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Dave Polete |
Helping the Army Apply New Technology
Dave Polete
January 2009
As a systems architect for MITRE's Battle Command Systems Engineering Department, Dave Polete takes new technology the Army hasn't used before and finds a way to apply it. Polete is based at Ft. Hood, Texas, and supports the Army's Central Technical Support Facility, or CTSF. The CTSF is the Army's strategic center for interoperability. (See "CTSF Ensures the Army's Net-centric Interoperability," below.)
While the facility generally focuses on deployed or soon-to-be deployed systems, Polete works on longer-term projects. "I tend to take a longer look—say, two years out instead of a year or less. We integrate and test tactical systems that go out in the battlefield. If one Army group, such as Intelligence, has a communications system that's different from the one used by combat commanders, we make sure the systems can talk to one another and exchange information properly. We spend very little time in the office because we're out on test floors finding out why a system isn't working and how we can make it perform better."
CTSF Ensures the Army's Net-centric Interoperability
When the Army deploys its command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems, it makes sure that they interoperate with each other and with Joint and other non-Army systems in the field by integrating and testing them first in the Central Technical Support Facility (CTSF) located at Ft. Hood, Texas.
The CTSF, founded in 1996, originally provided a location for the rapid integration, testing, and deployment of the Army Battle Command System, which was designed to digitize the Army's battle command and control capability. As the Army's digital warfighting capability has grown and matured, the CTSF's mission has expanded to integrate and test more than 200 net-centric systems. The number is expected to grow in the near future as more Army systems become connected through computer networks. |
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One of Polete's projects was a prototype mobile data center that could be taken into the field and quickly set up. "Normally, when the Army deploys a tactical operations center [TOC] in the field, the equipment comes in dozens of transit cases," says Polete. "Depending on the TOC's complexity, unpacking all the transit cases and then assembling, connecting, and testing the equipment can take up to four days."
Polete tested a prototype that consolidated the various pieces into a single package the size of a two-drawer file cabinet that could be easily rolled into place. It uses less power than a stationary data center and requires less training and logistical support.
The mobile data center concept uses technologies such as tight integration, thin clients, and virtualization. Although the Army didn't adopt that particular mobile data center, Polete is working on applying these technologies to the CSFT's testing center to achieve the same benefits. Tight integration reduces the amount of hardware with compact packaging. Thin clients use low-cost workstations with little onboard memory that access their application software from central servers.
Virtualization, as Polete applies it, simulates multiple servers within one physical computer. It enables multiple copies of the same or different operating systems to run in the computer and also prevents applications from interfering with each other.
A Pilot and Engineer
Polete figures he has the best job in the CTSF. "I'm familiar with a broad set of technologies," he says. "So when something new shows up, I can help demonstrate it for the first time. Being conversant about new technologies is something I like very much."
Polete has two degrees—one in electrical engineering and one in computer design engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia. After he left school, he put in 12 years in the Air Force. He flew several hundred hours over Bosnia in EC130s and then ferried patients in air ambulance MEDEVAC transports out of Ramstein, Germany. In his last year in the Air Force, he was a Theater Airlift Liaison Officer at Ft. Hood.
During his time in the Air Force, Polete kept his engineering expertise current. When he left the Air Force in 2000, he joined MITRE as a systems engineer at Ft. Hood. A few years later he got a call from a buddy working at Trans State, a regional airline in St. Louis, to see if he wanted to fly again.
"Flying is addictive," says Polete. "So I worked with my management in MITRE's New Jersey office and came up with a plan where I worked reduced hours for a few years until I acquired seniority at the airline. Now, I don't have to fly so much and I'm back to full time at MITRE. I really appreciate MITRE's flexibility with its staffing plans. It seems more flexible than other companies."
—by David A. Van Cleave
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