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Connecting the warfighter to the Net – the final mile!

Data Sunt, Inepte! Copyright 2006MAST 2006

THE INFORMATION GRID

Common Information Infrastructure

C2 Centres/Nodes

IntegratedSurveillance,Target and Recce Assets

Broadcast/comms services

PJHQJFHQ

JFHQ Afloat Tactical HQs

UK based and theatresupport - logistics, intelligence etc

Precision Forces and Strike Assets

Network Enabled Capability

•Global coverage•Large bandwidth•Continuous connectivity•Ability to send terabytes of dataHow do we ensure understanding

at the foxhole?

The “Last Mile”• Connectivity between Net and the war-

fighter at the front line (or the submarine at sea) can be extremely limited and may well vary with operational tempo.

• How can we ensure that the front-line has:– Key operational information– Is not overwhelmed by unnecessary

data?• Need to prioritise information• Strip out unnecessary data framework (eg

Microsoft!)

What the War Fighter Needs!

• Operationally relevant information – prioritise.• In a readily digestible – searchable form• Reduction in “clutter” – filter out unnecessary

data• Highly effective use of bandwidth to reduce

time spent sending/receiving• Information flow in syc. with war fighter’s OODA

loop• Confidence that he can “Pull” additional data if

operational circumstances demand

“Humans we know have a limited capacity for handling information and too much complexity simply leads to stress, if not downright overload.”

Dr Janet Efstathiou,

Oxford University.

Data Sunt, Inepte! Copyright 2006MAST 2006

Data Sunt, Inepte! Copyright 2006MAST 2006

Technology & the Warfighter

Telegraph Telephone Computer VTC Web CognitiveTelegraph Telephone Computer VTC Web Cognitive Tools ToolsTools Tools

Time Line 1865 1914 1945 1991 1999 2007

Soldiers to Cover 102 Km

Data Transfer

Rate

Civil War WWI WWII Gulf War Kosovo Iraq

38,830 4,040 300 24 ?

20 BPS 32 BPS 71 BPS ? GPS/TPS256 KBPS

1.544 MBPS

3

Tech-nology

Openkast XML Agenda

• Search and retrieve information efficiently

• Integrate information from heterogeneous sources• Add value and define new contexts

• Provide Access to legacy data• Allow effective prioritisation of key data• Effective management of data formats

Openkast believes that organisations need a database technology that improves agility, flexiblility and is performant.

XML – The Benefits

• XML is a cross platform international standard

• XML allows different systems to share data

• XML is extensible, allowing custom tags to define and validate information

• Information formatting using XSLT

Openkast – Answers!

Openkast - Answers

215gbytes XML1.2Tbytes RDBMs88gbytes Openkast

Sub 1 sec search& retrieval

Simple SOAP lnterface

Records held inflat files, no fragmentation

CommonTaxonomies

Typical 300 – 500records per sec

The Command and Control Challenge!

The Solution

US DoD - freedom of manoeuvrability

In the USA, the declared the vision for information sharing for the DoD is:

“Deliver the power of information to ensure mission success through an agile enterprise with freedom of manoeuverability across

the information environment.”

The War Fighter and Openkast

• Openkast allows “dial-up” speeds to be effectively “broadband”

• Delivers the NEC to the War Fighter• Allows effective prioritisation of information• Gives full “Push-Pull” capability• Full storage of all data for later retrieval or

audit analysis.• Less than 10% of similar RDBMS systems.

Openkast

Freedom in Information