Real-time data is essential in the fast-paced digital battlespace. For military leaders to make quick, well-informed decisions, they need access to secure, high-quality communications to collect and use intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data.
Bridging the Gap: Advancements and Challenges in ISR Data Utilization
Disruptive technologies have advanced the defense industry’s data value chain with significant innovations. Initially, improvements focused on data collection from sources like drones and satellites, producing vast amounts of data per minute. This created a need for advanced big data analytics, leading to prioritization of AI and machine learning to convert data into actionable insights. While these advancements have accelerated intelligence processing, a major challenge remains in enhancing data transport to distribute insights effectively to operators at the network edge, beyond centralized data centers.
Despite advancements in data processing, fully utilizing ISR data at the network edge remains limited. Often, the powerful facilities needed for complex algorithms and large data sets are far from field operators, making timely access to critical insights challenging.
Satellites as the Backbone for ISR Data Collection
Because they enable timely, secure data transfer from remote locations, satellites play a critical role for ISR data collection from drones and other platforms supporting Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) connectivity.
Multi-Orbit Connectivity’s Significance
Traditional satellite networks that only use one orbit may be at risk from environmental factors, interference, and traffic. By ensuring consistent and reliable connectivity even under the most challenging conditions, new and emerging multi-orbit satellite technologies address these vulnerabilities, leveraging both geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) and low-Earth orbit (LEO) networks. This approach supports military planning, including Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency (PACE) strategies.
Data Optimization at the Network Edge
New smart edge devices, such as flat panel antennas, edge computing, and software-defined modems, are extending 5G networks and enabling local deployment of key applications. Additionally, video compression technology significantly reduces the size of ISR data files, accelerating transmission through satellite networks and enhancing data analysis options at the destination.
Multi-Orbit Tactical Terminals (MOTT), for example, are essential for improving network edge data handling capabilities. These devices ensure that secure, real-time insights get to decision-makers quickly by optimizing bandwidth and automatically selecting the best route for data, voice, and video transmission. This capability supports command-and-control structures with reliable situational awareness by enabling the direct conversion of raw data into actionable intelligence at the edge.
The Path to Data Driven Intelligence
Government agencies remain sharply focused on becoming data driven. As Craig Martell, U.S. DoD Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office shared at the 2022 DODIIS Conference, “So, a large part of our job is figuring out the ways to manage that data, so that the data that’s effective for decision making is front and center for decisionmakers when they need it.”
Collectively, these advancements – from smart edge devices and software-defined modems to video compression technology and multi-orbit network services – are revolutionizing ISR operations marking a significant step toward the goal of enabling government agencies to fully harness the power of the data they gather, ensuring decision makers have the right information, precisely when they need it.
