Freedom of Choice May Enable Coalition Information Sharing

A new system finally may enable high-level information sharing among coalition partners by eliminating fears that the wrong partners might access another partner’s valuable data. The Regional Domain Awareness joint concept technology demonstration would allow unclassified information sharing with built-in access control.

Michael Jones, science adviser, U.S. Pacific Fleet, explained how the system would work during a science and technology panel on day two of TechNet Asia-Pacific 2014, being held in Honolulu December 9-11. Each country can designate which other countries can view the data it inputs. This approval can be broken down to types of data as well as segments of each viewing country—police, army, maritime forces or nongovernmental organizations, for example. The entire process is performed using a Web interface.

The system can accommodate several different types and origins of data that can be fused where applicable. So, Jones explained, two countries could share coastal radar data by selecting the standards for combining and displaying the data. In another example, maritime traffic can be tracked using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, and users can have the system notify them when a ship deviates from its planned course. The maritime data fusion and tracking capability was tested successfully, along with land and air tracks, in a March 2014 exercise, he reported.