Surveillance: Boeing demonstrates 'ad hoc' NCW | ADM June 2009
Boeing Defence Australia has demonstrated how the Networked component of Australia's emerging Hardened and Networked Army (HNA) can help achieve that goal.
Gregor Ferguson | Sydney
To the soldier on the ground, or pilot in the air, there's little difference between the conventional and the terrorist threat nowadays: both are equally lethal, and the need for accurate, up to date intelligence and shared situational awareness across all elements of a force is a universal requirement.
Boeing Defence Australia has demonstrated a capability to enhance and share situational awareness in a tactical environment by streaming video from a tactical UAV over a mobile, ad hoc combat net radio link to a Chinook helicopter and to ground troops.
The tactical scenario was built on ScanEagle video and metadata collected late last year; essentially, a special forces team was inserted to neutralise an enemy at a specific location; ScanEagle was used to monitor a landing zone from which the Chinook, escorted by an AH-64 Apache, was supposed to extract the team.
ScanEagle video was streamed direct to the Chinook.
When the special forces team encountered an enemy en route to the landing zone, the team leader and the Chinook's tactical coordinator used tactical white boarding to re-plan the extraction from a fall-back location, while the Apache provided covering fire.
The demonstration, which took place at the company's Systems Analysis Laboratory in Brisbane on 16-18 March, proves that a high-bandwidth connection can deliver video beyond line-of-sight to frontline troops, providing greater situational awareness to warfighters who are equipped to receive it.
Demonstrated capability
The demonstration incorporated a mix of emulated and real-world capabilities: the real world contributed UAV sensor visualisation, a tactical white board, internet chat and network-based situational awareness displays.
Also in hardware form were the RT/1944-U multiband digital IP (Internet Protocol) network radio aboard the ScanEagle UAV; the ground-based Harris SeaLancet radio, with 2GHz omni-directional antenna, 56 Mb/sec data rate and able to support up to four video stream simultaneously; and the Harris Falcon III combat net radio family for the dismounted troops, comprising the PRC-117G, -152 and RF-300SR radios.
The virtual elements were the ScanEagle itself - file video footage was used instead; and the Chinook and escorting Apache.
A virtual representation of a palletized work station designed for the Chinook cabin was used.
This incorporated the SeaLancet radio and an adjunct Network Processor along with a display and keyboard.
The concept is quite simple - the pallet is designed to be installed and removed quickly and requires only a single 28v DC connection to the aircraft's power supply, as well as a link to two externally mounted blade antennas.
Although the concept had its genesis at Boeing's rotorcraft facility in Philadelphia, where the Chinook is designed and built, the company hasn't taken the concept to the stage of integrating and flight testing hardware as yet.
What the demonstration showed was the operational utility of this Global Ad Hoc Networking capability, how such a network can replace a tangle of point to point Tactical Data Links (TADIL), and the ability to make the network fit the mission.
Although much still needs to be done to make it a reality, the demonstration showed a construct where everybody on the network can join it easily.
This is possible because every component is IP based and every node on the network is a relay unit: no specific operator interface is required to make it all happen, according to Tom Du Bois Boeing Rotorcraft Systems architect and Technical Fellow for Avionics and Software.
"This tactical network is ahead of its time in many ways," said DuBois.
"The network's open architecture means it can operate simultaneously with other transformational communication systems, while also supporting UAV sensor visualisation, white board, chat and network-based situational awareness displays."
Bringing it all together
Much of the hardware, such as the SeaLancet, PRC-117 radios and network processors is either in-service or close to entering production.
The middleware that binds this equipment together coherently is Boeing's own System of Systems Common Operating Environment (SOSCOE).
Not only does it manage network traffic, it also integrates functions such as the tactical white board, internet chat and the Common Operating Picture (COP), all of which are based on commercial products appropriately modified for military applications.
The system also supports important functions such as Variable Message Format (VMF), Link 16 and Blue Force Tracker and has a message transfer system in the middleware.
The middleware is in fact a spin-off from Boeing's work on the US Army's Future Combat System (FCS); importantly, the SOSCOE is available for export to Australia under the US ITAR regulations via an Army-to-Army agreement.
Potential applications for this capability are many: hot planning of air assault and search and rescue missions; real-time dissemination of UAV video; integrating UAV imagery meta data with GPS data to post blue force locations into the COP; cargo and logistics management using RFID and bar code readers; and providing real-time weather updates.
More pertinently for Australia, the concept can be extended fairly easily, says Du Bois, to both the Vigilare air defence command and control system - streaming video can be downloaded directly into a Vigilare control and reporting unit from a UAV or a Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft; and the company demonstrated during April and May that a Wedgetail can also control directly a ScanEagle UAV - it achieved this during EX Arnhem Thunder in northern Australia and then again during a VIP demonstration flight from Canberra when it was used to control a ScanEagle flying at Woomera, 1,000km away.
Remote control
Earlier in March, Boeing successfully demonstrated simultaneous command and control of three ScanEagle UAVs from a Wedgetail flying near Seattle.
Using the company's UAS battle-management software, airborne operators issued NATO-standard sensor and air-vehicle commands via a UHF satellite communication link and ground-station relay.
Boeing is offering multiple implementation solutions; it has demonstrated a capability at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7 - System Prototype in Operational Environment, and is now looking for an opportunity to demonstrate it aboard a real Chinook using a real ScanEagle UAV.
This system can be rolled on and off a helicopter or C-130, but Du Bois pointed out that it can also be integrated into the CH-47F Chinook with data presented through the aircraft's cockpit flight displays, though this would require further certification work.
The timing of Boeing's demonstration was prescient: it predated by a few weeks Defence's announcement that the Army would replace its CH-47D Chinooks with the new CH-47F and the 2009 Defence White Paper's emphasis on enhanced ISR and networking and command and control capabilities to support the HNA.
This is a good time for the right specialists to be making the right sales pitch.