Army - Navy - Air Force Dynamic Airspace Management?

Army researchers support joint experiment to speed communications using open-source technology
2011-09-16 / News Update Claire Heininger Schwerin 

Army News Service

When the Army, Navy and Air Force maneuver in the same airspace, a straightforward request to engage a target often has to pass through multiple communications systems and manual approvals, slowing down a process that depends on speed.

Now the three services are looking to cut that time signifi cantly -- achieving "dynamic airspace management" by fusing new web services technologies. A joint experiment kicking off this month will attempt to bridge the data gap between the services' systems while automating some steps to speed communications, said officials with the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, or RDECOM's, communicationselectronics center, or CERDEC.

"What we're trying to do is use new technologies to shorten that cycle for airspace deconfliction to minutes, rather than hours," said Greg Davis, an engineer with CERDEC's Command and Control Directorate, or C2D, which is participating in the experiment for the first time.

Along with dynamic airspace management, other mission areas that could benefit from the 2011 Multi-Service Limited Technology Experiment, or LTE, include transmitting mission command information over intermittent or bandwidthlimited networks, and real-time monitoring of system status and message completion. Those capabilities can make a big difference in battle, when forces need reliable and actionable awareness on what information is getting through.