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The Global Grid Enhances Military Communications December 2002 Each branch of the military uses many different command and control systems to run its operations—but these systems have difficulty "talking" to the other ones. As military operations are increasingly run jointly, this lack of interoperability is a problem that will only get worse, making it difficult to amass information critical to decision-making in a timely manner. One solution to that problem is the Global Information Grid (GIG), a single, secure infrastructure providing seamless, end-to-end capabilities to all warfighters. The Global Grid (GG) is the communications and networking infrastructure of the GIG, connecting the various systems employed by the military using the Internet Protocol (IP), which routes information through the network. MITRE is helping to define the critical components of the GIG and implement them in new and existing service and agency programs. The architecture of GIG is layered; the top layer comprises applications, the middle layer services (applications which support the user applications of the top layer), and the bottom layer is communications and networking. It is this bottom layer that the U.S. Air Force refers to as the GG. The bottom layer can be further subdivided into four layers—the transport, network, link, and physical layers—which mirror the commercial Internet. A team of MITRE employees is working with the Air Force Electronic Systems Center (ESC) to implement the Global Grid into existing programs, such as Theater Deployed Communications, Combat Information Transport System, and Joint-STARS. MITRE is helping to implement an architectural approach that cuts across all programs that implement the Air Force's communications systems. Distributing Critical Information A combat aircraft in the air in 2002 would receive command and control information developed over several hours at a large forward-based command center, where the intelligence and other information is manually collected and synthesized from multiple systems. In a combat situation, this information would be sent to a pilot through the Airborne Warning and Control System over a voice channel that may or may not be jam resistant and secure. With the implementation of the GIG, which should be fully realized in 15 to 20 years, a cockpit display would reflect information received from a small forward based-command center, relying on a reliable, integrated set of information. The information would enter the cockpit via an automated secure data link. The reason this process will take 15 to 20 years is that existing systems cannot simply be discarded and replaced. The military must continue to fulfill its many missions. Therefore, current programs must be kept up and running while they are altered to use IP or gateways (network nodes equipped for interfacing with other networks that use protocols other than IP) to connect them to the GG. How the GG Is Like the Internet The use of IP means that the GG works very much like the Internet; however, the demands of military use mean that the GG needs to differ from the Internet in some key ways. It must be able to handle all classification levels (unclassified, confidential, secret, top secret, etc.), as well as be richly connected and able to manage congestion. It must possess a mobile infrastructure, robust protection, survivable communications resistant to exploitation or jamming, and robust management and autoconfiguration, with the ability to link fixed, deployed, and mobile units. Also, the interfaces between the layers need to be simple and standard, allowing the various layers to change independent of one another. "Layering lets one evolve a system very nicely, even though one cannot always predict what future technology will become available," says Project Leader Brian White. "Through layering, the system can evolve much more quickly and with lower cost." With these ambitious long-term objectives in mind, MITRE is focusing on more immediate goals. Our team is encouraging ESC programs to implement IP to facilitate the exchange of information with other programs. This is a difficult task, however, because the programs are funded individually, and there is no entity in charge of implementing the GG architecture across all programs. Each program must fund its own efforts toward horizontal integration out of the budget reserved for making the program work vertically. As MITRE Principal Engineer Kenneth Brayer explains, "The U.S. Air Force has not in the past procured communications systems. Rather it procured information delivery systems." This is really the heart of the problem with current command-and-control systems: while they are engineered to work efficiently within their own vertically integrated systems, allowing a particular group of users to communicate among each other, they do not necessarily communicate with the outside. The Global Grid's transport and network layers define the future Air Force network-centric communications architecture that allows applications to plug into a communications utility that can globally interconnect all users, whether they be Air Force, Army, Navy or coalition partners. Thus, the GG will support interoperability among the services, as well as network-centric warfare in general. Over the last two years, this Global Grid Architecture program and the approach used by the project team—for both the architecture and implementation process—has now been largely adopted by the ESC Chief Architect's Office and some of the other architecture councils around ESC. In 2001, the councils began to offer specific recommendations to programs for migrating to the Global Grid architecture. In 2002 the project redirected its thrust to support more experimentation, demonstration, and implementation of the architecture. What Will It Take? MITRE has been successful in advancing the Global Grid because of our ability to draw on the knowledge of staff throughout the corporation who have a wide variety of expertise in systems engineering. According to Global Grid Project Director Harry Gong, it is sometimes difficult to get people in different Air Force programs to talk about enterprise integration. "Everyone's so busy and focused on meeting their own objectives," says Gong. "MITRE has been able to help bridge that gap from program to program. It's a lot easier for us because we tend to focus on the technical content and technical problems." Gong says that MITRE's continuity and our historical perspective have also been "a big plus" in MITRE's work with the Air Force. As an FFRDC for the Department of Defense for more than 40 years—having worked with the Air Force for all that time—we have a broad perspective of their programs, as well as an unbiased point of view, to bring to each project. During 2002, the architecture councils began applying the Global Grid toward programs at ESC. Specifically, they worked on integrating the Global Grid into the Multi-Sensor Command and Control Constellation, a future "constellation" of ground, air, and space command and control and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. It will consist of ground-based operations and ISR centers, multi-sensor command and control aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and space-based systems. In addition, the project team has made recommendations to other Air Force programs on how they can participate in enterprise integration. MITRE will continue to work with our sponsor to advance the GG in 2003 under the direction of Kenneth Stranc. —by Michele Smith Related Information Articles and News Technical Papers and Presentations |
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