janes idr equipment profile - systematic inc

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MAY 2014 VOL 47

Integrated Command and ControlFrom Joint Headquartersto the Tactical Edge

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ARTICLE REPRINTED FROM IHS JANE’S INTERNATIONAL DEFENCE REVIEW — MAY 2014

Equipment profile Systematic SitaWare Systematic SitaWare

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From Frontline to Headquarters:a full-spectrum solution

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An effective command-and-control(C2) systemmust provide the userwith an operational picture, support

the planning process, and enable the recep-tion, processing, and transmission of infor-mation. Central to this is software. One ofthemore ubiquitous C2 software packagesis SitaWare fromDanish firm Systematic,

which over the last decade and a halfhas built itself into a position whereSitaWare is a key component in awide range of C2 systems.

Systematic’s earlywork focused ondevelopinginteroperableformattedmilitarymessaging inthe form of its

IRISmessaging software, adopted first bythe Royal Danish Navy and then by a widerange of other military customers. This ledto involvement in theMultilateralInteroperability Programme (MIP),originally established to replace andenhance two previous interoperabilityprogrammes, with the objectives of usingtheMessage ExchangeMechanism (MEM)to develop improved structuredmessage(ADatP3) capabilities supportinginteroperability of C2 systems and using theData ExchangeMechanism (DEM) toachieve a data-push capability supportinginteroperability and compatible with thecommonmessage capability.The original MIP programmewas

subsequently combined with theArmyTactical Command andControl InformationSystem (ATCCIS) programme, a separate

Systematic’s interoperable SitaWare C2 software systemhas been developed over many years with customerrequirement acting as the key to the process.Giles Ebbutt examines the packages

non-NATO initiative to seek interoperabilitybetween automated data systems. Theresultant combined programme retainedtheMIP title.A number of nations involved in theMIP

lacked C2 systems that could exchange datathroughMIPmechanisms. Systematic,noting this market gap, leveraged itsdevelopment of the IRIS replication andmessage exchangemechanisms to develop astandalone C2 product that could workwith theMIP replicationmechanism, whichbecame SitaWare.Database replication was carried out

using the IRIS ReplicationMechanism(IRM) andmessage replication using theIRISOrganisationMessaging software withMIP extensions, and it was fully integratedwith Command andControl InformationExchange DataModel (C2IEDM), whichwas then theMIP standard. It provided arange of functions, the principal ones beingthemanagement of multiple plans andorders including annexes and appendixes;current situational awareness (SA) displayandmanagement; an integratedGeographical Information System (GIS)with support for a large suite of tacticalgraphics, analysis tools, and displays;operational dynamic contract managementthrough IRM; and configuration andadministration of the C2 system.Its use was initially limited to test events

within theMIP community, to testinteroperability, with its first formalappearance at an exercise in theNetherlands in 2003. However, by 2006SitaWare had been adopted for operationaluse by the SlovenianArmy as its national C2system, had been deployed down to platoonlevel, and had been used inAfghanistan.SitaWare was also incorporated in aSlovenianmortar fire-control system andprovided the core of the Romanian LandForces C2 system (SIAAB).TheDanishArmy incorporated SitaWare

as theC2 component in its trunkcommunications networkmanagementsystem (DEOSNMS) in 2004, and inAfghanistan had used it with an interface toHarris HF radios to provide a blue-force

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tracking (BFT) capability. TheNMSwassubsequently upgraded in 2010.At around the same time Sweden, as the

framework nation, selected SitaWare for useinNordic BattleGroup 8 (NBG8), on standbyas part of the rotational provision of EU rapidreaction BGs for the first half of 2008.NBG8 included troops from Sweden, Finland,Estonia, Norway, and Ireland. Finland alsoselected SitaWare as part of its investigationsinto the development of a network-centricconcept, and Bulgaria procured the system foruse by its special forces. Systematicsubsequently bid successfully for the FinnishMATI II programme,whichmorphed into thecurrent FINACCIS project.In 2008 the softwarewas selected by the

SpanishArmy’s UnidadMilitar de Emergen-cias (UME), which providesmilitaryassistance for civil emergencies and straddlesthe civil/military divide, and it enteredservice in 2009. TheUME required a systemthat provided SA of unit locations alongwiththe ability to issue plans and orders, allocateresources, andmanage incidents.The UME has further customised its

SitaWare by building an incident andpersonnel management system on top of it,drawing on Systematic advice and expertisebut with the work being done by softwareengineers from Indra. The system is ofparticular use in supportingUMEfirefightingdeployments during the summer, and wasalso used to support the UME contingentthat deployed to Haiti to provide assistanceafter the earthquake in 2010.By 2010 Systematic had developed variants

with different functionality aimed atdifferent levels of command. SitaWare Portalwas intended for the Joint Force orComponent level of command andwasintegratedwithMicrosoft (MS) Sharepoint. Itprovided aCommonOperational Picture(COP) and comprehensive collaborativeplanning capabilities, and also includedSitaWareTrack Server, a data system forcollating a variety of land,maritime, and airtracks. This provided the foundations forwhatsubsequently became SitaWareWebCOP.SitaWare Headquarters (HQ) and

SitaWare BattleManagement (BM) weredesigned for different levels of tacticalcommand, with the former supporting thebrigade or battalion HQ, and the latter thebattalion or company HQ.Systematic remained closely involved

with theMIP programme and SitaWare

V4.x supported theMIP Block 2model, theC2 Information Exchange DataModel(C2IEDM).With the advent ofMIP Block 3(MIP 3.0) and the Joint C3IEDM(JC3IEDM), which was not backwardcompatible withMIP 2.0, Systematicrealised that its customers would be facedwith a difficult decision about how andwhen tomove fromMIP 2.0 toMIP 3.0.According toHans Jørgen Bohlbro, director

for business development and sales, C2systems, Systematic therefore determined todevelop a product thatwouldworkwith bothMIP 2.0 and 3.0, and future versions.“We designed an optimised datamodel

which could encompass all theMIP Blocks,using a systemofmodular adaptors,” he said.“This ismore flexible, and futuremodels onlyneed new adaptors.” Bohlbro noted thatinteroperabilitywas fundamental toSystematic’s approach to design and develop-ment, observing that this was a differentphilosophical approach to some othermanufacturers. “Generallywe start from adifferent position than themainstream.”

Low-bandwidth communicationSystematic also took into account feedbackfrom existing customers in developingSitaWareV5, and came to the conclusionthat although SitaWare HQ and BMhad thesame architecture, the vehicle-borne battlemanagement system requirement was for alighter, more flexible one, which required anew design. Two separate V5 productsemerged, SitaWare HQ and SitaWare BMS.

“One of the thingswe also recognised as akey development areawas the ability tosupport communications on a lowbandwidth, as this was causing a lot of peopledifficulty,” said Bohlbro, “and sowe askedourselves, ‘How do youmake data-bearingtactical communications easy?’”The result of these efforts was SitaWare

Tactical Communications (STC), which isincorporated into all forms of SitaWare and“provides a communications system thatperformswell with a very low bandwidth andprovides an order ofmagnitude in perform-ance improvement”, claims Bohlbro. “Weconducted a prettywide survey of themarketplace before embarking on thework,and as far aswe can tell there’s nothing outthere that provides this level of performance.”Typical performance characteristics for

STC over VHF combat net radio are a friendlyforce tracking (FFT) latency of an average of1minute, with less than 30 seconds forclose neighbours and less than 90 secondsacross a complete battalion. No point-to-point contracts are needed to exchangeinformation, no end-to-end routing of theunderlying network is required, and it workson both IP and non-IP communications.STC also improves resilience and

updating. Although a key element of theSitaWare stable, it is not the result of asingle technological breakthrough butrather the sum ofmyriad smallimprovements and the incorporation of avariety of technologies, said Bohlbro, whodeclined to givemore detail. The solution

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Colt Canada displayed SWORD at theAUSA exhibition with an integratedAndroid display hosting SitaWare EdgeC2 software.

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works not only on tactical radios, but also on3G, satellite communications or Tetra radio,and can also be used to tie differentnetworks together.Following theV5 developments, System-

atic then launched its new version of thebattle management system at the 2011DSEI exhibition in London. This is SitaWareFrontline, which remains the currenttactical battle management solution.The software has been constructed in two

parts: a vehicle application and a userapplication. The vehicle application can beintegratedwith communications equipment,weapon systems, onboard sensors, andvehiclemanagement systems. The userapplication provides all the Frontline applica-tions and the user configuration software,and can be run entirely independently of aparticular vehicle’s installation. It can becarried on amemory stick fromwhich it canalso be run, enabling a user tomove fromvehicle to vehiclewithout needing to installthe software and remaining independent of aparticular set of hardware.Thememory stick capability is an option, as

some security authoritiesmay resist theprospect of allowing external sources to beintroduced into a secure tactical system.However, Bohlbro points out that sufficientprotection in the form of encryption,anti-tamper devices, specific key recognition,and so on already exists to provide physicalprotection. In fact, customers had shownmore concern about practical issues such asaccidentally damaging thememory stick. Heasserts “if the business value is there, thenyou canmake the security fit”, citing forexample the ease of providing updatedmaps

and overlays andwritten orders at acommander’s briefing if they can just beloaded onto amemory stick.Frontline retains the previous Planning-

Execution-Reporting BMSworkflowstructure, but adds improved installation,maintenance, and training capabilities. Itprovides BFT and SA. The user interface iscentred on themap, with an improvedhuman-machine interface (HMI) principallydesigned for use with soft keys and atouchscreen, although hard keys andperipherals can be used.Functions are accessed through a hierarchy

of keys. Differentmap options are available,including satellite imagery, plus the “clip andship” capability from the SitaWareHQsystem,which enables a portion of amap tobe transferred into Frontline. StandardAPP-6B/MIL-STD-2525 symbology is used.Plans and overlays are transmitted by sendinga link to the addresses, so information can bedownloadedwhen required, reducing spikesin network loading.The system is managed with a deployment

andmanagement tool that uses anMS Excelspreadsheet template for planning thenetwork configuration, IP addresses, callsigns, and other information, with thedeployment tool automatically generatingdeployment packages.SitaWareHQprovidesmore comprehensive

C2 functionality than Frontline, withwhich itis integrated, as it is intended for use atbattalionHQs and above.Aswell as the SA andtactical picture display it provides support forcollaborative planning; formalmessagehandling; additionalGIS capability, includingterrain analysis; and tasking and unit status.

SitaWareWebCOP also emerged duringthis period, offering aC2 systemwithin awebbrowser. “It started as a technologydemonstrator,” said Bohlbro, “but it was soconvin-cing thatwe realised it could providean excellent complementary capability toSitaWareHQ.”The key element is the abilityto show theCOP against aGISwithin abrowser. By usingKeyholeMarkup Language(KML) as a supported export format it enablestheCOP to be viewed on, for example,GoogleEarth. It has decoupled access to theCOPfrom the need to haveC2 software installed.This has beenmarried to the capabilities of

SitaWare TrackServer, which canmanage alarge number of tracks, both live andprocessed, with what Bohlbro describes as afast update rate. Air andmaritimeinteroperability standards, such asOTH-G,NATOVector Graphics, NATO Friendly ForceInformation (NFFI), Link 16, andAIS haveall been incorporated using the IRISInteroperability Gateway, which processesformattedmessages, thus providing a jointpicture. TrackServer can also be used as aLink 16 Joint Range ExtensionGateway.

A joint systemBy integrating SitaWare HQ andWebCOP aneffective joint system is provided. “WebCOPcan be used with a number of web browsersandmap backgrounds,” noted Bohlbro,observing that the use of commonwebinterfaces such asMS Internet Explorerkeeps the training requirement low.Additional menus can be added.This configuration was integrated with the

Combined Enterprise Regional InformationExchange system (CENTRIX), in use by USCentral Command and US Pacific Commandto allow data exchange between US forcesand coalition navies during Exercise ‘TridentWarrior 2011’. Also in 2011, the Swedisharmed forces deployed SitaWare HQ andWebCOP inAfghanistan as part of theirInternational Security Assistance Force(ISAF) C2 architecture. Track Server and HQare also integrated into SWECCIS, thetri-service Swedish C2 system.TheHQ/WebCOP configurationwas appro-

ved for use on theAfghanMissionNetwork in2012, and it was also used as part of theproject in 2012 to provide the BundeswehrJoint ForcesOperationsCommand(Einsatzführungskommando – EFK – derBundeswehr) HQ in Potsdamwith a currentcommon operational picture. This includedintegration of SitaWareHQwithMS

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SitaWare HeadquartersWebCOP in use.

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Equipment profile Systematic SitaWare

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Sharepoint, a solution that had already beenprovided for another, unspecified, customer.TheUnitedKingdomutilised SitaWare and

theMIP gateway to provide the interoperabilitysolution for its BowmanCombatC2 system.SitaWare is used as a portal between the closedBowman and external systems.Messages from/to Bowman are translated by SitaWare,enabling the exchange of information.Throughout this period there had been an

intention to produce a dismounted version;many similar initiatives were under way inresponse to the wide range of dismountedsoldier programmes that were indevelopment. Systematic produced a series ofversions, somemore developed than others.Pocket SitaWare, aWindowsCE version,appeared in 2006 and SitaWare Soldier in2008, although the latter did not get beyondthe prototype stage. A version hosted on aniPhone and an iPad was shown at the 2010Eurosatory exhibition. However, this wasonly a technology demonstrator; although itworked well, there was no intention todevelop a version for IOS, which is a closedenvironment, and it was not taken further.There was no lack of customer demand for

a dismounted solution, and by 2012technology had progressed sufficiently in anumber of areas to justify furtherdevelopment work. STCwas fully developed;small form factor, lightweight ruggedAndroid devices were increasingly availablewith high-quality displays and low powerrequirements; and the smartphone-typeinterface was increasingly acceptable andfamiliar to the likely user. The result was theAndroid-based SitaWare Edge, which wasrevealed at DSEI 2013.The software provides layered tactical data

over maps or imagery, including FFT; anintelligence picture; reporting tools; anintegrated compass; alerting functionality;and a command layer for the generation,transmission, and reception of tacticalgraphics and sketches. The system uses thesame compressedmap format as Frontline,enabling areas of mapping and imagery to beimported from SitaWare HQ using the “clipand ship” process. An indication on the rim ofthe display shows the presence of iconsbeyond themap area displayed on the screen.The system can be set up using the samedeployment andmanagement tool developedfor Frontline. It can detect the type of deviceon which it is hosted and will slightly adaptthe user interface accordingly.

In 2008 theDanishArmy had selectedSitaWare BMas the tactical system to beintegrated under the ill-fatedDanishArmyCCIS (DACCIS), with an order for 1,000licences. In 2012 this was then extended to anunlimited number of users with the completesuite including Frontline. In 2013 theDanesthen became the launch customer for Edge,with an order to equip junior dismountedcommanders, using a hardware configurationof theHarris RF-3590 ruggedised tablet andtheHarris RF-7800S-TR secure personal radio.Bohlbro said that initial feedback on Edge

from the Danes and from other customerswho had acquired small numbers for trialswas overwhelmingly positive. InOctober2013 at theAssociation of the USArmy(AUSA) exhibition Colt Canada revealed itsSniperWeapon andObserver ReconnaissanceDevices (SWORD) small arms fire-controlsystem. This integrates a ruggedisedsmartphone-like device hosting Edge with a

weapon-mounted scope and laserrangefinder, or other surveillance andtargeting devices using Colt’s small armsnetwork power data system (NPDS).The weapon user is therefore able to

designate targets and transmit images fromthe weapon scope to confirm a target orprovide surveillance data while having accessto other data sources such as imagery from atactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) andto the wider tactical picture. The system canbe used to provide sniper C2 or integrate intoa wider C2 system, such as Frontline.Systematic has added additional function-

ality to the Edge software to support SWORD,including ballistic calculations to supportindirect firemunitions.When theweapon isbeing used to fire a grenade, if this functionalityis enabled, the cross hairs on the display screenwill be laid on the targetwhen theweapon is atthe correct angle for accurate fire.

Simulation systemsSitaWare has also been incorporated intosimulation systems. The BMSwas integratedwith the Steel Beasts combat simulationenvironment from an early stage, with entitiesin the Steel Beasts environment translatedinto tracks in SitaWare.More recently theDanish firm IFADhas developed a gatewayusingDistributed Interactive Simulation (DIS)andHigh LevelArchitecture (HLA) standards,which enable SitaWare to be integratedwithother simulated environments such asBohemia Interactive Solutions’VirtualBattlespace 2 (VBS2) orMÄK’sVR-Forces.SitaWareHQhas also been integratedwith

MASA’s SWORD command training software.The latter is designed to provide an intelligent

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A screenshotfrom SitaWareFrontline showingthe additional FACfunctionality.

SitaWare Edge on a small handheld device.

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simulation ofmilitary activity to supportcommand post (CP) training, with simulatedunits following doctrine-compliant courses ofaction once they receive operational orders. CPexercises can therefore be conductedwith staffusing SitaWare to support operational planningand dissemination of orders, with the tacticalpicture being generated in the SitaWare displayby SWORD software. This provides acommercial off-the-shelf solution forC2training, course of action analysis, wargaming,and simulation support in concept and doctrinedevelopment. It can also simultaneously beintegrated at the entity level.Development of the software suite

continues. Frontline has recently beenimproved by the addition of functionality tosupport Forward Air Controllers (FACs) indirecting close air support (CAS). Thisincludes formatted CAS-requests, ground/airdata message exchange, graphical display ofthe CAS 9-line message, a readout of targetinformation, and integration of the L-3Soldier ISR Receiver (SIR) video downlink. Alightweight FAC/Forward Observerequipment solution has been devised inconjunction with Black Diamond.Another development project is the

integration of a tactical UAV video downlinkwith Frontline, for which Systematic usedthemultirotor Sky-Watch Huginn X1 andsuccessfully provided a video feed into theFrontline display, while showing the sensorfootprint on the backgroundmap.The integration of Frontline with a laser

rangefinder has also been improved. If atarget is designated with a laser rangefinder,this now appears on themap display, showingthe target location and the range and bearingfrom the lasing vehicle. This can bedistributed across the network.There have also been developments in

SitaWare HQ. Recording of activity forbriefing and after action reports has beenfacilitated by the addition of a bookmarkfunction to take a snapshot of the operationalpicture which can then either be used to briefdirect from the C2 system or exported into aseparate Powerpoint presentation. Evententries for an operational HQ journal, often alegal requirement, can also now beautomatically generated.Systematic does not intend at present to

develop applications within the SitaWaresuite for specialist warfare functions, such asindirect fire control, combat engineering or

chemical , biological, radiological, nuclear(CBRN). Bohlbro notes that this has been aconscious decision because there has been nodemand from customers and thefundamental architecture of the system isbased on interoperability; providing existingor future specialist softwaremeetsestablished interoperability standards, it canbe integrated with SitaWare. The focusremains on the core of SA, planning,intelligence, and logistics.Developments for 2014will include

harmonising themessaging capability across allthe products, with an application alongsideSitaWare Edgewhich provides textmessagingwith attachments as already present inFrontline. Having provided an initialMIP 3.1capability in 2013, Systematic intends toimprove thematurity of this early release toprovide a fully functional operational capability.Development thereafter will verymuch

depend on customer feedback; there is nospecific roadmap. “We concentrate onfunctions that most people seem to want andwhat our customer base indicates is acommon requirement.We listen to them andfocus on their needs,” said Bohlbro.

Equipment profile Systematic SitaWare

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janes idr equipment profile - systematic inc

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