HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass: Intelligence analysts’ hunt for a piece of data in the puzzle of situational awareness got a little easier with the delivery of the latest version of DCGS Integration Backbone or DIB version, a software system that puts more flexible features and services into warfighters’ hands.
“The key to this latest version is that it provides flexibility that allows warfighters to look at data the way they want to,” said Lt. Col. Tom Tschuor, DIB management office director. “DIB version 1.3 gives them the tools to customize the way data is searched.”
The Distributed Common Ground/Surface Systems consist of global sites capable of receiving, processing, storing, correlating, exploiting and disseminating intelligence feeds from multiple sources. Those sources can be based on the ground, in the air or at sea.
The 950th Electronic System Group’s DIB, an outgrowth of the Air Force DCGS 10.2 program, enables data sharing between sites and allows operators to change how data workflow is processed.
At the heart of the DIB is a metadata catalog that allows users to access information via search engines like those on the Web. Using criteria such as key word, target, product type or geographic area, users can search through libraries of information.
Like a massive online library catalog system, the latest version of the DIB will link together intelligence products and related data that reside in multiple Air Force DCGS sites around the world. And because the latest version also is being incorporated into DCGS sites belonging to the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Special Operations Forces and the intelligence community, intelligence analysts from all these organizations will be able to discover, access and use information across the entire DCGS enterprise.
The DIB allows new intelligence entering the system to be identified, categorically tagged and incorporated into a database. Using specifics like location and target information, users can search the catalog and access the data they need. The DIB even allows for automatic notification when new data becomes available without the analyst having to perform a manual search.
The resulting 1.3 version, completed after about a year’s work, features a metadata framework capability separated from other parts of the DIB. The split allows system developers to use only the metadata framework portion of the DIB on top of their own existing software infrastructure. This results in greatly reduced software integration costs and, since the DIB’s Web services can be deployed using a variety of commercial products, also provides flexibility to tailor systems to specific needs.
“This makes it easier for people to pick and choose the pieces that they need for their specific enterprise,” Colonel Tschuor said. “This is important because the needs of the Navy DCGS, for example, are different than from the Army DCGS.”
Additionally, a new Web service was published that provides standardized interface to the metadata framework. The colonel likens this capability to a universal socket that provides power, no matter what the specified appliance might be.
“You can plug in a toaster or a microwave, and both will work. In the same way, you can plug in different applications to the framework, and take searches and display them in different visualization tools,” he said. “Since different services use different application tools, the smart socket allows for plugging into that framework.”
This new version of the DIB also incorporates the Defense Department’s mandated approach for tagging data, known as DOD Discovery Metadata Specification 2.0 formatting. This is an added key in making intelligence data more standardized and accessible.
“When someone does a query from the Navy and is looking for a piece of data, (he or she) will get the same results as someone from the Army or the Air Force. It normalizes the data to ensure everyone gets the same results,” Colonel Tschuor said.
Another dimension of the new software includes a system integrator guide that helps developers more easily integrate the DIB into different programs of record. For users, this means ease in its simplest form: installation. Version 1.3 comes equipped with installation wizards, guides and information that support system security accreditation.
“We made it easier for all the DOD Services to upgrade their systems with this new version of the DIB,” he said.
In the future, DIB management office representatives will be working with each of the program offices using the DIB to test this latest version for interoperability at this summer’s Empire Challenge 2009. The event is designed to demonstrate multi-intelligence DCGS joint and coalition interoperability.
Empire Challenge 2009 is being led by United States Joint Forces Command officials, with other players including operators from the Navy, Army, Marine Corps, United States Special Operations Command and several agencies of the U.S. intelligence community, as well as Australian, British and Canadian participants.
