Friday, April 16, 2010

TIGR Allows Soldiers Increased Situat...

TIGR Allows Soldiers Increased Situational Awareness (SA) Prior to Missions

Amy Walker

As warfighters patrol the dangerous streets in theater or secure enemy safe houses, Tactical Ground Reporting’s (TIGR’s) new “Patrol View” function will soon enhance their visual perspective. “The street view function, or Patrol View, has the ability to show Soldiers a particular area and give them the experience of having already been there, based on data input by others who have gone before them,” said John Gillette, TIGR/Tactical Hand-held Digital Device (THDD) Deputy.

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Soldiers of the 501st Military Police Co. conduct a dismounted foot patrol in Tikrit, Iraq.

TIGR is particularly suited to counterinsurgency operations and enables collection and distribution of specific intelligence on people, places, and insurgent activity. Here, Soldiers of the 501st Military Police Co. conduct a dismounted foot patrol in Tikrit, Iraq, February 2008. (U.S. Army photo by SPC Alfredo Jimenz Jr.)

Patrol View is a new TIGR capability that has been enabled through a partnership with the Rapid Equipping Force, which has made ground data captured in Iraq available for visualization in TIGR. Patrol View offers the Soldier a 360-degree view of the surrounding vicinity, similar to Google Maps Street View. With this information and imagery, commanders can view targeted buildings, as well as the surrounding infrastructure, prior to their mission. They now have the ability to foresee possible sniper hideouts or plan their fire support positions in advance.

TIGR is a multimedia reporting system that allows Soldiers at the patrol level to collect and share information to improve SA and to facilitate collaboration and information analysis among junior officers. It is a Web-based software application that runs on the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network.

There are 23,000 TIGR user accounts, and the system is fielded to 15 brigade combat teams in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and three inOperation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The OIF fielding is completed and being sustained, but there is still fielding yet to be completed in OEF, according to MAJ Xaviera Williams, TIGR/THDD lead.

“Today, TIGR is arming Soldiers from 17 combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan with exactly what they need—the best information and knowledge available to them on the ground in real time,” said GEN Peter Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, during his speech at the Association of the United States Army’s Winter Symposium in February 2009.

Patrol View offers the Soldier a 360-degree view of the surrounding vicinity, similar to Google Maps Street View.

Currently, TIGR’s Patrol View capability is undergoing a limited user test in Iraq. To coordinate the initial setup of the Patrol View function, the Army needed to go out with contractors to manually map out and download imagery and information throughout Iraq. Eventually, the intent is to have a camera-mounted ball that can be installed onto a patrol vehicle. This will allow patrols to capture data for the TIGR each time they go out.

“The strength of TIGR is to be able to search data that is already in the repository,” said Gillette. “As the Soldier is putting the information in, it is building a database that is connected through servers at the battalion and brigade level.”

How TIGR Works
The ground Soldiers’ preparation for a patrol is similar to that of a flight plan that a pilot creates prior to flight. Soldiers on patrol will first map out routes, taking note of possible obstacles or difficult topography. However, local infrastructure and battlefield terrain is constantly modified. New structures are continually built or torn down, bridges are destroyed, and various obstructions appear and disappear along any given street. To stay updated with these changes, TIGR uses before and after photographs and updated imagery to manage the changing tactical landscape and provide the most current operational environment views.

TIGR’s graphical, map-referenced user interface allows multimedia data, such as voice recordings, digital photos, and Global Positioning System tracks, to be easily collected and searched. The system also uses a state-of-the-art data distribution architecture to minimize load on the tactical networks while allowing digital imagery and other multimedia data to be rapidly exchanged.

TIGR was first introduced to users during a pre-deployment training exercise at Fort Hood, TX, in spring 2006.

With its geospatial user interface, TIGR is particularly suited to counterinsurgency operations and enables collection and distribution of very specific intelligence on people, places, and insurgent activity. “It allows Soldiers to use an interface that is very similar to Google Earth and Facebook, which young Soldiers are accustomed to using to both input and retrieve data,” Gillette said. Information from TIGR can also be exported to Google Earth.

TIGR Capabilities
TIGR helps ground Soldiers collect information on key infrastructure, landmarks, and terrain. Photos of key locations can be captured into TIGR, geo-referenced, and displayed as map overlays. Such data also serves as a navigation aid in areas where street names or numbers are nonexistent. Overlays of routes, critical infrastructure, tribal areas, and ethnic maps, and recent attacks and changes in the terrain are each used to support the Soldier’s mission.

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Soldiers on patrol will first map out routes, taking note of possible obstacles or difficult topography, as depicted in this TIGR screen shot.

Soldiers on patrol will first map out routes, taking note of possible obstacles or difficult topography, as depicted in this TIGR screen shot. (U.S. Army image.)

TIGR is also used to capture and share information on the human landscape. The system is used to record and share meetings with religious leaders and encounters with local villagers or business owners.

TIGR can be used to transfer key information to a new unit rotating into an area of operation. Instead of reviewing a stack of Microsoft PowerPoint or Word files, new units can start the rotation process by reviewing past and ongoing activities in their areas of interest. In addition, profiles of Soldiers who have input information are displayed on the system.

Developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), TIGR was first introduced to users during a pre-deployment training exercise at Fort Hood, TX, in spring 2006. It was developed in response to a need to have a capability to capture, retrieve, and report patrol data.

TIGR was conceived and is managed by Dr. Mari Maeda of the DARPA Information Processing Techniques Office. The program is scheduled to transfer to Project Manager Force XXI Battle Command Brigade-and-Below of the Army’s Program Executive Office Command, Control, and Communications Tactical (PEO C3T) in the first quarter of FY12.

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