1. Just Use COTS – Promises, Promises?
The Natural
Dynamics
of Situational
Awareness
Giving Situational Awareness to the Front-Line
Just Use COTS – Promises, Promises?
Pat Tyrrell

2. Today’s Text is........ Are we wise – or foolish?
“Rules are made for the guidance of wise men and the slavish adherents of fools.”
Are we wise – or foolish?

3. The Operational Dilemma
Successful operational commanders:
Patten
Nelson
Napoleon
Zukov
They tend to be mavericks, unconventional, unexpected and innovative. They bring strategic uncertainty to the enemy!

4. The Operational Dilemma
We are beloved of:
standards,
commercial-of-the-shelf,
low risk solutions,
Low cost products
Process driven methods.
These have their place but be careful of making them the key factor!

5. The Operational Dilemma
We need a balance that recognises the different environment in the front line.
Need systems that can give us innovative and radical solutions to solve operational problems.
If we mandate “systems” we will get sclerosis and an inability to be agile where and when we need to be.
SOA and SofS can help – but never lose sight of the operational requirement.

6. Innovation in Situational Awareness
Low Bandwidth Challenges
Large Heterogeneous Data Sets
Intermittent connectivity
Security
Complex Legacy Integration Requirements
They want the Internet!
Browser/Google

7. Remember the Requirement .........
We must be committed to: Delivering knowledge, where it is needed, when it is required and in a form where it can be used most effectively in the decision process.

8. Public Safety Challenge

9. The “Disadvantaged Platform”
The disadvantaged platform is any group, or person, who cannot, adequately, identify, retrieve or otherwise access the information they require to prosecute their business in a timely or responsive manner.
This may be as a result of information overload, the inability to download information adequately or limited bandwidth.

10. UK Submarine Trial Sea trials – submarine deployed in early 2008
Integration with existing submarine platform
Putting over 6 times (and up to 50 times) the information down the limited pipe
Broadband over dial up!
Savings on commercial sat. comm. costs
Information Integration on board
Formal/Informal Messages
Janes
Doctrine
Track Data

11. Submarine Situational Warehouse
ACP 127 Formal Messaging Content

12. Submarine SOA

13. The Disadvantaged Platform
Military
Civilian
Low bandwidth
High volume of data
“need to know when you need to know it”!
Restricted storage
High tempo
Increasingly global
“Pinch” points on bandwidth
Vast data repositories
Need for agility
Storage is not infinite
Increasing importance of tempo
Look at “credit crunch”

14. Complex Organisation Challenges Military or civilian
Information Silos
Structured and Unstructured data
No Data Standard Deployed
Complex Solutions for complex systems
Dynamic not static
Traditional system solutions problems
Knowledge is key asset of organisation

15. Innovation and Change Higher risk Less provenance
Big organizations hate change
“We’ve always done it this way”
Difficult management task
SME not really welcome
Higher risk
Less provenance
Erratic and irrational!

16. In Support of Small Companies
Tend to have operational expertise
Develop the most innovative solutions
Always new ideas coming to the market
Tend to be owner-funded
Enthusiastic but lack control!
Limited opportunity to test their solutions

17. AFCEA Innovation Foundation
Interlocutor for business and governments
Focuses primarily on US
Needs to move more into NATO, UN, EU and other nations
Should focus on how to bring new ideas into useful commercialisation
AFCEA Innovation Foundation

18. AFCEA Innovation Foundation
Geared to bring new ideas and technologies from SMEs into mainstream.
Coordinates some of the plethora of grants (EU, US, etc) into specific projects
Looks at “quick wins” (less than 6 to 9 months gestation)
Holds a stake in any joint activity between SME and big business of government
Brings a US wrapper to satisfy DoD requirements

19. The Natural Dynamics of Situational Awareness Patrick@Openkast.com