sits/sa beacon soldier - northrop grumman corporation€¦ · the situational awareness beacon...

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SITS/SA Beacon

Soldier

INSTRUMENTATION TRAINING SYSTEM/

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS BEACON

The Soldier Instrumentation Training Suite (SITS) / Situational Awareness

Beacon (SA Beacon) was developed to take advantage of emerging and future

commercial technologies as well as the reuse of Northrop Grumman’s tactical

components to meet current and future requirements. These include both training

requirements (legacy, interim, and future force) and tactical Command, Control, and

Communications (C2) systems.

SITS OVERVIEW• Trackssoldiersinoperationaland

trainingenvironments,includingthosethatareglobalpositioningsystem(GPS)accessibleandGPSdenied

• Reusestacticalandtrainingsystems,orportionsofthosesystems,toreducecosts

• Protectssoldiersinoperationsandtrainingthroughsafetyalerts

• IscapableofstandaloneusewithlegacyorfutureTacticalEngagementSimulationSystems(TESS)orwithtacticalC2(BFT/BFT2/JPC-B)

THE VALUE OF PERFORMANCE.

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THE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS BEACON COMPONENT:TheprogramfeaturesatrackingsystemcompatiblewithfieldedtacticalC2systemsenabling:

• Trackingofsoldiers,equipmentanditemsofinterest• Usewithlegacy,interimandfutureTESStotrackand

collectdatainnearrealtime• Passiveandactivesafetymonitoringthataddresses

currentgapsandshortfalls

TheSABeaconwasinitiallydevelopedforuseintrainingbutisequallyrelevanttocombatoperationswarfightersafetyandassetmanagement.Reusingthecombat-provensoftwarekerneloroperationalCommand,Control,Communications,Computers,andIntelligencesystems,theSABeaconwasprototypedinamatterofmonthsratherthantheyearsnormallyrequiredforsystemdevelopment,scalability,andcommunicationsarchitecture.Itiscapableofuseinsingleormulti-tiercommunicationsarchitecturewithavarietyofcommercialortacticalcommunicationoptions.Theseincludeaself-healinglower-tiernetworkconsolidatespositionlocation,health,andotherdata.Nofixedterrestrialinfrastructureisrequiredforlast-mileconnectivityonthelower-tiernetwork.

Whenused,anupper-tiernetworkpushestheaggregatedinformationofuptohundredsofSABeaconstoacommandcenterortrainingoperationscenterforanalysis.TheSABeaconarchitectureenablestheuseofmultipleupper-tierpaths,optimizingcommunicationscapabilitywhilereducingcost.

Upper-tieroptionsincludeexistingoraugmentedinstrumentationcomponents(fiber,wire,microwave,etc.),commercialandtacticalsatellites,andtacticalorcommercialradiosdependentuponuserrequirements,resources,andpreferences.

TheSABeaconcomponentofSITSmaybeaugmentedbyaDeadReckoningModule(DRM)thatprovideslocation,positionandmovementinformationinGPS-deniedenvironmentssuchasurbansettings,caves,andtunnels.TheDRM’saccuracyisenhancedbyalearningsub-modulethatusesmovementcharacteristicslearnedwhilewithinGPScoverageandmultiple-sensoralgorithms.

TheweightofboththeSABeaconandDRMislessthanonepound,includingabackupbatterythatenablesextendedandemergencyoperationsandahotswapcapability.Themainpackageisuserdefinedandincludesavarietyofmilitaryandcommercialbatteryoptions,aswellasvehicle/localpower.

Ultimately,thesoldierwillbeabletotransitionfromtrainingtocombatusingthesametrackingequipmentwithcommonreportinganddatatransfercapabilities.

For more information contact:

Mark Hehmeyer

11474 Corporate Blvd, Suite 120

Orlando, FL 32817

phone: 407.737.4912

mobile: 321.230.6138

email: mark.hehmeyer@ngc.com

www.ts.northropgrumman.com

BlueForceTracking(BFT)anditsterrestrialcommunicationscounterpartForceXXIBattleCommand,BrigadeandBelow(FBCB2)weretwoofthegreattechnologicalsuccessesofOperationsIraqiFreedomandEnduringFreedom.Theyeffectivelyimprovedsituationalawareness(SA)andsituationalunderstandingonthebattlefield,contributedtoanunprecedentedlowbullets-tofriendlycasualtyrate,andprovidedmoreeffectiveC2,allowingtherapidapplicationofoverwhelmingforce.TheSABeaconextendstheBFTandFBCB2/JCRtrackingcapabilitybeyondkeyleaderstoincludeindividualsoldiers,combatvehicles,andotherassetsenablingunitaggregationandde-aggregationasrequiredtosupportthemission.

Inatrainingenvironment,theSITS/SABeaconallowscombattrainers(CT)tocapturecriticaldataforunitAfterActionReviewsevenifaCTisnotinpositiontoobserveanaction.ItalsoenablescollectionofTESSdatapreviouslycollectablemanuallyinpart.ThesafetyfeaturesbuiltintothesystemenableindividualSoldiersandMarinestosignalanemergencysituationandprovidethedatanecessaryfortheLiveTrainingTransformationfamilyofprogramstoprovidevisualalertstoCTsforboundaryandrestrictedareaviolationsandothersafetyfeatures.

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