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4 Designing a Common Command and Information Infrastructure
Pages 140-174

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From page 140...
... The NCII supports all echelons strategic, operational, and tactical with a uniform architecture that uses commercial network protocols, a concept that, for tactical networks, runs contrary to the current situation. Section 4.2 develops this important point, and it is further elaborated on in Appendix E
From page 141...
... The communications and computing components embedded with sensors, platforms, weapons, and support systems are not considered part of the NCII, but the effective operation of the NCII requires that their interfaces to the NCII satisfy standards established in the overall NCII design. Information repositories are part of the NCII if they are naval assets directly supporting command, but other naval information sources that may be called upon (e.g., personnel databases)
From page 142...
... The ease with which these applications have been able to make use of the underlying communications base has been a critical factor in the rapid growth of the Internet and the effect of the applications on society. The point for NCII design is to view the infrastructure as having two layers, a supporting resource base (e.g., communication)
From page 143...
... allows access to an "information marketplace." Users' needs are not satisfied with a predefined set of information; rather, they seek widely for the information they need. This behavior has a direct analogy in military operations in the current and anticipated future world environments.
From page 144...
... In highly compressed tactical situations the decision-making function can be short-circuited by passing the information directly from the sensors to the weapons or possibly with automated processes replacing human decision making. Similarly, very rapid iterations in the decision process can be made in response to the changing tactical situation.
From page 145...
... Thus, both the functional capabilities and the system properties must be specified. There are thus three general classes of requirements for the NCII: · Functional capabilities that directly support decision making both in the information gathering and generation stage and in the command dissemination stage, · Functional capabilities for the supporting resource base (e.g., communications)
From page 146...
... However, for the scope of this report, the three functions described were considered to be the ones requiring the most emphasis and assessment. The functions supporting information gathering and generation and command dissemination may be described as follows: .
From page 147...
... It is a system property since it is achieved only when all components of the system are secure and protected. But it is so critical in establishing networks, given the vulnerability the networks could introduce, that it is also explicitly singled out in the supporting resource base.
From page 148...
... Finally, the configuration of deployed forces cannot be specified in advance, especially given the variability of military operations in the current and anticipated world environments, so configuration has to be fast and easy to meet tailored mission needs. These properties require certain design principles and practices and can also be supported by technological innovations.
From page 149...
... In one sense it is broader than the NCII since it also applies to business operations. It is narrower in the sense that it focuses on network connectivity and services, which are in the supporting resource base in the NCII definition.
From page 150...
... Software in the NCII e.g., to support the information gathering and generation functions shown in the upper part of Figure 4.2 will be developed in part for use across the Services and joint community. Some of this software might be unique to naval needs (e.g., sin addition to the information infrastructures noted in the text, mention should also be made of the newly emerging idea of the global information grid (GIG)
From page 151...
... The committee does not agree with this concept. On the contrary, it believes, at least for the current state of technology, that the Navy's tactical networks should be built using a uniform architecture and mechanisms but then deliberately segmented to provide speedof-service guarantees and some degree of information assurance.
From page 152...
... The committee concluded that, on the whole, the disadvantages of noncommercial protocols outweigh their advantages and that tactical information networks should be a uniform part of the NCII architecture. The committee found two key deficiencies in the Navy's architectural vision for tactical networks: · It merely renames two existing tactical systems (JDN is really JTIDS, and JCTN is really CEC)
From page 153...
... And it helps with information assurance by segmenting the overall tactical network into compartments with strictly controlled interactions between them. Figure 4.3 illustrates this architecture, showing the tactical compartments and the points of controlled interaction.
From page 154...
... Thus, use of the Naval Command and Information Infrastructure network services layer will not have much effect in delay in tactical networks. High assurance Many lives are at stake in tactical operations, including those of friendly forces and parties not explicitly targeted.
From page 155...
... Low-bandwidth, The various platforms within the battlespace must communicate intermittent via radios, which provide only low-bandwidth, often intermittent connectivity connectivity. These issues, while serious, are generally at the application level and hence with minor exceptions are not affected by adopting the common NCII architecture.
From page 156...
... Development of an NCII architecture is an extensive undertaking, well beyond the scope of this report. The focus here is to assess how the current architectural guidance and development processes in the Department of Defense and the Department of the Navy relate to developing an NCII architecture.
From page 157...
... The C4ISR Architecture Framework is intended to ensure that the architecture descriptions developed by the Commands, Services, and Agencies are interrelatable between and among each organization's operational, systems, and technical architecture views, and are comparable and integratable across Joint and combined organizational boundaries .... The Framework provides direction on how to describe architectures; the Framework does not provide guidance in how to design or implement a specific architecture or how to develop and acquire systems-of-systems ....
From page 158...
... Essential products. These products constitute the minimal set of products required to develop architectures that can be commonly understood and integrated within and across DOD organizational boundaries and between DOD and multinational elements.
From page 159...
... The Department of Defense Joint Technical Architecture (DOD JTA) provides the technical architecture view applicable to all of DoD.l3 Development of the DOD JTA is coordinated by DISA under the direction of OASD (C3I)
From page 160...
... 4.3.1.3 Chief Information Officer Architecture Products Development of architecture and standards products by the Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer is in response to recent legislation, including the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-106) , which requires department CIOs to "develop, maintain, and facilitate the implementation of a sound and integrated enterprise architecture and standards" (Section 5125 (b)
From page 161...
... It 16Chief Information Officer Infrastructure Integrated Product Team.
From page 162...
... It should be noted that the recently established Navy/Marine Corps intranet program has indicated it will use the ITSG. 4.3.1.4 Chief Engineer Responsibilities The position of the Department of the Navy Chief Engineer was established and its first incumbent named on April 13, 1999.
From page 163...
... 4.3.1.5 SPAWAR Navy C4ISR Architectures SPAWAR has prepared a number of Navy operational, systems, and technical architectures, some of which are drafts. The operational architectures pertain to C4ISR overall and to individual mission areas air warfare, amphibious warfare, command and control warfare, mine warfare, strike warfare, surface warfare, and undersea warfare.
From page 164...
... As technology and operational requirements change, the Navy approach would make operational, systems, and technical architectures less costly to implement. In short, articulation of the system functions is a critical intermediate step in moving from the operational view to the physical implementation of the C4ISR system.
From page 165...
... All this requires a rapid, iterative process of technology exploration and refinement of operational concepts (a theme developed in detail in Chapter 2~. This requirement for flexibility and rapid iteration does not seem well supported by the detailed methodology of the C4ISR Architecture Framework.
From page 166...
... Standards typically change on longer time scales than do the individual technologies, so developing architecture products that can be modified quickly is less critical for technical architectures. However, an important concern in technical architecture products is that the set of required standards be kept as small as possible, for two different reasons: to avoid unduly constraining system developers by mandating standardization where it is unnecessary or premature to do so, and to limit the set of choices for 19Development of an automated tool to facilitate construction of operational architectures is discussed in Chapter 6, Section 6.2.7.3.
From page 167...
... However, the limited analysis possible for this report did not allow determining if these three technical architectures were appropriately minimal. Note that most of the standards in the JTA, or refinements of the JTA for naval purposes, would be of two types: commercial standards (e.g., for network services)
From page 168...
... Acronyms: ACL, agent communication language; API, application program~ming) interface; CORBA, common object request broker architecture; OAA, over-the-air activation signal; RMI, remote method invocation; XML, Extensible Markup Language.
From page 169...
... Officials at those levels should not believe that the DOD and naval technical architectures as they now exist provide a complete solution to the technology specification for architectures. The capabilities envisioned for the NCII cannot be fully realized with current technical architectures.
From page 170...
... Resource allocation and requirements sponsor: OPNAV N6; · Operational architecture: Commander, Operations Information and Space Command, with the support of OPNAV N6; · Policy and standards: Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer; . Systems and technical architectures (including enforcement)
From page 171...
... During its information-gathering efforts, the study committee found numerous naval and joint organizations that were able to provide valuable information on various components of information infrastructures. Yet the committee was continually struck by the fact that no one office or organization had a comprehensive view of the capabilities and programs that would constitute an infrastructure such as the NCII.
From page 172...
... As noted in Section 4.1.5, one potentially valuable, immediate opportunity would be participation with the Air Force in its expeditionary force experiments. 4.4.2 Tactical Networks The committee makes two recommendations pertaining to a transition strategy in particular to ensure that tactical information networks conform to the NCII architecture.
From page 173...
... Recommendation: The Department of the Navy should ensure that the naval technical architectures are minimal necessary sets of required standards. Recommendation: The Department of the Navy should support efforts to advance beyond standards-based architectures (such as the current JTA)
From page 174...
... The important point is that senior Navy and DOD officials recognize and support the need for such research. Recommendation: The Department of the Navy, in developing an NCII architecture, should clarify the architectural responsibilities across the various naval offices currently involved in architecture development.


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