Dear Army_(part three/final)
Let’s tie this to the Army’s efforts
Wow, here you are for part three- the last installment of my story here on Medium. If you have not read the first two parts- please start here.
In the first story I laid out Esri’s Open Vision. An open and extensible platform that provides data, tools, software, and support to help organizations make better decisions.
In part two I assured you the reader that there was an ecosystem and structure of learning to help you with your project via in person meet ups and events, documentation online, blogs, and social media outlets to keep you up to date on this evolving ArcGIS Platform.
So now I want to tie it together- how does a geospatial platform support the US Army’s Operating Concept “Win in a Complex World” and form a geographical foundation for Mission Command.
Mission Command is one of the six Army Warfighting Functions- but in my mind, and I believe the Army’s, Mission Command is the hub that enables and ties together the other warfighting functions of Protection; Movement & Maneuver; Fires; Intelligence; and Sustainment.
I don’t want to do a deep dive on the concept of Mission Command in this story- you can take a look at Army Doctrine Publication 6–0 or the latest Army Press anthology publication called “Mission Command in the 21st Century, Empowering to Win in a Complex World”. I appreciate in the Foreword by LTG Brown, recently the CG of the Army’s Combined Arms Center, where he cites in paragraph two that one of the six principles of mission command is “create shared understanding”. Interestingly enough, the Army has published twenty Army Warfighting Challenges and #1 on the list is Develop Situational Understanding.
Geography helps us understand the world around us- past, present, and future.
The ArcGIS platform provides a system of record for data, a suite of tools for analysis, and a system of engagement to share information products to enable Soldiers, Staffs, and Commanders wherever they are, on whatever device they are interacting with to enable shared understanding. The Army is developing a Mission Command System with many of those same attributes. When you look at the components of that system I like to summarize it with the following:
- Trained personnel
- On a mobile, secure, and oft times disconnected network
- Maximizing repeatable, scalable, and intuitive processes and procedures
- In all facilities and equipment- garrison, TOC, CP, on the move (mounted and dismounted)
Technology is one part of the Mission Command System solution set.
The mission command system is interwoven through the framework of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ASA AL&T) Common Operating Environment (COE). To be more accurate, the ASA AL&T is working with the Army CIO/G-6 on the development, principles, and standards of the COE.
Once again, not the place for a deep dive on the COE, but a reminder that it is not a system of record, a program with a Program Manager and Product Manager(s). It’s a way of delivering solutions to the warfighter across the garrison and tactical networks from national/strategic down to the last tactical mile and that young man or woman walking point for his teammates. The COE is made up of systems in different computing environments (CE). The following systems are the representative hallmarks of some of the CEs:
- Distributed Common Ground Station-Army (DCGS-A) for the Sensor CE
- Joint Battle Command-Platform for the Mounted CE (inside a truck or even an aircraft)
- Nett Warrior End User Device for the Mobile/Handheld CE (troops dismounted on their leather personnel carriers ~ boots)
- Command Web, Command Post of the Future and others for the Command Post CE
- Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS) is one example in the Real Time / Safety Critical / Embedded CE
The COE is built in conjunction with the Army Network Campaign Plan, the Army Cloud Computing Strategy, and the Army Data Strategy. (Stand by for the Army Mobility Strategy) We see in the Army’s vision for the evolving COE the foundational underpinnings of a converged command post where the intelligence, the operations, the communications/network, the cyber and electromagnetic spectrum teams are planning, executing, and assessing operations in a much less stovepiped manner than the past with the legacy Army Battle Command Systems.
Wouldn’t it be great if these Soldiers had a system of record and a set of tools to share their understanding of now and next?
The thrust of my story here is that a COTS based platform like ArcGIS provides a geospatial services framework for the domains of wafare- land, sea, air, space, and cyber. My teammate who supports the United States Navy describes this as “Geoenablement”- a new concept that refers to the integration of data from a variety of sources about the operating environment. The results of geoenablement can be used for visualization, analysis, and, more importantly, rapid decision making in a complex world.
It’s not easy.
Getting the people, process and technology in place is why we have PEOs and PMs to deliver on the requirements generated by Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). My point of continuing a dialogue with the Army is to show the leadership and integrators that having an underlying reference architecture that is built on an evolving COTS based platform will yield the Army innovative solutions for Mission Command, the COE and our troops. Esri spends twice the internal research and development dollars to support our users than most other IT companies. As the technology around us changes, we continually adapt our software to move forward to meet the needs and requirements of our customers. We evolved from file based desktop users, to server based workgroups to what we call WebGIS that is enabled by the connective tissue of networks and shared services.
What’s exciting is that this evolving suite of Esri technology is quickly configurable, extensible with other systems and data, and available across your programming and device software languages- see part one of my story. It is proven across a variety of industry verticals and recommended by the geospatial and GEOINT authority at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for use by the DoD community to meet the geospatial standards of the National System for Geospatial Intelligence and the Chairman, Joint Chief of Staff Directives and Instructions.
From CJCSI 3110.08E: The Director, NGA will: Lead in developing interoperable GI&S software, licensing, and standardized products within the DoD.
This recommendation is delivered via the Commercial Joint Mapping Toolkit (CJMTK) that has once again been resourced by NGA. The CJMTK comprises a comprehensive set of geospatial software components and is the recommended toolkit for the management, analysis, and visualization of geospatial intelligence for the Department of Defense (DoD) Command, Control, and Intelligence (C2I) Community. Built to enable modern, distributed, multi-platform software architectures and offering support for a range of development technologies, the toolkit helps mission application developers achieve:
· Deployment in a Network-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) environment
· Incorporation of advanced geospatial and analytical capabilities
· Interoperability across mission applications
· Enterprise-level scalability
· Reduced integration costs
· Increased performance
The geoenablement tools of CJMTK provided a reliable, industry proven method to connect to services, spreadsheets, messages, position location information (PLI) data and GPS. A greater reliance on services such as feature services, tile services, and image services allows all of the formations in the network to “fight off one map”. Using the CJMTK software components can provide an overarching commonality that will reduce user confusion on “buttonology” and potentially reduce training and adoption time by the analyst or operator. This provides a user experience that includes a “common tile, common display look and feel”- COL Collins, PM DCGS-A.
Let me step through a few of the computing environments to provide some insights into how a COTS based platform can enable shared understanding for the COE.
In many respects the heart and brain of the ecosystem is DCGS-A, part of the Sensor CE. DCSG-A is the foundational provider of the Standard and Sharable Geospatial Foundation (SSGF), the cross cutting capability desired by ASA AL&T to ensure a common geospatial foundation for planning, execution, and assessment across the warfighting functions. It is backed by standards (see my first story on our support to standards) and registered in the DoD Information Technology Standards (DISR) for use by all as an enterprise service/resource.
DCGS-A operators and analysts will author, publish, and share the SSGF for the other CE’s systems of record. The systems will provide authoritative vector and raster products including features, elevation data, and imagery. But it will also provide information products that will inform staff planning, running estimates and the orders process- this good be operational graphics layers, products showing change over time, or real time information about friendly forces or other activities in the operating environment.
These foundation and information products can enable the command post CE to maintain up to the minute operations dashboards for the common operational picture (COP)- picture is an incomplete word in the environment I describe- there is no “snapshot” of the battlefield- it is dynamic, ever-changing, and configurable to answer the commander’s information requests. The unit could utilize easy to build applications that are mission specific, integrated and published through an information portal, and work connected or disconnected to feed the COP. And, when the mission changes, the application is removed while the data lives on in the system of record.
In the mounted environment, the Soldier would have access to a powerful hardware and software configuration that enables mission command on the move. Those services and information products would be available enroute to the objective area and as changes are made in the CP or in the field, the updates would be present to the leaders in their tactical vehicles. As mentioned, this would have a very similar look and feel to the user. No more climbing in the truck at the start point with a “snapshot” of information in your cargo pocket.
For the dismounted Soldier, the tools in the mobile and handheld devices may have a little less capability based on CPU, GPU power, RAM, storage, or battery life. However, with new developments in mobile technology (hardware and software) I believe we will be able to provide focused apps that provide Soldiers great information about the environment around them including line of sight analysis, viewshed, measurement, coordinate conversion, responsive raster and vector tile maps (customizable), mobile map packages that enable “smart” maps and layers, and disconnected operations.
The Wi-Fi enabled command post and unit area will “cut the cord” on today’s intermediate computers and allow Soldiers to update their device “in network” without having to plug in to another machine. This is in alignment with how we get apps on our smart phone today- no one logs into iTunes or Google Play on their laptop/desktop- they simply connect to the app story via Wi-Fi or cellular data. The reduction of hardware will reduce electrical power needs and weight savings for transport- not to mention waiting around for the upload to occur to the device.
We at Esri are excited to be part of the industry contribution to the Common Operating Environment.
We want the SSGF to be a truly enterprise resource for the Army and its organizations. Many of the challenges are known and we are working hard on them together with the Army. I certainly want to encourage others to adopt a proven geospatial technology. The CJMTK team is ready to help as are Esri’s team of teams.
I hope you will come and visit my team and I at the Esri booth #7923 at #AnnualMeeting2016 and learn about the ArcGIS platform and how its capabilities power an open, geospatially enabled, service-oriented architecture. You will also receive a closer look at Portal for ArcGIS (added to CJMTK in late 2015) to understand the power of web GIS inside secure environments. By leveraging web GIS, you will field a more user-friendly, collaborative, and engaging system to support faster decision making.
Thanks for reading my first three stories on Medium. My intent is to share more of my learning in the weeks and months ahead. The “power of where” will continue to be important to our Army and its future leaders. “Winning in a Complex World” will require the right data and tools for our Soldiers to help gain situational understanding to fight and win for our Nation around the world.
Follow me on Twitter- @armymapguy
