MGT 7-1.indd - KMI Media Group
MGT 7-1.indd - KMI Media Group
MGT 7-1.indd - KMI Media Group
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Once the software is activated, information may be passed from<br />
system to system virtually through the emulated network.<br />
Silk Performer, from Borland, complements the Shunra<br />
software and provides extended analysis information on the<br />
performance of application in a net-centric environment. With<br />
Silk Performer, scripts simulate the use of an application with<br />
multiple virtual users. The virtual users can be added “dynamically,”<br />
in “steady state,” or “all day” options.<br />
The Shunra and Silk Performer software packages provide<br />
statistics on how an application or Web server may perform in<br />
the field. The report gives information such as response time<br />
per transaction time or per number of users. Users may experience<br />
simulated field performance before deploying the application<br />
to the field. Using network diagrams and parameters for<br />
Stryker Division, Brigade and Battalion, transaction times and<br />
responses can be generated using Shunra.<br />
PROGRAM SPIRALS<br />
To date, the J-GES program has been executed<br />
in three spirals. Through the use of five operational<br />
vignettes, the first two spirals demonstrated<br />
the need for net-centric geospatial services, or the<br />
“art of the possible” for current and future battle<br />
command systems. High-level military decisionmakers<br />
have seen the potential benefits of the collection<br />
of data to support many applications, the<br />
value of data discovery for the unanticipated user,<br />
and the role of dynamic geoprocessing services.<br />
The initial technology focus areas of spirals<br />
one and two leveraged COTS and GOTS technology<br />
to design, test and evaluate:<br />
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
Soldier as sensor using mobile GIS<br />
technology<br />
Discovery services using metadata portal concepts<br />
High-resolution sensor exploitation<br />
Geo-database synchronization<br />
Spatially and temporally explicit link analysis<br />
Terrain reasoning services<br />
3-D terrain visualization<br />
The third spiral is focusing on experiments that fall into<br />
three general areas:<br />
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
Value—the usefulness of geospatial information to the<br />
commander in support of the military decision-making<br />
process<br />
Commercial technology—the operational utility of COTS<br />
technology to support the warfighter’s military business<br />
logic<br />
Architecture—understanding how and where to provision<br />
geospatial information and applications based on existing<br />
and future architectures and corresponding network<br />
topologies.<br />
J-GES experiments quantify the value of geospatial information,<br />
work with industry to ensure products meet the war-<br />
fighter’s requirements, and model the movement of geospatial<br />
information on the battlefield.<br />
“If the information has no value to the commander and<br />
makes no difference, why provide it?” said Visone. “We have<br />
also provided invaluable feedback to industry on the utility<br />
of their products for military applications. Our hope is that<br />
industry sees value in our experiments and uses our results to<br />
make their products responsive to Army requirements.”<br />
VALUE EXPERIMENT<br />
The J-GES program successfully executed a value experiment<br />
on site with soldiers at Fort Lewis, Wash., and Fort<br />
Benning, Ga., in late November 2008. The experiment assessed<br />
the military planning value of high-resolution imagery and<br />
Personnel at Fort Lewis, Wash., also were part of the assessment of high-resolution imagery and elevation data.<br />
[Photo courtesy of Army Topographic Engineering Center]<br />
elevation data. Specifically, data collected by TEC’s BuckEye<br />
was compared to conventional NGA products as the soldiers<br />
were tasked to set up hasty vehicle control points in different<br />
parts of Iraq.<br />
This experiment evaluated the effect of better data (tool<br />
set remaining constant) instead of evaluating a tool set (data<br />
remaining constant). The results are currently being evaluated<br />
by experimentation subject-matter experts from George Mason<br />
University’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers<br />
and Intelligence Center in Fairfax, Va., and will be published<br />
next quarter at www.tec.army.mil/JGES/gazette.html.<br />
The GMU C4I Center has also been conducting architectural<br />
experiments focused on using advanced geospatial<br />
terrain reasoning products from the Battlespace Terrain Reasoning<br />
and Awareness-Battle Command (BTRA-BC) program<br />
in a networked environment. There is concern that tools such<br />
as BTRA-BC might demand more capacity than Army tactical<br />
networks have available in specific situations. GMU is working<br />
to characterize BTRA-BC tools in the distributed battlefield<br />
environment to configure the software for most effective use.<br />
These measurements enable quantitative characterization<br />
of the fundamental BTRA-BC computing and network require-<br />
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