UNIS Technical Exchange Meeting
December, 1-3, 2009
US-NATO Air C2 Interoperability
The Current & The Future
Mutlu Uysal
C2 Systems Group
NATO C3 Agency
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OVERVIEW
Introduction
 Interoperability Challenge
 NATO Network Enabled Capability Concept
 NATO Integrated Command & Control (ICC) System
Interface Means for the interoperability
 Formatted Message-based (ADatP3, USMTF)
 Chat capabilities (JCHAT-Traverse)
 Near real time data exchange (through NIRIS)
 NEC mechanisms such as web services etc.
Lessons Learned & Challenges
Summary & Conclusion
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Interoperability Challenge
 Information is available from many sources and is
needed by many different systems/users. It must be:
Securely Shared
Commonly Understood
?
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…challenge
is how?
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Network Enabled Capability (NEC)
The Theory
 The right information at
right time at right place to
right users.
 Improve operational
effectiveness through the
federation of individual
capabilities.
 Seamless linking of
sensors, weapon systems,
C2 systems and decision
makers in a collaborative
environment for planning,
assessment and execution.
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Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web Services
The Reality
SERVICE
PROVIDERS
Service
Service
Producer 2
Producer 1
Service
Producer n
Publish
Service
Registry
Service Service
Request Response
NETWORK
Find
SERVICE
CONSUMERS
Service
Consumers 2
Service
Consumers1
Web
Services:
XML
Web
Browsing:
HTML
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Service
Consumers n
Machine to Machine interface
Machine to Human interface
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Applying theory to an Existing NATO
Integrated Command & Control (ICC) System
The Example
 Operational NATO system
 Wide spread usage at
NATO ~400 sites in 23
countries, including ISAF
theater.
 Supports planning,
tasking, and execution
process for NATO air
operations
 Integrated tool across all
levels of command
 Networked
 Interoperable with many
systems
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ICC Architecture for NNEC Extensions
ICC Server
(Database,COSI)
ICC Web Application
Server
WSDL
Oracle
WISI
ICC
WEB
URL
COSI
TOMCAT
XML
+
+
Web Service Clients
HTML
+
+
Clients viewing
ICC Web pages
Clients
consuming
ICC NEC
Capabilities
CORBA
+
+
ICC Client
Standard ICC Architecture
NEC Extension modules
 Systems can be enhanced to utilize NEC by adding a
service layer to their current architecture in order to
increase their interoperability with external systems.
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ICC Interface Solutions
 Formatted Messages
 ADatP3, USMTF
• e.g. ATO, ACO, AIRSTAR, SSREP, ASACSTAT, MISREP, etc.
 ICC Import/Export (IXI)
 ICC format (similar to ADatP3)
• mostly limited to SETUP and ORBAT
 XML format
• bulk format for JTS target data
• .max format for MAOP data
• .mix format for ICC memory dump
 TDL/DL via NIRIS
 L1, L11, L16, OTH Gold
 ICC Standard Interface (ISI)
 Software Development Kit (C/C++ or CORBA)
 ICC Web Services
 ATO, ACO, Targeting, Common Mission Definition (CMD), etc.
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ICC - TBMCS Interface in ISAF
ACM Airspaces are IMPORTED into
ICC DB as an ACO and can be viewed
in ASMAN, modified, amended,
previewed, etc.
USMTF 98/2000 ATO
USMTF 98/2000 ACO
Theater
Set-up
Data
ATO Missions are IMPORTED into ICC
DB as an ATO and can be viewed in
SALTO and MTOTE, modified,
amended, previewed, etc.
ICC ATO/
ACO Loader
(part of
ICC 2.7+)
USAFE
Developed
Conversion Tool
ICC
Export
Files
ICC Database ATO /
ACO / Resources
MTOTE
SALTO
ASMAN
Import
Tool
NATO
AdatP3
ATO and
USMTF
ACO
2000 ACO
ICC 2.7
TBMCS 1.1.3
ACM
Requests
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Summary of ICC - TBMCS Interface
in ISAF
Message
Message Type
Provider
Consumer
FROB
ICC Export
US-TBMCS
NATO-ICC
ATO
USMTF2000
US-TBMCS
NATO-ICC
ACO
USMTF2000
US-TBMCS
NATO-ICC
ACMREQ
USMTF2000
NATO-ICC
US-TBMCS
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JCHAT- Transverse Collaboration
Potential interoperability capabilities:
- Supported XMPP chat standard (Presence, one-to-one chat, group chat ..)
-Web based Chat
-Cross Domain Multiple Domain (>2) Support
-Whiteboard (SVG vice NVG)
-Bi-Directional Language Translation
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GCCS / ICC
Interface through NIRIS
ICC
NIRIS
OTHGOLD
GCCS
ICC can consume OTH-GOLD data sent by GCCS
through NIRIS and display it on its map.
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NEC related Experiments
1. ICC/TBMCS/ACCS Mission Exchange
ICC Server
SERVICE
PRODUCERS
ICC Mission
Services
TBMCS Server
TBMCS Mission
Services
ACCS Server
ACCS Mission
Services
•Same interface for
all systems using
common models!
NETWORK
ICC Client
TBMCS Client
ACCS Client
SERVICE
CONSUMERS
 Experimented at NATO CWID 07/08 (Lillehammer, Norway).
 Mission data was exchanged using common models (CMD) and
mechanisms (RSS).
 Also extended for FROB and ACO exchange, however ICC had limited
support for them.
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What is RSS?
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
Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site
Summary

Format for Syndicating Content, defacto XML standard for “advertising”
data

Format for delivering summaries of
regularly changing web contents

Includes a list of items with some metadata and explicit URL links for
retrieving details of each individual
item.
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Example RSS feed for ICC missions
This URL link provides
details of ICC Mission 1 in
CMD XML format.
Meta-data for
mission 1
Meta-data for
mission 2
This URL link provides
details of ICC Mission 2 in
CMD XML format.
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NEC related Experiments
2. ICC/JASMAD ACO Exchange
ICC Server
SERVICE
PRODUCERS
ACO Web Services
ACO Request
ACO Data
NETWORK
SERVICE
CONSUMERS
JASMAD is a new
USAF airspace
management and
deconfliction
application.
JASMAD
 Experimented at NATO CWID 08 (Lillehammer, Norway).
 JASMAD successfully consumed ICC ACO web services.
 ICC web services were providing ACO data using its own schema.
Therefore, transformation was required by JASMAD.
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NEC related Experiments
3. NATO JTS/ US JTT Target Exchange
JTT Server
JTS Server
JTS Web
Services
Step 4: Insert target list
to the JTS database
using JTS web services
Step 2: Invoke JTT target web Services
ICC
Import
Tool
CORBA
Services
Step 5: Read imported target
list/target using JTS client
JTS Client
JTT Web
Services
Step 3: Get the results from JTT target web
Services
Step 1: Import JTT Targets/Lists using
ICC Import Tool
Web-based ICC
Import Tool
 Experimented at JFEX-08 (WPC Germany / Langley US).
 Successfully demonstrated the capability to exchange
targets between NATO JTS & US JTT using web services.
 An Import tool was developed by ICC for this purpose.
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Lessons Learned from NNEC Experiments
•Service Definition
- Web service interface should be well-defined.
- Good balance on the granularity of the services.
- Refer to common models as much as possible.
•Quality of Service
-Critical.
-Load balance testing activities.
-Compression techniques to minimize the bandwidth usage.
-Still need to use the native interfaces for internal tasks for
performance matters.
•Service Provisioning
- Complexity of the maintainability for the support staff.
- Need for a global service registry.
-The role of Enterprise service buses (ESB) in future.
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Challenges of SOA
Quality of service
- Mechanisms to ensure that quality of service is at
an acceptable level and it should be continually
monitored especially in WAN.
Security
- Data should be securely shared among the
providers and consumers.
Requires change in the way the software is
traditionally developed.
- The focus is reuse rather than re-implement.
Still emerging
- All the supporting technology for the SOA is still
emerging.
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Towards Service Oriented Architecture
PAST
FUTURE
 Should be moved from an inefficient model - with vertical,
stovepipe applications - to an enterprise-wide model that
delivers a reusable suite of interoperable services.
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Future Interoperability with ESB’s
TBMCS
C2PC
CPOF
JTT
ICC
US Interoperability Bus
JADOCS
GCCS
JTS
JOCWatch
Intel FS
NATO Interoperability Bus
Others
EVE
CORSOM
Others
• Rather than having a point to point connections between all systems,
the interoperability is achieved through the enterprise service buses.
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Some Remarks About NATO-US
C2 Systems Interoperability
 Interoperability between NATO & US C2 systems in theater
is crucial.
 Experimentation in theater is impossible.
 Need to have experimentation & validation of solutions prior to
fielding.
 Lab environment for experimentation.
 Events such as CWID etc. are important for validation and
demonstrations.
 NATO attendance to AirOps COI is crucial. NATO is not
authorized to attend STRIKE COI. COI models are very
important to achieve interoperability.
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Summary of the presentation
•There are different means
of interoperability between
NATO and US systems
such as messaging, chat
capabilities, web services
etc.
• SOA and web services
enable loosely coupled
integration between the
information providers and
consumers. More effort
needed to support these
technologies for seamless
integration.
•Experimentation at lab
environments, validation &
demonstration at exercises
such as CWID is crucial for
enhancing the
interoperability between
NATO & US.
•Some topics to study on
in future are:
- COI data models
-the role of ESB’s in the
architecture
- security issues in cross
domain(WS-Security, WSTrust)
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COMMENTS?
QUESTIONS?
For more information contact:
ICC Project
NC3A, The Hague, The Netherlands
www.nc3a.nato.int
email: caoc@nc3a.nato.int
CRONOS: NC3A Support ICC
tel +31-70-374 3740
fax +31-70-374 3079
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Contacting NC3A
NC3A Brussels
NC3A The Hague
Visiting address:
Visiting address:
Bâtiment Z
Avenue du Bourget 140
B-1110 Brussels
Telephone +32 (0)2 7074111
Fax +32 (0)2 7078770
Oude Waalsdorperweg 61
2597 AK The Hague
Postal address:
NATO C3 Agency
Boulevard Leopold III
B-1110 Brussels
Belgium
Postal address:
NATO C3 Agency
P.O. Box 174
2501 CD The Hague
The Netherlands
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Telephone +31 (0)70 3743000
Fax +31 (0)70 3743239
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BACKUP SLIDES
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NEC related Experiments
Joint Common Operational Picture (JCOP)
ICC
LC2IS
MCCIS
IGEOSIT
NIRIS
SERVICE
PRODUCERS
ICC WS
LC2IS WS
MCCIS WS
IGEOSIT WS
NIRIS WS
NETWORK
JCOP Rich
Client (ICC)
JCOP Light
Client (IGEOSIT)
JCOP Web
Client (JWEB)
SERVICE
CONSUMERS
• Aims to provide a common operational picture to the
NATO users to increase the situational awareness.
• Utilized NEC concepts as much as possible.
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NEC related Experiments
JTS/ACCS Target Data Exchange
Usage of Enterprise Service Bus tool for
orchestration.
Prevents point-to-point connections, however
should also be maintained separately.
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NEC related Experiments
Time Sensitive Targeting (TST) Data Exchange
FAST Web Application
Server (TOMCAT)
FAST Alert Server
FAST
Notification
Producer
FAST Network
FAST XML
Data Store
FAST Client
SOAP/XML
FAST WS
Consumer
getAllKillboxes
response
SOAP/XML
Invoking notify
method
OASIS
WSN WSDL
FAST Web
Services
WSDL
getAllKillboxes
request
FAST Native Interface
FAST XML
Data Store
FAST Web Service
Consumers
FAST WS
Notification
Consumer
Notification
Subscription
Resource File
FAST XML
Data Store
FAST Client
Standard FAST Architecture
FAST NNEC Extension
OASIS Web service Notification (WS-N) standard is
used for notifications.
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