A Virtual Reality C3 Network Battle Management and Analysis Tool
John Brand
,* Ann Brodeen
, Rick Coleman
, María López
, Douglas Meyer**,
Kriss Preston
, Mike Thurber
Correspondence author, Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005; Quality Research, Inc., 4901-D Corporate Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805; ** Envisage, Inc., 4950 Corporate Drive, Suite 105B, Huntsville, AL 35805
Abstract: A software package is being developed to improve the situation awareness of network managers by application of virtual reality (VR) techniques. The Situation Awareness Virtual Environment for Command, Control, and Communications Networks (SaveC3) package gathers network and, in a military application, battlefield status information, from disparate sources and displays the information as text and pictures. The visualization makes use of simple “glyphs” or status icons, along with tactical overlays (battle plans) and unit locations on three-dimensional terrain. The display can be by VR headset or by a three-dimensional perspective representation on a two-dimensional screen. Two demonstration milestones have been met and a third is set for the summer of 1999.
I. Introduction.
The Army is moving into an operational environment where situational awareness is a necessary factor in survivability for all physical assets, and for networks in particular. Threats such as intrusion, malicious software, jamming, high power microwave upset or destruction, or physical destruction by conventional or unconventional means are highly synergistic. The effects on a network of increased traffic resulting from a sudden increase in the tempo of combat, plus denial of communication assets by the aforementioned factors, could lead to rapid degradation of network performance. Network managers must be aware of the effects on a network and respond quickly in that context. This more demanding situation awareness requirement may be met by use of virtual reality techniques.
II. The Virtual User Interface.
The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has conducted a Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program with Quality Research, Inc. (QRI), to develop a virtual reality (VR) software package for network management. The concept was adapted from a description of a display contemplated by British Telecom (BT) to monitor the state of the British telephone network [1]. The Situation Awareness Virtual Environment for Command, Control, and Communications Networks (SAVEC3) software package will provide the display portion of a user interface that will enable network managers to “immerse” themselves in their network and vastly enhance situation awareness by sensing the global network status with the ability to navigate deeper into the display for more detailed information.
This situation awareness will provide both a battle tool and a peacetime network management tool. The ability to present network events provided either by playback of real or simulated traffic, or by use with an interactive network engineering model, will also open new opportunities in training. Another application of intense interest to network researchers is that the Virtual User Interface (VUI) should also improve the ability of an analyst to gain insight into what really happens during simulations, experiments, and live exercises.
“Immersion” will be gained by using either a flat screen display of a three-dimensional perspective of the network spread over the battle area, with simple status monitoring symbols, or by a true three-dimensional real-time color representation viewed by VR goggles. These net representations are superimposed, along with tactical overlays (the battle plans and tactical situation), on a two-or three-dimensional map two-or other digital representation of the environment. A separate effort is under way to provide a statistical package similar to those in commercial large-scale network engineering tools. Voice command and audio feedback can also be added to the interface.
Status alarms can be set on selected net parameters to gain early warning of net intrusion or operation of malicious software such as worm or virus attack. Exceptional amounts of traffic emanating from one node without apparent need, such as increased enemy activity or friendly unit movement, isolated and very high percentage utilization, or increased numbers of messages exceeding time-to-die thresholds, and other such measures could serve as indicators of suspicious circumstances. The VR display technology could be useful in tandem with other network management tools to support information gathering and decision capabilities.
III. Architecture.
The Phase I SBIR effort was based on an existing VR software development toolkit, Prospect, and focused on a feasibility demonstration of a workable display. Prospect was developed by the University of Alabama (Huntsville) and QRI. It is written in Python, which, like Java, can be run on a number of platforms [2]. The demonstrator operated from a script of network events. The system developed in Phase II emphasizes interaction with real networks and battlefield command and control systems. The software architecture facilitates this integration.
The software system is based on a central repository for data related to the visualization, as seen in Figure 1, below. With this architecture, additional data sources may be added easily, and duplicate copies of data sources or users are accommodated as they connect to SaveC3.
Figure 1. Software Architecture.
The architecture allows multiple instances of an application to send data to the data manager, which archives the data for later use and inserts the information into a database for immediate use. The archival data can be played back to analyze an experiment, diagnose a suspected information warfare event, or train personnel.
The user applications communicate with the data manager through data “stubs.” These stubs allow the engineering simulation to provide data on predicted network performance, and the data manager to display the data on different displays and accept battle status data or planning overlays in Maneuver Control System (MCS) format from several tactical networks. Stubs may be added to communicate with other applications that are desired. The work to modify the system involves developing or modifying a stub, without modifications to the basic data manager. This flexibility in data structure also makes the SaveC3 tool a good data fusion and visualization tool for non-network applications.
Currently, a stub is being developed for integration with the Mobile Subscriber Equipment (MSE) environment.
This means the software has immediate applications for MSE but is not limited to MSE related equipment. An interface is also being developed to accept network status information from the GTE Integrated System Control (ISYSCON). Another interface allows the software to receive engineering data from the GTE Multi-Switch Simulation (MSS). The architecture also makes addition of a command and control module a relatively simple task.
IV. The Display.
The display is tailored with the features associated with any Windows NT display. The main window display, shown in Figure 2, displays a perspective view of the battle area and a menu. This can be augmented with a vertical view from a fixed height, like a topographic map. The terrain appearance is substantially more detailed than the processing burden might indicate. This is due to the use of high-level Digital Terrain and Elevation Data (DTED) to produce a false shadow terrain, which is then pasted on a lower-level DTED elevation data base. Hydrographic and land use information (rivers, roads, cities, etc.) are pasted on as well.
Figure 2. Elements of the SaveC3 Display.
Although it is not apparent in black and white, the links from Node Center Switch (NCS) 22113, in the foreground of Figure 2, are coded red. The reason is loss of line of sight, as can be seen by the links appearing to go through hilltops. The high looped link is a satellite relay. The menu dialog box is shown in Figure 3.
The 3-D aspect of the display is instantly comprehensible by members of the potential user community. Whereas the standard topographic map is crowded with data that may not always be needed, SaveC3 uses natural visual cues and tailorable displays to provide the information needed while avoiding distractions and crowded displays. The operator
Archive and Retrieval Manager Database Message layers Gadfly layer Archive02181999110352.dir MSS 01.ar ISYSCO N 01 SaveC3 Stub MSS or MCS, etc. Stub DataMan MCS 01.arc
Access Methods layers MSS, MCS,
etc. apps.
SaveC3 app. Planner
may select and place relays or switches more easily, and a local optimization capability allows easy choice of site. The jammer module also allows a node to be sited so that the terrain minimizes jamming effectiveness, or to reduce chances of intercept.
Figure 3. The Main Menu
Pop-up windows, including a trouble list, communications and supported unit details, and a navigation overview window, can be called up. Thus, easy comprehension is provided by graphics, but the operator can also access textual information as needed and cued by the graphics. Other windows may be called up as needed.
The software will accept MCS messages through the MCS interface. This interface will parse U.S. Message Traffic message formats S201 (battlefield geometry) and S507L (unit location). Other message formats may be added easily. This interface will give the combat overlays and unit locations.
An interesting spin-off of the terrain visualization work is a standalone terrain visualizer that gives DTED level 1 appearance with level 0 processing burden, allows the appearance of the terrain of the entire planet to be stored on a medium-size hard drive, and played on an inexpensive PC. A view of an archipelago is shown in Figure 4. This capability provides an excellent appreciation of the terrain quickly and at low cost.
V. Portability.
The Phase I product was compatible with several platforms, including a Silicon Graphics workstation and a PC. This capability was retained in Phase II, with the subsequent technology advances making it possible to run the system on inexpensive hardware. The primary platform
Figure 4. An Archipelago Viewed with the Terrain Visualizer
used in Phase I was an Intergraph TDZ410, with two Pentium Pro 200 MHz processors and 128 megabytes of RAM. The machine had a Realism Graphics card with 128 megabytes of RAM for texture. Phase II was implemented on low-end Windows NT and Silicon Graphics workstations, including a Silicon Graphics O2. The ability to run essentially the same tool on a spectrum of machines simplifies the Army’s task of using the tool and makes the potential civil market much broader.
VI. Statistical Analysis.
Figure 5. One Data Screen from the Statistical Package, Showing Running Values of Several Statistics.
A statistical analysis package has been developed by QRI and ARL to allow statistical analysis of real time or stored network traffic data. This allows the analyst to see global network behavior while monitoringvariables at several key locations for running and cumulative statistics such as variance in message delay, mean throughput, etc. It is currently being used to analyze data from an ARL experiment that uses four tactical radios in a network to analyze the network performance using different protocols. The statistics package can be integrated into the three-dimensional SAVEC3 software, but is currently being used in a standalone mode. One display window is shown in Figure 5 [3].
VII. Use.
The SaveC3 software is intended to allow the manager of a combat net, or a civil network administrator, to manage a net using real-time information with a sense of global situation awareness. It should be noted that this software is being developed as a network display and requires an existing network management facility to actually influence the net. Such a network management tool, the GTE Integrated System Control, was used in the development of this software and was involved in the demonstration of the software at the Prairie Warrior 99 exercise. Other network management tools exist that gather an impressive amount of data; this display may facilitate grasping and diagnosing problems by display of that data.
VR techniques may allow the operator to direct intense attention to a particular element while retaining a sense of what is going on elsewhere. The VR element of this tool should allow intense scrutiny of a problem area, with an “out-of-the-corner-of-the-eye” situation awareness that should allow a net manager to rapidly respond to other, fast-developing problems while they are still small and local and before they become net-wide. The modularity of this program architecture also allows easy input of tactical overlays, other signals intelligence data, and other user-desired information. The whole battle becomes part of the network situation awareness.
There is some indication that a combat net (not necessarily an internet) can be made to rapidly “lock up” when traffic exceeds a threshold. For lower priority nodes, the message delay time increases dramatically. Messages from low-priority nodes may be essentially eliminated, while other messages are slowed down tremendously. Under conditions of combat, when the message generation rate becomes very high, the net may lose capacity from physical damage, jamming, and perhaps malicious programming. The loss of net capacity, plus a constant demand for attempted net traffic due to combat needs, means a corresponding
increase in net load, which is a key variable in congestion failure [4]. The net manager may be able to avoid overloading the net by limiting net access by some nodes, changing access priorities, message “time-to-live” or “message staleness” etc. These measures are required in response to problems from sources such as synergistic damage phenomena that would become apparent from other sources of information on the battle.
The training potential of this software is great. The network operators can exercise the Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) specific skills in a simulated battle environment that would, if real, put the net at risk or seriously impact the missions of everyone on it. In this way, basic skills can be exercised in situations likely to occur, and especially those situations that may be considered less likely to occur but very dangerous. The effect of the operator’s actions can be estimated with the engineering models, thus providing a more realistic assessment of the operator’s responses than otherwise possible.
The network battle planners may also exercise their skills. The network configurations necessary to support time-phased deployment and maneuver can be devised and tested. This is especially important in preparing for war, as large-scale training exercises seldom play degraded communications.
Use of the SaveC3 technology in battle can depend on the application. If incorporated in or used with legacy equipment, the software could remedy deficiencies in the display or it could allow embedded computer-based training. In commercial use, the software might allow a security manager to relate the host configurations and wiring closets to physical access.
A fascinating possibility is the potential of “drilling down,” or penetrating into an individual node, and displaying the machine state in the context of the physical battle. We hope to explore this later. This approach would allow a global sense of what is happening in a network as a whole, at the same time as an operator examines why a particular equipment item is misbehaving. A team approach to managing a network under attack may thus be possible, using the same software, with the team seamlessly transferring from one level of abstraction to another on the same system.
Ultimately, the goal is to allow the combat net manager to “fly” a net like a fighter plane—or video game—with the same instant comprehension and reaction, or allow an analyst to perceive factors with the same improvement to insight that real-time graphical output allowed when it becomes available.
VIII. Exercising the Model.
The Phase I demonstrator was exercised by running scripted network data. The script was generated by use of the MSS in a scenario based on the defense of Kuwait. The scenario involved part of the MSE assets of a division operating as part of a corps. Scripts of 6 and 21 minutes were generated. The force was engaged near Kuwait City. There were 30 nodes and 27 links in both scripts. The equipment simulated was the MSE Packet Network (PN). The scripted actions included
Two examples of employment of radio relays to improve bit error rate (BER),
Two examples of Forward Error Correction (FEC), and
an illustration of the impact of traffic loading on message speed of service.
Exercising the developing software in more realistic environments will be important steps in development of a practical tool. The first exercise, recently completed, was a demonstration of the software’s ability to access information about an MSE network, generated by the MSS, through the GTE ISYSCON. MSS also was used as an intermediary between the ISYSCON and SaveC3, to translate the ISYSCON message formats. The information was then displayed by the SaveC3 software, which also sent the net status information to the ARL very high resolution VR package, the Virtual Geographic Information System, for display. This resulted in a total of four machines linked cooperatively. The scenario, a Fulda Gap battle, included actions such as response to jammers, as well as tactical movement.
The SaveC3 software also operated in a major exercise in May 1999, Prairie Warrior 99 (PW99). PW99 was a large-scale, computer-mediated command post exercise (CPX). The SAVEC3 package operated with data from a modified version of ISYSCON (version 6.17), accepting data through the MSS. The package received unit location updates and tactical overlays through MCS format data packets.
IX. Summary
ARL, in concert with QRI, has embarked on a quest for a software package that will provide much-improved, real-time situation awareness and problem comprehension. This will allow improved analysis, problem solving, planning, and training. It will also allow better management in a laboratory environment, on the field of battle, and in a host of civil nets, from small local area nets to larger cyber worlds.
Acknowledgements
The SAVEC3 team wishes to thank Mr. Charles H. Browne, Acting Chief, Network Management Branch, Warfighter Information Networks Division, Space & Terrestrial Communications Directorate, CECOM, Ft. Monmouth, NJ, and LTC Carl Tegen, Product Manager for Communications Management Systems, Project Manager for Warfighter Information Networks-Terrestrial, Ft. Monmouth, NJ, for their support during Prairie Warrior. Without this support the project could not have been completed.
The team also wishes to acknowledge the contribution made by Mr. Donald Devlin, GTE.
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