battlefield improvements

Army Spc. Chad Tobin (left) and Staff Sgt. Stephan Simmins participated in an On-The-Move training exercise in June at Fort Dix, N. J. The exercise featured Air Force technology applied to support the Army’s Future Force Warrior concept, including a goggle-mounted display, a hand-held mouse that activates push-to-talk PC voice command software, a backpack PC and power system, and rifle-mounted laser range finder. (Photo by David Darkow, 670 AESS)

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Army praises Air Force for future battlefield improvements

Published Dec. 7, 2006
By John Schutte
AFRL Human Effectiveness Directorate

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- In front-line ground combat situations, specially trained Air Force warfighters must peer into the fog of war, collect target data from Army spotters, clearly grasp complex facts under high-stress chaotic conditions and render a decision that will rain lethal air strikes against nearby enemy targets.

The Air Force Research Laboratory's Human Effectiveness Directorate and the Aeronautical Systems Center Special Operations Forces Systems Group recently teamed with the Army's Natick Soldier Center's Future Force Warrior Advanced Technology Demonstration program office to experiment with bridging the communications gap between ground-based Army troops and Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) Airmen.

On such joint combat missions, TACPs need high situational awareness and fast, accurate communications to direct firepower onto targeted enemies. Poor information or communications can translate into tragic friendly-fire casualties.

To improve the targeting process, the Human Effectiveness Directorate's Warfighter Interface Division worked with the Future Force Warrior team this summer and fall to demonstrate the feasibility of using Cursor on Target, an open system architecture for sending target-specific digital images and location coordinates over wireless networks. The information is transferred directly from Army squad or platoon-leader computers to computers used by TACPs who direct the close-air-support firepower. Targeting and friendly location information appears as an icon on a digital map on both the transmitting and the receiving computers' display.

The Air Force also showcased the Windows-based FalconView™ information management system, experimented with by Army light infantry Squad Leaders and Fire Team Leaders that displays various types of maps and geographically referenced overlays, and speech recognition software for hands-free computer control and goggle mounted "look down" displays.

"Using voice commands to enter coordinate changes was important for enabling heads-up operation of the computer systems in the field," said Dr. David Darkow, senior technical advisor with ASC's Battlefield Airmen Squadron. "Data entry tasks that took 15 minutes were reduced to about 90 seconds. The time and workload reduction when using speech recognition were just tremendous from the soldiers' point of view."

Rob Snyder and David Williamson from AFRL's Collaborative Interfaces Branch tailored an existing speech recognition system to meet squad leaders' software interface needs, allowing voice entry of location coordinates and other information.

With Cursor on Target, protocol soldiers can pass key targeting information (what, where, when) directly between computers, such as between Army light infantry troops and TACPs. When a field commander moves his cursor over a target and clicks, the cursor sends target data to ground and airborne commanders to initiate firepower.
Currently, Air Force and Army field-level personnel pass information verbally using radios, but electronic target data is communicated only at higher command levels.

Philip Brandler, director of the U. S. Army Natick Soldier Center at the U. S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., praised AFRL researchers for their role in significantly enhancing Army Small Combat Units capabilities and in pushing forward the distributed mission, network-centric piece of the Army's FFW ATD project.

"The level of cooperation and strategic partnering between our organizations has exceeded my expectations," Mr. Brandler said. "With additional time and resource over the next 15 months, I am eagerly looking forward to even more impressive innovations and successes stemming from our collective efforts."

The ATD will culminate by the end of 2007 and experimentation will continue to leverage and include key capabilities brought forth by AFRL, Mr. Brandler said.

Program engineers 2nd Lt. Jeff Gray and Greg Burnett of the Human Effectiveness Directorate's Battlespace Acoustics Branch said engineers leveraged technology developed for the battlefield air operations kit already used by Air Force combat control teams, including wearable computers and displays, mission planning software, and the Battery Renewable Integrated Tactical Energy System, a wearable power system with multiple energy sources.

"We've used battlefield Airmen technology to improve the Army's FFW prototype system," Lieutenant Gray said. "They looked to the Air Force battlefield program to help out with intrasquad communication and an open system solution."

FFW is the Army's flagship science and technology initiative to develop and demonstrate revolutionary capabilities for future soldiers and small combat units. The FFW ATD is experimenting with new ways to link soldiers and Small Combat Units to joint forces.