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Projects

The following projects represent a sampling of our enterprise systems engineering work: Skynet, Collaborative Experimentation Environment, NextGen, Information Technology—SOA and Cloud Computing, Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES), and the Army System-of-Systems Systems Engineer (SoS SE).

Skynet
In active military theaters such as Afghanistan, the Air Force's unmanned aircraft are in heavy demand. They provide real-time warfighter support through video surveillance, air strike coordination, close air support, and direct fire. However, the flights are controlled by crews at bases thousands of miles away in the U.S., making it difficult to coordinate all the components of a mission. To put improved capabilities in the Air Force's hands, MITRE created Skynet, a Web-based information tool that makes it easier and faster to deploy and manage multiple missions. It replaced a prior approach that was not readily scalable. When the Department of Defense doubled the volume of unmanned aircraft missions, Skynet was able to handle the increased demand. According to Col. Eric S. Mathewson, Director of the Air Force's Unmanned Aircraft System Task Force, "Skynet is now a core component of our globally distributed operations capability."

Collaborative Experimentation Environment
When it comes to responding to large-scale emergency situations, collaboration among government agencies is paramount. Yet it is not easy for multiple agencies to test their plans together and see how well people and systems interact. MITRE’s Collaborative Experimentation Environment (CEE) addresses this need. CEE aims to help sponsors better understand the relationships among technologies, procedures, and policies across multiple organizations. It involves experiments that mimic true-to-life events so that results are valid, measurable, and practical for the participating agencies. CEE simulations utilize existing MITRE experimentation labs and resources, such as operational systems, data collection tools, and scenario authoring tools. Several CEE experiments have been conducted, including addressing inter-agency responses to aircraft hijackings with similarities to the events of 9/11, prioritization of unmanned aerial systems in support of hurricane response, and border screening during a pandemic flu outbreak.

NextGen
According to some estimates, air traffic may double in the next two decades. With increasing passenger traffic, overnight air shipping, and greater use of unmanned aircraft for various purposes, new challenges will emerge to our national airspace’s long-running record of safety. MITRE is working with the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies to develop new concepts, standards, and solutions collectively known as the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen. One critical principle of NextGen is making airspace more efficient by enabling planes to fly more direct, tightly spaced routes. Two enabling technologies – Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) – have been refined in MITRE’s air traffic management laboratories and tested in real-world operations. Similarly, more traffic in the air will require that individual aircraft present a more accurate accounting of their position to air traffic managers and to one another. MITRE has helped develop the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system, which broadcasts precise data in real time about a plane’s location, speed, and altitude.

Information Technology—SOA and Cloud Computing
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is important to MITRE sponsors because of its advantages in expanding information technology (IT) functionality across organizational boundaries. SOA has become an accepted method for developing large-scale, networked, agile, integrated systems. It enables developers to use innovative, interoperable techniques such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to construct IT systems that move away from proprietary approaches. However, SOA presents new technical and IT planning and portfolio management challenges. MITRE is participating in the development of SOA governance concepts as a member of the SOA Consortium, an advocacy group that comprises end users, service providers, and technology vendors. For more information, visit Service-Oriented Architecture.

MITRE initiated a public online forum to promote collaboration around the topic of cloud computing. Each month we post a question that links to the needs of government agencies; then we ask experts from industry, academia, and federal research centers for their responses. We post the answers online, along with MITRE's response. "The idea is to give customers a broad view of the options and let them weigh the input," says MITRE Vice President Rich Byrne. For more information, visit "Ahead in the Clouds."

Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES)
The Navy’s shipboard networks are aging rapidly, jeopardizing the fleet’s ability to work efficiently and effectively. To advance submarine and shipboard information technology, the Navy has launched the $2 billion Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program. MITRE staff developed the CANES Architecture Specification, which provides a framework for acquiring and implementing new systems. We also serve as the CANES Chief Architect.

Army System-of-Systems Systems Engineer (SoS SE)
The U.S. Army relies on an increasingly complex array of systems to support such key functions as situational awareness and mission planning. MITRE is assisting Army leaders in developing an integrated, enterprise-wide approach to the deployment of warfighter capabilities and, towards this end, helped create a concept for a new office—the Army System-of-Systems Systems Engineer (SoS SE). The office's goal is to enhance decision making on critical systems engineering issues for fielding new and updated equipment. The MITRE-developed supporting framework outlines advanced systems engineering tasks for information technology and weapons-system development.