Multiple sensors, providing actionable intelligence to the war fighter, often have difficulty interoperating with each
other. Northrop Grumman (NG) is dedicated to solving these problems and providing complete solutions for persistent
surveillance. In August, 2011, NG was invited to participate in the Tactical Network Topology (TNT) Capabilities Based
Experimentation at Camp Roberts, CA to demonstrate integrated system capabilities providing Forward Operating Base
(FOB) protection. This experiment was an opportunity to leverage previous efforts from NG's Rotorcraft Avionics
Innovation Laboratory (RAIL) to integrate five prime systems with widely different capabilities. The five systems
included a Hostile Fire and Missile Warning Sensor System, SCORPION II Unattended Ground Sensor system, Smart
Integrated Vehicle Area Network (SiVAN), STARLite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)/Ground Moving Target
Indications (GMTI) radar system, and a vehicle with Target Location Module (TLM) and Laser Designation Module
(LDM). These systems were integrated with each other and a Tactical Operations Center (TOC) equipped with RaptorX
and Falconview providing a Common Operational Picture (COP) via Cursor on Target (CoT) messages. This paper will
discuss this exercise, and the lessons learned, by integrating these five prime systems for persistent surveillance and FOB
protection.
Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS) from a wide range of manufacturers have difficulty interoperating with each other,
and common control and dissemination points. Therefore, an UGS controller that accepts data from a wide range of
sensors and transmits this data coherently is essential. This paper proposes a packaged native data format for
transmission. This format can be combined with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Model Language
(SensorML) sensor descriptions to provide sensor interoperability. A SensorML-enabled UGS controller that transmits
packaged native data format sensor information is a powerful tool that can provide situational awareness and a common
operational picture.
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Unattended ground sensors, Manufacturing, Cameras, Computer programming, Data modeling, Data communications, Commercial off the shelf technology, Magnetic sensors, Computer architecture
Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS) from a wide range of manufacturers have difficulty interoperating with each other
and common control and dissemination points. Typically, sensor data is transmitted via RF or wired connections to a
central location where the data can be fused together and transmitted further via satellite to a Processing, Exploitation
and Dissemination (PED) system. These PED's are charged with analyzing the data to create real time actionable
intelligence for the war fighter. However, when several disparate sensors from different manufacturers are used,
interoperability problems arise. Therefore, a central UGS controller that accepts data from a wide range of sensors and
helps them interoperate is essential. This paper addresses benefits derived from using the Open Geospatial Consortium's
(OGC) Sensor Model Language (SensorML) sensor descriptions for an UGS controller. SensorML 1.0 is an approved
OGC standard and is one of the major components within the OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) suite of standards.
SensorML provides standard models and an XML encoding for describing any process, including the process of
measurement by sensors. By incorporating SensorML, an UGS controller can accept data from various sensors from
different manufacturers, and interpret that data with the SensorML descriptions to allow the controller to take
programmed actions and interoperate between sensors. Furthermore, SensorML can be used to translate the native sensor
formats once the original data has been transmitted to the PED. Therefore, this makes a SensorML enabled UGS
controller an extremely powerful tool that provides situational awareness by combining multiple sensors to form a single
common operational picture (COP).
This paper updates the improvements and benefits demonstrated in the next generation Northrop Grumman SCORPION
II family of persistent surveillance and target recognition systems produced by the Xetron Campus in Cincinnati, Ohio.
SCORPION II reduces the size, weight, and cost of all SCORPION components in a flexible, field programmable
system that is easier to conceal and enables integration of over fifty different Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) and
camera types from a variety of manufacturers, with a modular approach to supporting multiple Line of Sight (LOS) and
Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) communications interfaces. Since 1998 Northrop Grumman has been integrating best in
class sensors with its proven universal modular Gateway to provide encrypted data exfiltration to Common Operational
Picture (COP) systems and remote sensor command and control. In addition to feeding COP systems, SCORPION and
SCORPION II data can be directly processed using a common sensor status graphical user interface (GUI) that allows
for viewing and analysis of images and sensor data from up to seven hundred SCORPION system gateways on single or
multiple displays. This GUI enables a large amount of sensor data and imagery to be used for actionable intelligence as
well as remote sensor command and control by a minimum number of analysts.
This paper addresses improvements and benefits derived from the next generation Northrop Grumman SCORPION II
family of persistent surveillance and target recognition systems produced by the Xetron campus in Cincinnati, Ohio.
SCORPION II reduces the size, weight, and cost of all SCORPION components in a flexible, field programmable
system that is easier to conceal, backward compatible, and enables integration of over forty Unattended Ground Sensor
(UGS) and camera types from a variety of manufacturers, with a modular approach to supporting multiple Line of Sight
(LOS) and Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) communications interfaces. Since 1998 Northrop Grumman has been
integrating best in class sensors with its proven universal modular Gateway to provide encrypted data exfiltration to
Common Operational Picture (COP) systems and remote sensor command and control. In addition to being fed to COP
systems, SCORPION and SCORPION II data can be directly processed using a common sensor status graphical user
interface (GUI) that allows for viewing and analysis of images and sensor data from up to seven hundred SCORPION
system Gateways on single or multiple displays. This GUI enables a large amount of sensor data and imagery to be used
for actionable intelligence as well as remote sensor command and control by a minimum number of analysts.
This paper addresses benefits derived from the universal gateway utilized in Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's (NGSC) SCORPION, a persistent surveillance and target recognition system produced by the Xetron campus in Cincinnati, Ohio. SCORPION is currently deployed in Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF). The SCORPION universal gateway is a flexible, field programmable system that provides integration of over forty Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) types from a variety of manufacturers, multiple visible and thermal electro-optical (EO) imagers, and numerous long haul satellite and terrestrial communications links, including the Army Research Lab (ARL) Blue Radio. Xetron has been integrating best in class sensors with this universal gateway to provide encrypted data exfiltration to Common Operational Picture (COP) systems and remote sensor command and control since 1998. In addition to being fed to COP systems, SCORPION data can be visualized in the Common sensor Status (CStat) graphical user interface that allows for viewing and analysis of images and sensor data from up to seven hundred SCORPION system gateways on single or multiple displays. This user friendly visualization enables a large amount of sensor data and imagery to be used as actionable intelligence by a minimum number of analysts.
This paper addresses benefits derived from the universal gateway utilized in Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's
(NGSC) SCORPION, a persistent surveillance and target recognition system produced by the Xetron campus in
Cincinnati, Ohio. SCORPION is currently deployed in Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF).
The SCORPION universal gateway is a flexible, field programmable system that provides integration of over forty
Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) types from a variety of manufacturers, multiple visible and thermal electro-optical
(EO) imagers, and numerous long haul satellite and terrestrial communications links, including the Army Research Lab
(ARL) Blue Radio. Xetron has been integrating best in class sensors with this universal gateway to provide encrypted
data exfiltration and remote sensor command and control since 1998. SCORPION data can be distributed point to point,
or to multiple Common Operational Picture (COP) systems, including Command and Control Personal Computer
(C2PC), Common Data Interchange Format for the Situational Awareness Display (CDIF/SAD), Force XXI Battle
Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), Defense Common Ground Systems (DCGS), and Remote Automated Position
Identification System (RAPIDS).
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