Summary
M&S and C4ISR systems currently use terrain data in very different ways
- C4ISR systems depend on human operators to interpret raw NIMA data
- M&S systems “fix” & “add value” to NIMA data (& complain about the cost)
- To generate “realistic” real-time visualizations
- To allow computer generated forces (CGFs) to reason about terrain
- When these systems are networked, they MUST produce consistent results
NIMA is currently caught between meeting the needs of current military operations (e.g., Afghanistan) and preparing to meet the needs of future systems
- Extracting features and attributes from stereo imagery (i.e., to produce FFD) remains extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming
- Soldiers still want hardcopy maps, with familiar content and symbology
- Future Army robotic vehicles will require terrain data similar to today’s CGFs
- NIMA’s data production requirements should be updated to meet the needs of both today’s M&S systems and tomorrow’s C4ISR systems
M&S-C4ISR interoperability experiments should continue and be expanded:
- Initial results have shown that SEDRIS does provide unambiguous repre-sentation and lossless interchange, at least for gridded terrain elevation data
- Future experiments importing M&S database content into C4ISR systems will shed further light on interoperability issues