutions to local problems can often become solutions
to problems in distant regions. Economies of scale, efficient use of
resources, and a common multinational understanding of complex problems
all become powerful motivators for international collaboration and a
global focus on problem solving—both generally and specifically for
aviation.
The contents of this material reflect the views of the
author and/or the Director of the Center for Advanced Aviation Systems
Development. Neither the Federal Aviation Administration nor the
Department of Transportation makes any warranty or guarantee, or
promise, expressed or implied, concerning the content or accuracy of the
views expressed herein.
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.mitre.org/news/the_edge/july_01/tilden2.html
The Air Force Air
Mobility Command (AMC) provides global air support for the entire
Department of Defense. This includes air support for the President,
day-to-day operational support, natural disaster support, humanitarian
support, aerial refueling, and, as job number one, warfighter support
during operations in hostile environments. AMC’s aircraft fleet contains
more airframes than the total of seven major commercial airlines,
averages over 900 sorties each day and, in 1999, provided air service to
153 of 197 countries worldwide. AMC may not actually go where "no man
has gone before," but it does go to many locations where commercial
aircraft do not. AMC’s annual costs exceed $7.0 billion, and its per
annum projected growth by geographic region ranges from 3.7% to 13.1%.
Consequently,
AMC’s daily challenges are not trivial. Further, in a time of shrinking
resources, AMC must seek ways to perform its mission more effectively
and efficiently. One major response to this challenge is Mobility 2000
(M2K), a comprehensive AMC initiative to modernize Command and Control
(C2) enterprise architecture in order to increase operational
effectiveness, save on use of personnel and aircraft, and improve
safety. M2K leverages new technologies in communications and information
systems to significantly enhance the ability of AMC to plan for use of
assets, schedule personnel and aircraft, task operating units, and
execute operations using America’s air mobility forces worldwide.
M2K
is a system integration effort to improve the visibility of all AMC
resources to AMC decision-makers, enable more efficient decisions, and
increase movement of goods and people through the Defense Transportation
System. A major M2K goal is to reduce aircrew workload by eliminating
time spent on the ground in airports so that they can make more
efficient use of their flying duty day. M2K will revolutionize C2
communications and data flow to position the Command for more efficient
and responsive air mobility operations in the 21st century.
Current
operations are hampered by limited support to aircrews, who receive an
inadequate near-real time view of the mission and less-than-current
information on changes in weather and airport capabilities. Limited
connectivity to the aircraft, characterized by only basic voice
communications and limited data transmissions, creates problems for the
dynamic decision making required in a changing environment. Improved
communications to and from aircraft is critical for positive command and
control of AMC assets.
The AMC MITRE Team provides multi-faceted
and wide-ranging support to the M2K concept through its participation
in the programmatic approach used to implement it. For example, MITRE
personnel were instrumental in developing the vision and concept of
operations. Further, the MITRE Team includes leads on corporate
architecture, database engineering, and security engineering projects
who play key roles in the implementation of M2K. The AMC MITRE Team is a
key contributor to the re-engineering, within M2K, of the business
practices and supporting information technology in the Tanker Airlift
Control Center (TACC). (TACC is the organization responsible for
worldwide management of AMC assets and is the command center from which
flight managers develop and file flight plans and monitor the flights in
progress.)
MITRE personnel play key roles in all three M2K
critical subcategories: Aircraft Enabling Technology, Communication
Pipeline, and Integrated Flight Management (IFM).
Aircraft
Enabling TechnologyThe vast growth in air traffic presents
increasing challenges. All operators of aircraft, both military and
commercial, are competing for the best slot times and most
fuel-efficient air routes. Civil aviation authorities (as highlighted in
the article on global air traffic) are implementing air traffic
architecture that will increase system capacity, flight efficiency, and
flight safety, and that will culminate, in 2010, with the attainment of
dynamic routing (a.k.a. "free flight"). Dynamic routing will give users
the freedom to choose their own routes, speeds, and altitudes in near
real-time, representing a shift from air traffic control to air traffic
management. As a user of the same airspace, AMC must change its business
practices to operate within the same architecture. As part of its work
with M2K, MITRE is evaluating and recommending new technology for use in
a new Advanced Computer Flight Plan (ACFP) system to select the most
fuel efficient flight plan. The new system is anticipated to reduce fuel
costs by up to 3%; that equates to $20 million per year in savings. The
ACFP provides a capability to file flight plans with the FAA
electronically, thereby speeding up the flight planning process and
reducing the time that the crew spends on the ground developing flight
plans. The new ACFP is projected to be operational in FY01.
Global
Air Traffic Management (GATM) and Aircraft Communication Addressing and
Reporting Systems (ACARS) are two other key M2K aircraft technologies
that will keep AMC in synch with the civil aviation community. By
leveraging GATM equipment installation and digital data link
technologies, AMC will realize real-time, global, end-to-end data
connectivity among the TACC, air traffic control systems, and mobility
aircrew. MITRE contributes to the implementation of GATM through
technology evaluation and implementation planning and execution.
Communications
PipelineOther emerging communications capabilities are
being exploited to support M2K communications needs through cooperative
relationships with such military and civilian agencies as the Air Force
Research Lab, ARINC GLOBALink Services, and the Aerospace Command,
Control, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Center
(AC2ISRC). These relationships form an active, strategic, long-term
partnership for continuous insertion and logical development of AMC
information technology. MITRE engineers also support the Air Force-wide
deployed communications that are critical to AMC.
The more robust
communication pipeline provided by emerging digital data technology and
enhanced applications software will facilitate improvements to C2
processes inside and outside of the TACC and enhance information flow to
aircrews planning and flying AMC missions. As a result, real-time
connectivity with the aircraft worldwide and automated reporting to the
TACC will become a reality.
Integrated Flight ManagementIntegrated
Flight Management (IFM) is the catalyst for team collaboration among
aircrews flying AMC missions, air traffic control, and the TACC,
producing more effective planning, communications, and resource
utilization. At the core of IFM are the aircrews and the flight
managers. Flight managers will be the aircrews’ primary conduit to the
full support of the TACC. In a program modeled after commercial airline
operations, they will assist aircrew in flight planning and flight
following, and will act as a resource to aircrews as they perform their
missions. Those who fulfill such supporting functions as weather
reporting and maintenance are part of a team that provides the flight
manager with resources, planning, and information for decision making.
The
AMC MITRE Team has played integral roles in developing the first of
many tools to implement M2K by supporting the new concept of flight
managers. With MITRE providing project management, logical and physical
database design, systems interface design, and implementation, an
Integrated Management Tool (IMT) prototype was installed, tested, and
made ready for use by the flight managers in the TACC in July 2000. The
system is projected to be fully operational by 2003, ensuring that AMC
can continue to operate effectively and globally in air traffic
management. Through the IMT, flight managers can develop flight plans
using ACFP, file the plans electronically with the FAA, provide the
crews with electronic versions of all documentation required for the
flight, and monitor the flight. Flight managers can also use IMT to
inform in-flight aircrews dynamically about changes and re-routing as
well as to receive information about such changes from the crews.
Real-time, global connectivity paired with IFM operations will be a
force multiplier. It will put the full complement of TACC resources at
the aircrew’s fingertips. Closer coordination and shared
responsibilities between the crew and dispatcher will create improved
efficiencies in ground time, route and alternate route selection, and
bad weather avoidance. These efficiencies will result in significant
dollar savings across the command; more importantly, they will result in
safer flight operations.
Lessons LearnedOne of
the benefits of the AMC MITRE Team’s efforts in supporting the M2K
implementation has been the capture of principles by which AMC will
build systems in the future. The embodiment of these principles was
presented to and endorsed by the AC2ISRC as the method by which to
develop C2 systems. Some of these principles, adhered to by the program
managers during the implementation of M2K to date, are shown in the
table below.
Quote
Principles, Not Standards, Make AMC System Development a
Success
Know the mission and take advantage of opportunities.
Make
the business more efficient and more effective.
Build the business
case (for DoD, the "Mission Case").
Keep efforts small.
Provide
quality data that can be transformed into useful information.
Use
mainstream techniques.
Involve the user of the future system when
developing architecture.
Don’t settle on one architecture or
development tool; take advantage of many.
Recognize that IT provides
tools for business use, not the business itself.
Focus on the task at
hand.
Create and maintain a repository to capture the processes and
data.
Employing these principles has allowed the AMC MITRE Team
to contribute to the successful implementation of the M2K concept to
date.
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.mitre.org/news/the_edge/july_01/jackson2.html
The Goldwater-Nichols
Reorganization Act of 1986 aimed to integrate service capabilities and
strengthen Department of Defense (DoD) joint elements. It also
designated the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the principal
military adviser to the president, National Security Council, and the
Secretary of Defense. The act established the position of vice chairman
and streamlined the operational chain of command from the president to
the Secretary of Defense to the unified commanders and made the unified
commanders fully responsible for accomplishing the missions of their
commands. As part of the implementation of Goldwater-Nichols, three
significant roles were assigned to the then United States Atlantic
Command (USACOM) in 1993: Joint Force Provider, Joint Force Trainer, and
Joint Force Integrator. The goal of assigning these roles was to
provide a foundation to formulate and conduct Joint Operations
throughout all levels of conflict that would have the focused attention
of a Commander in Chief (CINC). USACOM was redesignated as the United
States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) on 1 October 1999.
The evolution of
Joint Vision 2010/2020 has focused the DoD on four strategic pillars:
Dominant Maneuver, Precision Engagement, Focused Logistics, and Full
Dimension Protection. These lead to Information Superiority in the
battlespace. In an effort to formulate the concepts and support for
future warfighting needs and capabilities, the role of DoD-wide Joint
Experimentation was assigned by the President to USJFCOM in 1999.
MITRE’s
RoleThe MITRE Corporation has been a contributor in different
roles at USJFCOM (previously USACOM) since 1980, when MITRE was asked to
establish operating locations at most of the CINC locations throughout
the world. Our engineers were involved with developing concepts,
designing and engineering network infrastructure based on what is known
today as "Internet Technology," and assisting the intelligence community
in establishing automated intelligence production capabilities. Today,
we operate offices at the Unified CINC locations, as well as other
client locations throughout the world.
The Challenge of Joint
Force IntegrationThe role of Joint Force Integration has been
defined by USJFCOM as a "collection of activities whose purpose is the
synergistic blending of doctrine, organization, training, material,
leadership, personnel and facilities (DOTMLPF) from the different
Military Services to improve interoperability and enhance joint
capabilities." The supporting principles are: Future Oriented, Fully
Interoperable, Functional Across the Entire Spectrum of Conflict, and
Enhanced Competitive Advantage. One of the key factors in achieving the
goal of a fully integrated joint force that supports various levels of
conflict is the development of a successful Joint Experimentation
Program.
MITRE was an original member of the Joint
Experimentation Strategic Concepts Team formed in 1998. Since the needs
of the USJFCOM team required skills that MITRE could offer, strategic
partnerships were formed across the company to draw on Command, Control,
Communications, Computer, and Intelligence, Surveillance, and
Reconnaissance (C4ISR) operational, functional, and technical skills. As
the role of Joint Experimentation evolves, MITRE expertise and the
ability to reach back into the corporation are key elements to our
providing C4ISR-based systems engineering skills.
Joint
Experimentation ProgramThe Joint Experimentation Program is a
"concept-based" experimentation program. Promising new concepts are
developed and examined through a rigorous experimentation campaign. At
present, USJFCOM is actively working five concepts: Rapid Decisive
Operations (RDO), Attack Operations Against Critical Mobile Targets,
Adaptive Joint Command and Control, Joint Interactive Planning, and
Common Relevant Operational Picture. RDO is our overarching "integrating
concept," while the others are considered to be "functional concepts,"
as each enables RDO. While MITRE is supporting the concept development
and experimentation programs for each of the concepts, MITRE is the
co-lead on the latter three, referred to as the Information
Superiority-Command & Control (IS-C2) concepts.
RDO
ConceptThe essence of RDO is to conduct rapid, simultaneous, and
parallel operations aimed at destroying the coherence of the enemy’s
military capability through an early, direct, and distributed attack
against his critical assets. The objective is to rapidly coerce the
enemy to do our will.
RDO pulls together the best features of the
Services’ programs as well as competing private sector ideas to examine
alternative operational concepts focused on bringing future conflicts
to quick closure. The operational concepts under consideration offer
potential improvements in the ability of the Joint Force Commander to
generate rapid and decisive outcomes in small-scale contingencies.
IS-C2
VisionTo prepare for the demands of future warfighting, the
U.S. military is undergoing an unprecedented transformation fueled, in
large part, by the rapid advances in information technology.
Future
lighter, smaller, more mobile forces will require proportionally
smaller C2 headquarters in theater that employ information technology to
provide reachback to supporting staffs and world class experts
distributed worldwide. The need to operate inside an adversary’s
decision cycle will require that planning and execution transition from
the current serial hierarchical process to a more parallel,
collaborative process. The need for unity of effort to ensure the rapid
and decisive accomplishment of the desired effects when and where needed
will require superior shared battlespace awareness and a common
understanding of the commander’s intent and the current operational
plan. Joint forces of the future will be seamlessly interoperable
because they will operate from common, shared data that will provide the
right information, at the right time, in the right format. Real-time
information sharing will enable combat identification and the reduction
of fratricide. Multimedia display technologies will be used to ensure
that the information is readily recognized and understood by the
warfighter.
Information technology will provide tools for course
of action analysis that will shorten planning times and allow dynamic,
continuous plan modification during execution. These same tools will
support realistic mission rehearsal and training. Commanders will use
collaboration tools to confer with other commanders, their distributed
staffs, and subject matter experts for planning and battle management.
Information
superiority requires not only the acquisition of information but that
the information be kept secure from attack by our adversary. Thus,
information assurance must be a key element of any IS-C2 concept.
Conversely, we must be able to share critical information with coalition
partners and selected non-governmental agencies. Multi-level security
tools will be employed to ensure that appropriate information, and only
appropriate information, is released when needed. All of these
capabilities will be supported by a worldwide information infrastructure
that will provide seamless, secure, transparent connectivity.
________________________________________________________________________
DoD SBIR FY00.1 - SOLICITATION SELECTIONS w/ ABSTRACTS
Navy
- Air Force - DARPA - BMDO - DTRA -
SOCOM - CBD - NIMA
---------- AF ----------
375 Phase I
Selections from the 00.1 Solicitation
(In Topic Number Order)
PTECH, INC.160 Federal Street
Boston,
MA 02110Phone:
PI:
Topic#: (800) 747-5608
Hussein IbrahimAF 00-116
Title:
Advanced C2 Process Modeling and Requirements Analysis Technology
Abstract:
This effort will demonstrate the ability to develop an innovative C2
investment decision support system. The objective system springs from a
completely original conceptualization of the problem. It will support
"product and process modeling of integrated operational and system
architectures" and will produce results that can be used within the
Air
Force spiral development process, C2 management
philosophy, and PPBS. This system will improve access to mathematically
rigorous, token-based architecture by orders of magnitude. Ptech and George Mason University's System
Architectures Laboratory will integrate object oriented C2
architecture modeling and a Discrete Event System model to construct a
software system that can: - Synthesize Colored Petri Nets from a set of
object oriented products. We will develop and employ a file-based
interface between
Ptech's FrameWork modeling environment and Design/CPN.- Verify the logical soundness and
behaviors of architectures by executing the models and using
token-based, state space and behavioral analysis techniques against an
agreed set of measures. -Report results in a variety of agreed graphical
and textual formats. This Phase I effort includes early
proof-of-concept demonstrations to enable the Team to gain favorable
position for development funding or approval for FAST TRACK funding.
________________________________________________________________________
Experimentation
StrategyThe three IS-C2 concepts described above
have the potential to transform significantly the
way future U.S. forces will do command and control. In order
to mature our IS-C2 concepts, MITRE has assisted the Joint
Experimentation Program with the development of a rigorous
experimentation campaign guided by a strategy that provides a roadmap
from ideas to refined military capabilities and DOTMLPF recommendations.
Through a series of spiral events, experimentation results are used to
further develop and refine the concepts under study. As shown in Figure
1, systematic progression of experimentation activities begins with
exploratory or discovery experiments that lead to better understanding
of the concepts, issues, and scientific hypotheses. These are followed
by confirmatory experiments that seek to test the hypotheses,
and finish with demonstrations of enhanced
military capabilities.
Figure 1. Nature
of "spiral" experimentation.
The
Experimentation Strategy incorporates events that span the spectrum of
experimentation venues: seminars, workshops, wargames, controlled
laboratory experiments, analytical studies, constructive simulations,
virtual (man-in-the-loop) simulations, and live simulations. In
addition, real operations like Kosovo frequently provide a great
opportunity to examine specific concepts in operation.
Figure 2
illustrates considerations for venue selection. Venues at the base of
the hierarchy are lower cost and will usually offer greater scientific
control and reproducibility. However, they generally have little
operational credibility. On the other hand, virtual simulations, live
events, and real operations have much greater operational credibility
and greater cost, but usually cannot be controlled sufficiently to be
considered very rigorous or scientific.
The mix of venues
compensates for the shortfalls of individual venues and supports the
spiral approach for concept development. In the early stages, the venues
will tend to be at the lower end of the hierarchy. The spiral concept
suggests that experiment strategies should start with simple, relatively
inexpensive, low-fidelity experiments when there is little knowledge,
and increase complexity and fidelity with more resource-intensive
virtual and live simulations as our knowledge matures and the concept is
refined. The experiment strategy should take immature concepts, mature
them through experiments, and turn them into demonstrated capabilities.
Major
ExperimentsFour of our major experiments to date are outlined
below:
(1) RDO Wargame—Conducted May–June 2000, this was a
modeling and simulation-supported wargame with an active opposing force.
Participants examined a baseline and three alternatives for conducting
RDO. The wargame highlighted the need to focus future experiments on
reorganizing the RDO C2 organization to better support effects-based
operations.
(2) Millennium Challenge 2000—From August through
mid-September 2000, USJFCOM conducted the first in a series of live
joint experiments in concert with the four military services to explore
concepts that may shape how DoD conducts business in the future. MITRE
was a contributor in the design and preparation of this joint
experiment, the main focus of which was on exploring the IS-C2 concepts.
An overarching joint context for the four service experiments allowed
the Joint Experimentation Program to work with each of the services to
examine the IS-C2 joint concepts. These experiments examined how a
robust, joint information environment, coupled with the use of
collaborative tools, increases shared battlespace awareness and
concurrent, parallel crisis action planning to support more timely and
effective decision making.
(3) Attack Operations Virtual
Simulation—From August through October 2000, this virtual simulation
experiment focused on the “battle management (decide)” portion of the
attack operations chain (detect, decide, deliver). The Joint
Semi-Automated Forces model was used to simulate participants in a
proposed new Time Critical Targets Cell. The experiment used the
MITRE-developed After Action Reporting System to collect data and
provide quick-look reports. It also used various constructive
simulations, including the MITRE-supported Pegasus Federation and a
“quick and dirty” model developed by MITRE using EXTEND, a dynamic
modeling software application.
(4) Unified Vision 2001—In May
2001, this virtual simulation explored the RDO concept, focusing upon
the structure of the Joint Task Force organization, the conduct of an
Operational Net Assessment, and the production of an Effects Tasking
Order.
ConclusionJoint Experimentation is one of the
key ingredients for the Joint Integration role of USJFCOM. The joint
concepts being developed and explored by the Joint Experimentation
program offer the potential to significantly transform the way future
U.S. forces accomplish their missions, and MITRE is playing a key role
in this activity.
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.mitre.org/news/the_edge/july_01/miller.html
Circa 2000—An F-15 is flying
at 25,000 feet over unfriendly territory. The aircraft’s multifunction
color display portrays static lines and colors specified by the pilot
before takeoff. Command and control information is developed over
several hours at a large forward-based command center, where the
intelligence and other information is manually aggregated and
synthesized from multiple systems. It is sent to the pilot through the
Airborne Warning and Control System over a voice channel that may or may
not be jam resistant and secure. There is no change to the
multifunction color display. The result is a minimum capability
information environment with potential to turn a low-risk mission into a
high-risk mission.
Circa 2010—An F-22 is flying at 25,000 feet
over unfriendly territory. A multifunction color display portrays
dynamically changing lines and colors based on assured command and
control information developed at a small forward based- command center,
relying on a robust integrated set of information. It enters the cockpit
via a joint, automated secure data link. The result is a timely
information environment that enables mission success and decreases risk.
Both
warfighting environments are information intense. Warfighters need
access to fused information about the battlespace to be able to know the
enemy’s whereabouts and capabilities, and to determine what weapons and
friendly assets are available. This includes targeting, intelligence,
and battle information and support information on supplies,
transportation, and medical capabilities. They need communications and
computing tools to be able to receive and understand the vast array of
information, and they need dissemination, management, and security tools
to enable the communications and computing to operate in the most
effective manner.
Today’s threats present a wide array of
asymmetric challenges to warfighting capability across a variety of
missions—joint, service, and in multinational environments. These
missions are ongoing around the world in support of ad hoc military and
civil organizations. The current information technology (IT)
infrastructure no longer provides the best solution to meet the globally
distributed information superiority needs of warfighters and sustainers
within the increasingly important context of coalition operations. The
Global Information Grid (GIG) will provide the joint and coalition
warfighter with a single, end-to-end information system capability that
includes a secure network environment, allowing users to access shared
data and applications regardless of location, and is supported by a
robust network/information-centric infrastructure. MITRE is supporting
the development of the GIG Architecture.
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