Technology

As part of the Department of Defense’s next generation of network and communication efforts, officials are embracing the approach of “operate through,” a common concept of being able to rely on infrastructure already in place, such as existing bridges, roads or rail systems. The department wants to apply the concept to communications infrastructure and operate through fifth-generation wireless network communications, or 5G, commercial infrastructure.

We are living through a pivotal moment in history. The technologies that will determine the shape of our new century—like artificial intelligence, quantum computing and digital engineering—will come of age this decade.

“I believe we are in one of those pivotal moments where it is vital to throw off old conventions,” Rear Adm. Lorin C. Selby, USN, chief of Naval Research, said in a speech last year. “Our time to innovate is now. If we lose this decade of progress, I don’t think we can make up lost ground.”

Technologies grouped under big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning are impacting virtually every aspect of life today. More importantly for the U.S. military and for the companies in the defense industrial base, these technologies, generally called AI, have the potential to change warfare in profound ways.

Numerous articles in the media have discussed various aspects of how AI will impact national security agencies. This constant drumbeat is important in highlighting how essential AI is to the long-term security and prosperity of the United States.

While visions of high-tech fighter pilots are splashing across movie screens this summer, the state of digital helmet systems in real life almost seem like a Hollywood creation, given the level of advanced capabilities. A helmet vision system in development for several years for helicopter pilots—which is a cousin of the sophisticated F-35 Joint Strike Fighter helmet system—is delving into new capabilities with a dual eye, visor-projected display that is binocular and full color. It allows helicopter pilots to see a terrain grid with data points overlaid on the real world, combining data streams not integrated before.

The availability of highly capable, small footprint radio systems designed for mobility has allowed military forces to deploy tactical communications networks virtually anywhere. As the military shifts its focus from counterinsurgency wars to peer conflicts, the opportunities for expanding networking reach in the operational theatre are becoming a reality. Advances in mobile technology means the network will generally expand in scale and complexity. To fully leverage and deploy mobile networks, militaries need to have technology which can help operators to extend, bridge and protect the network.

Trucks used to experiment with next-generation mobile communications technologies could deploy for operations after being ruggedized, according to Amanda Toman, the acting principal director for the Pentagon’s 5G to Future Generation Initiative.

The U.S. government is working with commercial businesses to test and develop faster, next-generation 5G wireless technology-based applications for use in a variety of environments, from warehouses to the battlefield.

Such networks just now are rolling out in the commercial sector and offer government users the possibility to provide enhanced, high data, high bandwidth communications and computing for everything from tactical data networks to managing fleets of autonomous vehicles.

Amanda Toman is the acting principal director, 5G to Future Generation Initiative, U.S. Defense Department. She has more than 11 years of experience with the department.

How would you describe the Defense Department’s overall priorities and goals with 5G?

The U.S. Navy’s Program Executive Office for Manpower, Logistics and Business Solutions (PEO MLB) has done its due diligence in establishing a technical vision—and an accompanying radar graphic—to help change how the Department of Navy (DON) does business.

Now, realizing that vision requires collaboration from industry and academia for proven technical solutions and best practices, particularly when it comes to realizing a pillar focused on changing the culture, Dave Spencer, PEO MLB acting technical director, shared Thursday during a monthly luncheon of AFCEA’s Northern Virginia Chapter.

One of the challenges the U.S. military and intelligence communities have faced for years is quickly moving information between different networks and classification levels to reach users in a timely manner.

Recent steps taken by the Department of Defense to seamlessly move data between security levels at speed and volume will help warfighters and intelligence specialists carry out their missions more effectively, George Kamis, Forcepoint’s chief technology officer for Global Governance and Critical Infrastructure told SIGNAL Magazine’s Director of Digital News Media Kimberly Underwood in an SIGNAL Media Executive video discussion.

Led by European telecommunication carriers, the so-called HEXA-X consortium is examining solutions for advanced 5th Generation and 6th Generation mobile networks. Through carrier research and development investments, public-private partnerships, industry activity and academia studies, HEXA-X is delving into some of the most complicated issues before structuring future, powerful 6G communications networks on the continent. The group’s research so far points to the large, expected contribution that artificial intelligence and machine learning will have for 6G networks by serving a plethora of functions in many layers of the network, such as spectral efficiency, protocols and network performance.

The need to address solution gaps has the attention of the director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). The agency’s leader, Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, USAF, who is also commander of the Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network, has spent the last year reorganizing, setting strategic goals and identifying key lines of effort. Next up is tackling a wish list of nagging gaps or areas in which technology is negatively impacting warfighter operations, and Gen. Skinner is calling on warfighters and industry to assist with innovative solutions.

This is the second in a series of online articles written by Army Signal Corps officers.

The 101st Airborne Division travels and moves light by helicopter and foot. Air assault troopers headed to the tactical edge—to the sound of the guns on the forward line of troops—carry only what they need for that fight, planning a resupply during consolidation of gains.

One of the biggest challenges facing 5G is for providers and users to actually grasp what it can accomplish, some experts say. A host of new capabilities are foreseen, but they ultimately may fall far short of what innovative applications are eventually realized. As more uses are discovered, its potential may expand into areas far beyond experts envisioned.

A panel discussing the future of 5G weighed the technology’s future on the third and final day of TechNet Indo-Pacific, held in Honolulu April 11-13. The panel, comprising government and industry officials, closed out the conference with a look at the near and distant future.

The future is bright for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), but its crystal ball is cloudy. Much uncertainty remains both in terms of positive potential and in terms of drawbacks.

A panel of five industry and government leaders discussed what may lie ahead for AI and ML during a Women in AFCEA Panel titled, “Senior Cyber Leaders Discuss AI and ML Challenges” on day 2 of TechNet Indo-Pacific, being held in Honolulu April 11-13. The five experts explored a range of pros and cons that might define the future of AI and ML in both government and the private sector.

Advances in cloud capabilities are opening new vistas for government and industry, but both are dealing with uncertainties in both their goals and their approaches to achieve them. The federal government, with more stringent restraints on cloud operations, is looking to work with the private sector as both face similar challenges to their cloud aspirations.

The U.S. military is returning to an old friend to help conquer the tyranny of distance in an increasingly contested area. The Defense Information Systems Agency is working with its forces in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world to bring back high-frequency radio communications as a key link for operations in potentially difficult or denied environments.

A comprehensive strategy with period reviews built around a goal-oriented plan are necessary for the U.S. Defense Department to prevail in the competition with China for artificial intelligence (AI), declares a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. The Defense Department concurs with all seven of the recommendations issued by the GAO, which calls for the department to improve strategies, inventory processes and collaboration guidance.

Modern organizations run on data, but they need a workforce skilled at interpreting and managing that information for the greatest advantage, says James Stanger, the chief technology evangelist at the Computing Technology Industry Association, or CompTIA.

The U.S. Department of Defense might learn a thing or two about the software-defined world from non-defense industry companies such as Netflix and Mazda, Jason Weiss, chief software officer, U.S. Defense Department, recently suggested to the AFCEA Cyber Committee.

Weiss, who serves on the committee, relayed an incident from Mazda that he said keeps him up at night. The incident was reported by BBC News in a February 10th article.

Concern over chip shortages may be drowning out a more significant supply chain threat. The circuit boards on which chips reside may become an endangered species in the United States as manufacturers increasingly rely on offshore sources. This in turn would be as damaging as being unable to obtain chips.

“Chips don’t float,” says William Marsh, president of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America and vice president of government relations for TTM Technologies. “They have to have a home.”

The capabilities of, and the industry for, artificial intelligence and machine learning have exploded in the last few years. The challenge of employing such capabilities at the far reaches of a battlefield persists, with many potential pitfalls and considerations, but one that could bring great rewards to warfighters, says Charles Clancy, general manager, MITRE Labs, and senior vice president, The MITRE Corporation.

Companies that opened their doors a mere five years ago couldn’t have imagined the sudden, immense need for secure communications capabilities a pandemic would demand any more than financiers could have foreseen FaceTime and Zoom as a future investment windfall. But in March 2020, COVID-19 arrived, bringing surprising needs to the forefront. In a matter of days, government agencies had to continue operations while the fast-spreading virus required staff to shelter in place and videoconferencing replaced boardrooms and classrooms.

To be able to face near-peer adversaries in degraded, denied and intermittent communication environments, U.S. warfighters need to be able to leverage tactical cloud computing at the battlefield or operational edge. For some departments, it is a large-scale and urgent need, chief information officers report.

A panel that included the chief information officers (CIOs) of the Air Force, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the Navy spoke yesterday at the AFCEA Rocky Mountain Chapter’s annual Cyberspace Symposium, held February 21-24 in Colorado Springs.