B3AS Joseph Lewthwaite 1 Dec, 2005 ARL Knowledge Fusion COE Program

2 Brigade and Below Battlefield Awareness Overview l Introduction l The Sensor to Shooter l Objectives l Components l Current State l Intelligent Systems l Security

3 Introduction l B3AS – Brigade and Below Battlefield Awareness System. l A framework upon which to build the sensor to shooter environment, providing the warrior with the necessary information to prosecute their mission.

4 Sensor to Shooter Problem

5 B3AS Objectives l To provide the warrior at the edge a seamless stream of knowledge answering their attack questions in a sharp and informative manner. l Enable the system to intelligently and automatically index, categorize and fuse sensor output, automatically forwarding appropriate information to interested parties. l Fusion level 1/2. l Present non-visual streams of information to the warrior on the edge in contextually informative ways. Enable the 3 rd person. l To fuse and disseminate information while minimizing network and computer resources. l To have a system that intelligently tracks and predicts the coverage requirements and allows users at all echelons to deploy sensors in the most efficient manner. l To secure the information while maintaining accessibility.

6 B3AS – Components l Composed of three major components : Source Integration Point (SIP), Fusion Node (FN) and Client l SIP – Point where external data, sensor or database, is pulled into the B3AS domain, standardization. l FN – Intelligent nodes used to collect and combine raw streams of data into information streams to answer clients questions. l Client – Agents interacting with the fusion nodes to disseminate relevant information.

7 Architecture

8 B3AS Current State l Discovery – no discovery, static implementation l Automated sensor management l Output – current service stream is video based. l SIP – B3AS Video Feeder, Windows application, ä translates heterogeneous video to standard 24-bit RGB ä associates metadata w/ individual video frames. ä Exposes input stream to filters l Fusion Node – Windows web service ä dynamic real-time query capability. ä Intelligent sensor management l Client – Web page with Windows Media control embedded. HTTP control used for real-time communication with service using SOAP.

9 B3AS – Implementation

10 Intelligent Systems (BORG://) l Current web protocols (HTTP, FTP) are static, single points of failure (web-sites, portals). l Peer-2-peer allows real-time discovery, distributed. l BORG protocol combines capabilities of web services with the discovery services of a P2P network. l Discovery includes machine state: location, load. l Richer dynamic content description, including both current needs and contents l Enables real-time clustering, system restructuring and repair, intelligent load balancing. l Dynamic indexing and categorization l An intelligent system.

11 Example uses

12 Security Today, failing the warrior l Applying current security fails to protect or provide in a sensor to shooter environment l Platform/hardware-centric l Sensors at lower classification will release information collected at higher levels. Protection failure. l When information isn’t classified why shouldn’t sensors at higher levels contribute to general situational awareness.

13 Security for Sensor to Shooter l Framework needs to be able to describe the need to know. l Information needs to move and exist at different levels simultaneously, maybe transformed. l Temporal – Closer to the edge shortens the applicability l Spatial – Closer to the edge reduces the area of concern. l Command and Control – how do you describe the need to know of commanders l Support – How do you associate fire support with the warrior at the edge.

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