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GEOINT Warrior Maj. Gen. Mark R. Quantock
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Volume 12, Issue 7
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GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE FORUM Features
October 2014 Volume 12, Issue 7
Cover / Q&A
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Special who’s who Supplement
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The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has rolled out the first operational version of its Map of the World, which brings together information from a wide range of sources to give users detailed but easily accessible information about any spot on the globe. By Harrison Donnelly
A guide to the leadership of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Map of the Worlds
Who’s Who in NGA
21 Major General Mark R. Quantock Military Deputy National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
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After proving invaluable to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology is growing in its capabilities and is on track to assume an even greater role in the military operations of the future. By Peter Buxbaum
3-D Visualization The National GeospatialIntelligence Agency’s Advanced Visualization Branch is taking imagery to new heights of usefulness for the warfighter and customer, and doing it with commonly used off-the-shelf software. By Dale Lehner
LiDAR Changes the Game
Common Software Aids
24
Software Mission: Planning
As intelligence analysts, decision-makers and operators struggle with processing and making sense of large volumes of data collected from multiple sources, the ability to plan missions with the help of data overlaid on one screen is sought by many. By William Murray
“As we move out into the future, we have to be mindful that we must ensure that the services are able to stay linked. We cannot be an
Departments
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2 Editor’s Perspective 4 Program Notes/People 10 Industry Raster 27 Resource Center
Senior Vice President Director of Geospatial Services Woolpert
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island; the services are key partners and voracious consumers of our data/products, so we must account for their ability to accept and ingest
GXP XPlorer
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locate, retrieve, and share GeosPatial data — Wherever it is
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our information.” — Major General Mark R. Quantock
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE
Geospatial Intelligence Forum Volume 12, Issue 7 • October 2014
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In a noteworthy use of geospatial intelligence capabilities to support national security, broadly defined, President Obama has ordered the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and other agencies to begin releasing detailed space-derived global elevation data to enable countries around the world to better prepare for the potential environmental impacts of climate change. As part of an initiative released in connection with the U.N. Climate Summit, the administration directed NGA, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey to make 30-meter elevation data available for Africa, Harrison Donnelly with information on the rest of the world to follow over the next year. Editor Until now, elevation data for Africa was freely and publicly available only at 90-meter resolution. The datasets being released are based on data collected by sensors designed by an international partnership and carried on the U.S. Space Shuttle in 2000. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data, which represents the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Earth, will be used worldwide to improve environmental monitoring; climate change research, including sea-level rise impact assessments; and local decision support. The importance of the action was underscored by the response from the private sector. Shortly after the announcement, Esri indicated that it will enhance its existing World Elevation Map to include this more detailed 30-meter SRTM data, making the data available to its customers and others around the world. Esri’s World Elevation Map supports both visualization and analysis, and the addition of 30-meter elevation data will be a significant enhancement that will enrich many applications such as earth science and landscape modeling. What may be even more noteworthy in the long run, though, will be if this initiative serves as a successful example of how industry can take advantage of federal open data policies for mutual benefit. As Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president, observed, “Esri leverages U.S. government open data policies for the benefit of our customers, and we’re excited to leverage our platform to help deliver the SRTM 30-meter elevation data available for everyone in the world.”
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PROGRAM NOTES Long’s Goodbye Hails Industry Nearing the end of her tenure as director of the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency, Letitia A. Long recently hailed industry’s role in helping to bring about her vision of “putting GEOINT power in the hands of users.” In an informal talk at GEOINTeraction Tuesday, sponsored Letitia A. Long by the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), Long hailed the industry group’s work and reflected on the ties between the agency and its business partners. “When I walked into NGA, I made a pledge and sent an open letter to industry on my first week on the job. I hope that I have lived up to that pledge,” Long said. “We have worked very hard to partner as much as we can with industry. When we rolled out our first initiatives, one of them was agile acquisition, and when I first talked about that, there was laughter in the room. ‘Agile’ and ‘acquisition’ were two words that don’t go together. “We still have a lot of do, but I would say that we have made progress, and we have done so because of you. You weren’t shy about telling us what wasn’t working. I’ve had calls from many people here, from those who can’t get on my calendar to those pointing out that one of our RFPs had nothing to do with our vision. When we heard that, we looked at it, we canceled it and started over,” she continued. “When I think about our folks who are deployed forward, it’s both NGA and industry, because it’s a team. When I think about all the spaces we are in, from our infrastructure to our communications, logistics and training, it’s a partnership every step of the way. We can’t do what we do without you,” she said. “At the end of the day, it’s supporting the warfighter and saving lives. When I talk to warfighters around the world, at a forward-operating base or a combatant command, talking to the four-star and the sergeant, what I hear is that we can’t live without you. We can’t do what we do without the GEOINT that is delivered to us every day that anticipates our needs and delivers the answers.” Long also emphasized the importance of the commercial remote sensing industry. “I can’t imagine doing our job without commercial imagery, or delivering without the whole commercial remote sensing industry. Think about the public diplomacy campaign about Russia-Ukraine. If it weren’t for commercial imagery, it wouldn’t happen, nor would coalition operations.” Looking ahead, Long pointed to her call, made this spring, for development of immersive intelligence. “After talking about putting GEOINT in the hands of users, online and on-demand, and deepening and broadening our analytic expertise, I rolled out the idea of immersion at GEOINT 2013*, and living in an immersive environment. Some people asked why we were going further when we hadn’t finished the first things. That’s what the director does— puts the vision out there and gets out of the way. It’s amazing what has already happened.”
4 | GIF 12.7
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Research Pact Aids Navy Oceanography The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NAVMETOCCOM) has signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with Esri. Esri software and systems allow detailed geospatial data to be analyzed with all its time and geographic references. Strong spatial analytics and enterprise collaboration capability link Navy meteorology and operational oceanography (METOC) resources with Navy commanders at sea. This marriage of analytics with METOC data will help achieve the NAVMETOCCOM goal of “battlespace on demand.” With it, operational Navy commanders can make faster decisions, better incorporating weather and ocean conditions directly into their operational plans. The three-year CRADA establishes a working relationship between Esri and NAVMETOCCOM, which has been an Esri software customer for more than a decade. With the new CRADA, Esri personnel will see naval oceanography work firsthand and potentially develop additional applications as they collaborate with Navy operational oceanography modeling experts at the Naval Oceanographic Office, NAVMETOCCOM’s largest subordinate activity. Navy oceanographers and Esri’s Defense Solutions Team will cooperate on 10 objectives that will improve Esri’s COTS systems while also serving to improve geospatial reasoning in the oceans in support of naval warfare.
PEOPLE
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
product teams. During that time, she led the company’s acquisition of major platforms such as Google Earth, Google Maps and Picasa.
Brigadier General Veralinn Jamieson
Air Force Brigadier General Veralinn Jamieson has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general. Jamieson is currently serving as director of intelligence, Headquarters Air Combat Command, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. The White House has named Megan Smith as the next U.S. chief technology officer and assistant to the president, succeeding Todd Park. Smith previously served as vice president of new business development at Google, where she managed early-stage partnerships, pilot explorations and technology licensing globally across engineering and
Diane Daegele
Northrop Grumman has appointed Diane Daegele as vice president of business management for the Unmanned Systems division of its Aerospace Systems sector. DigitalGlobe has appointed Fred Graffam as interim chief financial officer for the company, as the company continues its search for a successor to departing CFO Yancey L. Spruill.
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After a strong showing in Southwest Asia, laser technology is growing more powerful and more central to military operations. By Peter Buxbaum, GIF Correspondent
After proving invaluable to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology is growing in its capabilities and on track to assume an even greater role in the military operations of the future. The uncontested skies over Southwest Asia gave the U.S. military free reign to use airborne LiDAR sensors to develop terrain models of the area, while encouraging industry partners to develop new and innovative ways to collect, analyze and disseminate LiDAR data. Several airborne LiDAR systems have been deployed in Afghanistan for tactical imaging purposes for missions such as nighttime terrain mapping. The success of these systems in active military operations has spawned many
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recent LiDAR innovations—from sensors to software— and will likely lead to increased usage of imaging LiDAR in the years ahead. LiDAR uses laser light pulses to gauge distances by measuring the time delay between transmission of the pulse and detection of the reflected signal. A range finder mounted on an aircraft collects the data and provides location information on an x-y-z axis known as a point cloud. LiDAR’s attraction is that it provides accurate elevation data and performs better than other sensors in pinpointing the location and elevation of buildings, trees and roads. Under some circumstances, it can penetrate forest and jungle canopies to detect objects hidden from electrooptical sensors.
GIF 12.7 | 5
“LiDAR sensors have become miniaturized in recent times,” said Stuart Blundell, commercial software general manager at Exelis. “LiDAR sensors now come in packages that weigh less than 1 pound. These can be mounted on unmanned aerial systems and used to understand terrain and the condition of roads.” “Today’s LiDAR sensors are more sensitive, and can collect data from much higher altitudes,” said Matt Bethel, manager of systems engineering at Merrick & Co. “These new sensors collect data faster, provide greater levels of detail and can be combined with other lasers and sensors to increase the fidelity of the ultimate intelligence product.” Stuart Blundell The latest LiDAR systems make use of new technology with arrays that feature single-photon sensitivity. “These sensors collect data much more quickly and over wider expanses than their predecessors,” said Mark Itzler, CEO and chief technology officer of Princeton Lightwave, a developer of LiDAR systems that exploit these innovations. “They can collect point cloud data from much higher altitudes Mark Itzler much faster.”
3-D Terrain LiDAR data is also being combined with data from other sensors to provide extremely high-resolution 3-D representations of terrain and its features. “Imagery is often captured at 10 to 15 times the resolution of LiDAR data,” said Bethel. “What Susan Oakley we call 3-D imagery is the fusion of LiDAR with this much higher-resolution imagery to produce instantly accessible high-resolution 3-D representations of terrain. It preserves the 3-D nature of LiDAR, but at much higher resolution and fidelity inherent in the imagery.” The improvements in LiDAR have also created new challenges, however. For example, the accelerated interest in and use of LiDAR data is putting increased demands on the capabilities of LiDAR data analysis software. “End-users have access to more data than ever before,” said Susan Oakley, a technical director at BAE Systems. “One challenge is how to put all this technically complex information into a usable format.” In addition, eye safety has become a more important consideration as the use of LiDAR for ISR missions has proliferated. “The development of systems that work at longer eye-safe wavelengths, such as 2 micrometers, is increasing,” said Jim Jaques, 6 | GIF 12.7
technical director for photonics and applications development at LGS Innovation. “These systems offer the advantage of higher operating power within eye-safety limits, which translates to an improved standoff range and a better area coverage rate as compared to shorter-wavelength systems.” Collection of LiDAR data from higher altitudes increases the safety of both the platforms that carry the sensors and the personnel operating them. “Higher is always the preferred direction to go,” said Bethel. “Higher is safer for remote sensing and allows sensor platforms to get in and out of the area quicker without being detected. These more sensitive Jim Jaques LiDAR sensors have proven to provide very good detail and definition of targets under vegetation, which is of great benefit and interest to military users.” Advancements in the collection and processing of LiDAR data developed at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency facilitate these preferred higher altitudes and longer standoff distances, noted Jaques. “Using techniques such as computational imaging, high-resolution imaging can be achieved at long distances with relatively small-form-factor receiver optics,” he said.
Trillions and Trillions A technology breakthrough recently developed by an Australian 3-D graphics software company, meanwhile, allows ordinary desktop and laptop computers to handle much larger volumes of LiDAR point clouds. “Just in the last year, software has been developed that can handle trillions or even hundreds of trillions of points,” said Bethel. “That is a huge advance from the capabilities available last year. A disruptive technology called Unlimited Detail provides for instant access of hundreds of terabytes or even petabytes of randomly spaced point cloud data from a repository. This technology can provide users with rich information by combining color from imagery and accurate 3-D models from LiDAR with high-resolution, and at extreme scale and detail.” Unlimited Detail was adapted from the gaming industry, where it did away with traditional polygon renderings of physical objects. “This technology handles 3-D objects as points,” said Bethel. “It can go down to a fraction of a millimeter. The essential capability of the technology is that it has a very small machine memory footprint. This allows for instantaneous access to randomly spaced point cloud data.” Merrick & Co. is incorporating Unlimited Detail in a product it is helping to bring to market that merges LiDAR data with color imagery. “This creates a huge increase in the density of the data,” said Bethel. “That is why historically we haven’t typically seen very high-resolution imagery merged with LiDAR 3-D data. This new product helps us scale up to those densities www.GIF-kmi.com
and resolutions. Random points in space can be colorized from high-resolution imagery.” Merrick also recently introduced the eighth version of its Merrick Advanced Remote Sensing, which supports the latest LiDAR and multichannel sensor capabilities. “We expect this latest release to provide a platform to provide additional capabilities in the coming years,” said Bethel. The increasing sensitivity of LiDAR sensors means that systems are receiving more point cloud information on ground objects in shorter periods of time, noted Oakley. “The data is denser, but it is also coming from multiple look angles, thus providing greater accuracy for the measurement of specific points on the ground.” Taking these accurate measurements and automatically extracting features from data point clouds are two of the areas that BAE is focusing on in the continued development of its GXP software. “We have achieved good success in these areas,” said Oakley. “We are working on automating and optimizing workflows to extract information from the massive volumes of LiDAR point clouds.” BAE Systems has also been training its employees and select customers in LiDAR tradecraft. “The emphasis is on determining when and why to use LiDAR, understanding what assets are available and what the best way is to collect data to help solve intelligence problems,” said Oakley. “The training develops a better understanding of working with very complex intelligence issues and how to use 3-D images as part of the process. The analysts learn how to use the data to efficiently create products that add value to decision-making processes,” she added. Three-dimensional renderings have emerged as an important tool for users of GIS software, and LiDAR data feeds these systems to provide the 3-D imagery that users need. “The new generation of GIS Patrick Cunningham users has grown up with gaming technologies, and wants to create 3-D representations of geographic products,” observed Patrick Cunningham, president of Blue Marble Geographics. Blue Marble offers an add-on LiDAR module to its Global Mapper GIS that is designed to be a low-cost option compared to other LiDAR tools. The latest version includes automated feature extraction and building-footprint functionality. “We have also added more connectivity between Global Mapper and our geographic calculator to enable users to make height models and customize those models,” said Cunningham. LGS is also developing improved software tools for the analysis of LiDAR data, especially dense 3-D point clouds. “Exploitation of 3-D imaging point clouds is currently a cumbersome process for the image analyst, and LGS has developed software for rapid ingestion and feature extraction for 3-D imaging LiDAR,” said Jaques. “In addition, we have collaborated with other institutions on the advancement and validation of an existing high-fidelity www.GIF-kmi.com
simulation software package, a powerful tool that enables rapid systems engineering, CONOPS planning and image fidelity analysis without requiring construction of deployed systems.” The simulation allows users to test the viability of specific operations with a range of sensors, platforms and missions. “One of the biggest developments going on in the industry is using point clouds for non-LiDAR data,” said Blundell. “In cases where there is no access to airspace, users are taking imagery data from orbital platforms to generate 3-D images. It doesn’t provide the same spatial fidelity for 3-D reconstruction as LiDAR, but for some features like buildings it is adequate. We are applying the LiDAR point cloud structure to this data to get to a 3-D reconstruction.”
Counting Photons The proliferation and commercialization of photon-counting LiDAR detector arrays has kept pace with LiDAR transmitter development, noted Jaques. “Detector arrays operating at eyesafe wavelengths, and with low dark count and cross talk, are becoming more accessible by the LiDAR community.” The Princeton Lightwave arrays are based on a device called a Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode. “It is a semiconductor-based
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photon detector,” explained Itzler. “The innovation we have been working on is how to take that basic device platform and turn it into something that can detect single photons. The combination of how the device is designed and operated makes it almost like a photon-activated switch. “It just takes one photon to generate a macroscopic pulse of electric current in the device, which is then measured by back-end electronics,” he explained. “This provides a very high amount of instant gain at low noise, and allows you to measure single photons coming into the device with greater fidelity.” Among the benefits to this type of array is that it uses far less power to collect much more information. “This enhancement requires on the order of 100 to 1,000 times less power in order to get the image information,” said Itzler. “Using the same resources, a platform can fly at much higher altitudes, which allows scanning of much larger areas. Published results show that this kind of system can map areas at the rate of 2,000 square kilometers per hour. That coverage is 10 times greater than what is available with other fielded systems.” The company’s array has been successfully deployed in widearea mapping and surveillance applications. “It was reported that Northrop Grumman used it to map half of Afghanistan in 90 days,” said Itzler.
Optical Communications LGS and Princeton Lightwave are both working on adapting LiDAR technology to optical communications applications. “We are working to advance the state of the art in fiber-based and hybrid LiDAR transmitters,” said Jaques. “This includes efforts toward more sophisticated laser modulation formats, such as wide-bandwidth AM, PM and FM. LGS initially became involved in LiDAR development through our two-decade history in longrange free-space laser communications. This includes advanced coherent modulation for laser communications, which we are currently leveraging for both LiDAR and laser communications applications.” Free-space optical communication uses light in air, outer space or elsewhere to wirelessly transmit data for telecommunications or computer networking. Princeton Lightwave is also working on adapting photonlevel imaging to optical communications, Itzler explained. “We are beginning to see folks use this technology in free-space communications. This is especially the case where users need to acquire and track an object in the distance, even if ultimately the idea is to transmit signals from a satellite to the ground or from satellite to satellite. “You only need one detector to detect an optical communications signal, but to stay locked onto a receiver, you need an imaging application for acquiring and tracking the receiver,” he added. The company has a startup project with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that will ultimately put one of these sensors on a satellite orbiting Mars. “This will demonstrate the first instance of optical communications over interplanetary distances,” said Itzler. “But even for terrestrial applications, optical 8 | GIF 12.7
communications over very long ranges involves being photon starved, and that means you need something down at the photon level. This imaging technology does a lot to solve some of the problems inherent to that application.” One Exelis focus in this area has been on development and establishment of standards that could facilitate the communication of 3-D point cloud data between different platforms. Different LiDAR sensor platforms operate at different spatial resolutions and apply different metadata, making it difficult to process different sets of LiDAR data together in the absence of standards. “Many of these platforms are one-off capabilities,” said Blundell. “Each has its advantages depending upon the specific need. Standards would help users process LiDAR data relating to a particular piece of real estate that was drawn from multiple collections by allowing the processing of raw data uniformly.”
Data Standards Exelis is currently working with intelligence and other government agencies in the development of the LiDAR data standards. “They will be rolled out to the military community over time,” said Blundell. “Application of the standards will facilitate the generation of intelligence products. “End-users won’t have to worry whether a particular LiDAR data set was collected by an Alert or a Halo or a Buckeye sensor, and they won’t have to jump through hoops trying to reconcile different kinds of data. They will merely be able to react to the data to get the information they need,” he noted. Jaques believes the latest LiDAR developments will be of great interest to the GEOINT community, primarily for ISR missions. “The military and intelligence community will employ LiDAR to a greater degree as these systems become more mature, robust and analyst-friendly,” he said. “Eye-safe LiDAR systems will enable longer-range imaging applications that have the benefit of high area coverage rate, and hybrid fiber-bulk transmitters will allow for peak powers necessary for improved range resolution and transmission through a turbulent atmosphere. “The coming years will undoubtedly see increased deployment of tactical imaging LiDAR, including on small-form-factor platforms as the laser and detector technology continues to improve,” Jaques added. “Future LiDAR systems will likely become smaller and more affordable, which will allow for greater usage on small-form-factor UAVs.” “LiDAR will increasingly be available everywhere, on unmanned aerial systems as well as on terrestrial and seaborne platforms,” said Blundell. “LiDAR will expand beyond modeling elevation, buildings and vegetation, and will increasingly be used to develop high-resolution urban features with real texture. That will be a real game-changer.” O
For more information, contact GIF Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.gif-kmi.com.
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Common Software Aids
3-D Visualization NGA branch uses off-the-shelf products to deliver real-time 3-D scene visualizations to a broad customer base. By Dale Lehner
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Advanced Visualization Branch (ASCSV) is taking imagery to new heights of usefulness for the warfighter and customer, and doing it with commonly used off-the-shelf software. The branch uses advanced geospatial and 3-D modeling tools to perform precise measurements, feature extraction and highresolution terrain generation using available geospatial data and imagery, said Dave Bonner, ASCSV chief. The branch created a geo-referenced 3-D PDF, known as Geo3D PDF, to give customers highly detailed, geospatially accurate 3-D visualizations based on imagery. “For our interactive visualization products to be useful, they must meet three criteria,” said Bonner. “They need to be easy to use, deliverable via email and require no specialized, extra software on our customer’s computer. More importantly, the products needed to be geo-referenced—after all, that’s the ‘G’ in NGA.” Adding geo-referenced information to the 3-D PDFs’ image models virtually places the model in the same position on Earth as the real object, allowing accurate coordinates to be reported, said Bonner. This gives users the feeling of being “on scene” at the actual location and allows them to derive defensive and offensive locations for the area. The branch has had the ability to produce rudimentary 3-D PDFs that met the first three criteria for some time, but were not able to geo-reference their products. “My branch has always taken painstaking steps to ensure the geospatial accuracy of our interactive products,” said Robin Kang, a software developer and 3-D visualization specialist with ASCSV. “However, when our products were packaged into 3-D PDFs, all the geo-referencing information was lost.” Kang found a promising software solution that was compatible, but the licensing cost was a show-stopper, he said. The software also needed a plug-in—a plug-in customers may not have. The next step for Kang was to look for software that allows implementation of new functionality within 3-D PDFs without the need for plug-ins. “I was able to leverage [the software] to develop the new geo-referenced 3-D PDF capability,” said Kang. “The Geo3D PDF features mouse-over, geo-coordinate readout, dynamic compass and azimuth reporting, and basic point-to-point distance measurements.” Kang then tackled the problem of presenting web-based, largescale, real-time 3-D scene visualizations to a broad customer base. Though the technology is primarily geared toward the manufacturing industry for archiving parts and other assets in 3-D, there www.GIF-kmi.com
are many distribution advantages to using 3-D PDFs for NGA customers, said Kang. Looking for the next level of product that gives NGA’s customer the advantage is always at the forefront of the branch’s mission, said Bonner. There are a lot of gaming engines that could make NGA’s products more effective for customers, said Kang. Unfortunately, customers can’t always run the executable programs or install the special software these products need. After extensive research, Kang found that a common platform on computer systems would work without specialized software. He used the accelerated graphic capabilities of the program with Away3D, an open-source, script-based, real-time 3-D engine for Adobe Flash. He leveraged Away3D to bring the capability to NGA’s systems without installing software. Kang added many innovative advantages to Away3D for the end-user, including a new workflow for optimizing and loading 3-D geometry and texture assets into the framework. The enhancements also include intuitive 3-D navigation controls, dynamic compass display and mouse-over geo-coordinate readout, an interface to facilitate scene navigation, interactive map legends, annotations within the 3-D scene, and a web-based 3-D visualization product to accompany an official NGA intelligence report. The immediate prime beneficiaries of the web-based, 3-D visualization product are NGA analysts, said Bonner. It can be highly customized with layers of intelligence, icons, links and other functions, and some customers are already feeling the benefits. The accomplishments are just the beginning, said Kang, who has more ideas for future Away3D products. “The Away3D product will enable higher-fidelity visualization of larger footprints, better interactive performance and unlimited customization, which will be highly beneficial for all customers,” said Bonner. “Browser-based 3-D visualization, requiring no specialized browser plug-in, is the product of the future.” O Dale Lehner is with the NGA Office of Corporate Communications. This article originally appeared in the Summer 2014 issue of NGA Pathfinder. For more information, contact GIF Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.gif-kmi.com.
GIF 12.7 | 9
INDUSTRY RASTER
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
High-Resolution Monitor Offers 1 Billion Colors
NGA Extends Advanced GEOINT Delivery Samsung Electronics America has released a new 32-inch-class ultra high definition (UHD) professional desktop monitor, the UD970. With four times the number of pixels compared to standard monitors, and 99.5 percent Adobe RGB and 100 percent sRGB color compliance, the Samsung UD970 is ideal for professionals who require high resolution and accurate image reproduction for video and photo editing, graphic design, mapping and simulation. The UD970’s UHD display features a 31.5-inch low-glare PLS 178-degree wide viewing angle panel with a sleek, elegant design that has 40 percent more viewing area than a standard 27-inch monitor. With support for 3840-by-2160 resolution, users have much more room for their content compared to a standard monitor. It provides true 10-bit color support capable of displaying over 1 billion colors.
General Dynamics Units to Merge Following a comprehensive review of the structure of its Information Systems and Technology business group, General Dynamics has announced that General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems and General Dynamics C4 Systems will be combined to create a new business unit, General Dynamics Mission Systems. Chris Marzilli, current president of General Dynamics C4 Systems, will lead the combined organization, which will have its headquarters in Fairfax, Va. The restructuring will be effective January 2015. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, which provides missionrelated systems development, integration and operations support, employs approximately 5,700 people. An integrator of secure communications, information systems and technology, General Dynamics C4 Systems employs approximately 7,400 people. Lucy Ryan; lryan@generaldynamics.com
10 | GIF 12.7
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has awarded DigitalGlobe the second year of the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery (Global-EGD) contract. Global-EGD’s products are available in ready-to-use formats with access to more than 4 billion square kilometers of imagery in the company’s archive. Global-EGD also stays up to date by including the “Daily Take,” which adds about 1.5 million square kilometers of new earth imagery every day, ensuring that the most current data is quickly available. These daily updates are online within two hours after downlink and in as fast as 12 minutes. In the coming weeks, Global-EGD will also include imagery from the recently launched WorldView-3 satellite, which offers both shortwave infrared bands and the cloud, aerosol, water vapor, ice and snow atmospheric correction instrument. The Global-EGD solution offers analysts, decision-makers and those in the field fast access (online and offline) to the latest insights and analysis when they need it, creating a level of situational awareness previously unavailable.
Mapping System Provides High-Resolution Data The Aeroptic Mapping System from KEYW Corp. is a fully integrated airborne solution that provides high-resolution, wide-area map data for both civilian and military applications. The rapid-refresh EO camera captures imagery of extraordinary quality by employing advanced noise reduction, state-of-the-art image-sharpening algorithms and high-end lenses with innovative configurations. The interchangeable lenses offer multiple focal length options that enable the Aeroptic camera to acquire high-resolution visibleband imagery with sub-meter geo-positional accuracy from varying flight altitudes without surveyed ground control points. Aeroptic offers the option of processing imagery in the air or on the ground, producing unclassified, wide-area orthomosaic maps in near real time. Generated imagery products are ready for immediate ingest into standard commercial viewing tools and GIS packages. Chris Donaghey; cdonaghey@keywcorp.com www.GIF-kmi.com
2014
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National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Map of the
Worlds
An NGA project brings a dozen thematic maps together to provide detailed but easily accessible information about any location. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has rolled out the first operational version of its Map of the World (MoW), which brings together information from a wide range of sources to give users detailed but easily accessible information about any spot on the globe. Version 1.0 of the MoW, deployed in August, incorporates 12 thematic maps of the Earth with data on topics such as topography, transportation and human geography. It integrates foundation GEOINT and navigation datasets, as well as features, imagery and intelligence, from the agency and other sources. The goal of the ongoing project, according to NGA’s 2018 strategy, is to serve as “the foundation for the IC’s objectbased production environment,” providing “the geospatial bedrock for all intelligence, information and knowledge to be anchored, integrated, presented and accessed,” and enabling “multi-INT integration by allowing analysts from across the intelligence community to start from a common frame of reference, bringing together multiple sources of information on one object.” The MoW, which is available on multiple security domains, will lead to major gains in efficiency and effectiveness among intelligence community leaders, according to Chris Lee, deputy director of the Content Management Office within NGA’s Source Foundation GEOINT Group. “The Map of the World concept is directly correlated with the intelligence community’s move to integrated intelligence,” said Lee. “The idea of MoW is to provide analysts with an environment where they can interact with data and other analysts and deliver geospatial intelligence for
By Harrison Donnelly, GIF Editor
Map of the World Views (Editor’s Note: Following are the views available on Version 1.0 of the NGA’s Map of the World, along with the times they were included.)
December 2013 January 2014
March 2014
Maritime
Analysis
Names
Boundaries
Elevation
Geomatics
any place, anytime, anywhere on the face of the earth. For the first time, we are developing a consistent content view, spatially and temporally, that has not existed before in any individual application. “Before Map of the World, what we had was a number of different databases based on the products we created and, while accurate, it didn’t present a clear and unified picture to intelligence analysts. Today, Map of the World is one of the primary mechanisms we are using to facilitate online and on-demand access to different layers of GEOINT content organized in different views. Just as Google changed the way we interact with data on the internet, our goal is for Map of the World to change the way we interact with intelligence. By integrating a wide range of intelligence through a common frame of reference, Map of the World provides a dynamic understanding of an activity in place and time to help interpret what may come next,” he said.
Immersive Intelligence The project, which has been a centerpiece of NGA Director Letitia A. Long’s vision of “immersive intelligence,” went operational shortly before her retirement
April 2014
August 2014
Topography
Controlled Imagery
Human Geography
Integrated/Composite
Aeronautical
Transportation
from the agency. In remarks to industry representatives at a recent U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation event, Long hailed government and industry work on the project, and held out a vision for further progress. “I put a marker on the wall and said that Version 1.0 would be available in August 2014, and we delivered two weeks early. It’s only going to get better, because of the partnership. You helped us populate the data, develop the baseline, applications and services,” Long said. NGA officials plan to continue to add to the range of data included in the initiative, and are already working with industry to maintain and enhance it. The agency recently announced a $335 million contract with BAE Systems to assist the project in transforming the collection, maintenance, and utilization of data and products. “Our GEOINT experts will be exploring new sources of data, including commodity data, open-source intelligence and NGA archive data to deliver new products in line with the agency’s changing mission focus,” said DeEtte Gray, president of BAE Systems’ intelligence and security sector. “BAE Systems is expected to maintain, update and/or create new GEOINT Continued on page 18 ➥
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GIF 12.7 | 13
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Robert Cardillo Director
Michael Rodrigue Deputy Director
Gary Dunow Analysis (Acting)
David White Chief Information Officer
Cardell Richardson Sr. Diversity Management and EEO
Misty Tullar Chief Financial Executive
Allison Hall Security and Installations (Acting)
Tonya Crawford Senior Procurement Executive
2014
TASC.COM
14 | GIF 12.7
TRUSTED ADVISOR www.GIF-kmi.com
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Ellen McCarthy Chief Operating Officer
Maj. Gen. Mark Quantock Military Deputy
CMSgt. Rachel Zeigler Senior Enlisted Advisor
Douglas McGovern InnoVision
John Goolgasian III Source Operations and Management
Geoffrey Fowler Xperience
William Caniano Corporate Communications
Cynthia Ryan General Counsel
Brig. Gen. Joseph Composto (Ret.) Inspector General
Jimmy Greene Geospatial Intelligence Management
Joseph Drummey International Affairs
Ed Mornston Human Development
Sammie Jackson Military Support
Jennifer Daniel Persistent GEOINT
David Bottom IT Services
ON GEOINT PROGRAMS, PRACTICES AND STRATEGIES www.GIF-kmi.com
GIF 12.7 | 15
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
GEOINT/NGA Timeline 1996
1941 Between 1941 and 1968, the Army Map Service (AMS) is responsible for the publication and distribution of military topographic maps for use by U.S. military forces. The AMS is later merged into the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA).
1972 The Defense Mapping Agency begins operations as a Department of Defense entity, consolidating multiple mapping agencies and assuming responsibility for producing and distributing maps, charts, and geodetic products and services.
https://ww
w.nga.mi
1960 Between August 1960 and May 1972, the Corona program, the nation’s first generation of photo reconnaissance satellites, takes over 800,000 images from space on 2.1 million feet of film.
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), authorized by the 1997 defense bill, integrates into one agency the services of mapping, charting, imagery and geospatial information to a wide range of customers. Rear Admiral John J. Dantone Jr., the director of DMA, becomes acting director of NIMA.
l/About/H
istory/NG
AinHistor
y/Publish
ingImages
/May/POS
T_DMA.
jpg[9/26/2
1971
Photo interpreters at the National Photographic Interpretation Center, using analysis of photos taken by a U-2 mission, discover the presence of Soviet SAMs in Cuba. Within a few weeks, the Cuban Missile Crisis intensifies when aerial photography reveals the presence of Soviet medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic-missiles.
4:24 AM]
1991
The launch of the HEXAGON (KH-9) photoreconnaissance satellite marks a new generation of technology that uses a wider array of sensors, improved spatial resolution, and four film buckets.
1962
014 10:4
DMA supports Operation Desert Storm, producing 35 million maps to support the buildup of coalition forces, in addition to customized individual and digital products prepared for combat troops.
1976 An earthquake devastates Guatemala. The NPIC exploits U-2 imagery to assess the damage, in an early example of high-resolution imagery of a foreign natural disaster being made available to the affected nation in time to be useful in support of disaster relief.
2000 The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, a joint effort between NIMA and NASA undertaken from Space Shuttle Endeavour, acquires elevation data over about 80 percent of the earth‘s surface, using the technique known as interferometric synthetic aperture radar.
https://www.nga.m
il/About/Histo
2010
2003 United States and its allies launch Operation Iraqi Freedom. NIMA support teams support of combat forces with customized systems such as the Mobile Integrated Geospatial Intelligence Systems and the NIMA Deployable Communication System.
2001 Lieutenant General James R. Clapper Jr. becomes director of NIMA, taking office only days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
2014
Letitia A. Long assumes the position of NGA director, becoming the first woman to head an IC agency.
2003
NGA tracks burgeoning international crises, including the rise of the Islamic State in the Levant and the RussiaUkraine dispute. Commercial satellite imagery acquired by NGA plays a major role in public diplomacy.
2011
NGA forwards 100 graphics depicting the locations of key infrastructure for counties in the path of Hurricane Katrina. Within days of landfall, NGA equipment and analysts are en route to the affected area.
NGA completes its transition to a consolidated new headquarters facility in Springfield, Va.
2014 Robert Cardillo becomes NGA director.
2003 The 2004 defense bill changes the name of the agency from NIMA to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to reflect the changed role of technology and its uses.
2011 NGA and other members of the IC collaborate with the military on the successful raid against Osama bin Laden. NGA works in collaboration with other intelligence agencies to create a replica of the terrorist leader’s home in Pakistan.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency ➥ Continued from page 13 products and services as needed to support our customer’s needs,” explained Tony Baraghimian, vice president and general manager of content and data management for BAE Systems. “For example, we could be asked to provide foundational GEOINT content and products to support a variety of mapping and analysis applications to enhance our customer’s situational awareness, or directly in support of mission planning.” A $20 million contract with Leidos, meanwhile, will fund conversion of NGA navigational and other data for MoW use. In addition, an NGA announcement this spring reached out to industry and academia for actionable ideas to accelerate the initiative. The request specifically sought help in linking and conflating data from various sources and developing a framework for user-generated content. The MoW project involved a number of technical challenges, including finding ways to display disparate data, accommodate formatting standards and consolidate data access. In addition, planners devoted considerable effort to managing change within the agency and reaching out to the broader intelligence community. “We found there was so much demand for information about NGA’s MoW initiative that we established a dedicated communications and outreach team,” said Lee. “The team briefed at least 1,500 people in the last two months, including the unified commands, the NGA support teams, and some of the services, and we still have a long way to go. “The idea is to demonstrate and educate users on the MoW, get their feedback, and apply what we learn to the development process. This is all part of ensuring we are providing what customers want in a format that is easy for them to access and use,” he added. The project is already bearing fruit for users, Lee noted. “In one recent case, a forward-deployed analyst required an updated map of a certain area in the war zone. In the past, it may have taken days or weeks to find the data he needed, but he was able to access the MoW, find the data and print it out within a half hour.” Indeed, making the map dynamic and flexible is seen as critical to its success. “The idea is to avoid creating something
that is static in any way. We’ve identified certain types of data that we want to bring in as services, so the map remains dynamic, relevant and accurate.” BAE Systems also has ambitious plans for its role in MoW, Baraghimian said. “Automation and technological improvements will be developed over the course of this contract to ensure the most current data is always available to our customers. We aim to make NGA’s Map of the World project an immersive experience that allows analysts to ‘live within the data,’
For more information, contact GIF Editor Harrison Donnelly at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.gif-kmi.com.
At CTC, Technology and Innovation are
Concurrent.
CTC’s solutions, including satellite-based map imagery and intelligence, enable better force readiness and situational awareness of the U.S. warfighter.
• Advanced Engineering & Manufacturing • Education & Training • Energy & Environment • Environmental Health • Information Technology Solutions • Intelligence Solutions • Logistics • Safety • Special Missions
CTC NGA Geospatial Intel Ad.Oct 2014.indd 1
18 | GIF 12.7
just as Director Long described earlier this year. In addition, the MoW’s shared environment will create new efficiencies for the intelligence community that will heighten situational awareness, enhance national security and deliver long-term value to the government.” O
www.ctc.com
9/30/2014 3:44:09 PM
www.GIF-kmi.com
INDUSTRY RASTER Contract Funds Mapping Production Services The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has awarded Leidos a $20 million prime contract to provide mapping production services. NGA provides imagery, map-based intelligence and geospatial information in support of national security and supports the National System for Geospatial Intelligence. Under the contract, Leidos will provide high-quality products, information and services through the use of a quality management system. The team will utilize advanced technology to meet these government-driven innovations to support emerging production to provide production process flow efficiencies and improved customer service, conversion of current data and production types to support a formatdriven rather than a specification-driven production environment, production of product derivatives and online/on-demand capabilities service to the previous process or service, if one existed. The Leidos team will finish products using NGA data to produce digital and plate-ready, standard and non-standard NGA GEOINT products at NGA traditional scale outputs for navigation planning charts and compressed arc digitized raster graphics/enhanced compressed raster graphics/geo-referenced PDFs. In addition, Leidos will provide process improvements through innovative practices and the use of new tools and procedures. Melissa Koskovich; Koskovichm@Leidos.com
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Tiny Global Antenna Module Offers Functionality OriginGPS has announced the launch of the Nano Hornet, the world’s smallest fully integrated global antenna module. The Nano Hornet’s innovative architecture packs the most functionality and high-quality components in the smallest space by volume. It boasts several key features that will improve the navigation experience of wearables and other Internet of Things devices, including a lower profile and higher performance. Despite its miniature outline, the Nano Hornet module offers superior sensitivity and outstanding performance. The Hornet family of GPS/GNSS antenna modules integrates GNSS receivers and patch antennas in a single module.
INSCOM Contracts Support Global Intelligence The Army Intelligence and Security Command has issued hybrid, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contracts with a total value of $7.2 billion for global intelligence support services acquisition. The acquisition is designed to acquire flexible, comprehensive and cost-effective services to support the Army’s need for fully integrated intelligence, security, information operations and related support. Large companies selected for a total of $5 billion in contracts were: BAE Systems Information Solutions; Booz Allen Hamilton; CACI Technologies; DynCorp
International; Invertix Corp.; Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems; ManTech Mission, Cyber and Technology Solutions; Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Cyber Solutions Division; Six3 Intelligence Solutions; Sotera Defense Solutions; and SRA International. In addition, the following companies were selected to compete for a total of $2.2 billion: Absolute Business Corp.; Archimedes Global; Calhoun International; Circinus; Charles F. Day & Associates; E&M Technologies; Integral Consulting Services; K-3 Enterprises; Pluribus International Corp.; and the Buffalo Group.
Browser Application Aids Geospatial Collaboration TouchShare, a provider of next-generation geospatial collaboration solutions, has released TouchShare Web, a browser application that leverages GIS investments in Esri Mapping and Feature Services, Network KML and other Open Geospatial Consortium data. TouchShare Web expands upon the functionality offered from previous TouchShare solutions. The latest version provides customers with one flexible platform designed to query, ingest, view, share, analyze and manipulate multiple data files hosted on internal or external servers. Integrated with an evolving data fusion platform, a rich user interface and immersive collaboration framework, the new TouchShare solution focuses on tools and capabilities that improve the speed and quality of a decision. Mallory Delgadillo; mallory@touchshare.com
www.GIF-kmi.com
GIF 12.7 | 19
GEOINT Warrior
Q& A
Strengthening NGA’s Combat Support Role
Major General Mark R. Quantock Military Deputy National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Army Major General Mark R. Quantock was appointed military deputy of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency on December 22, 2013. As NGA’s senior ranking military officer, he is a member of the NGA Command Element, where he advises the director on the combat support agency functions and provides a uniformed military perspective to the Director’s Leadership Council. Quantock manages NGA combat support and other functions in 35 locations embedded with military mission partners. He oversees NGA’s expeditionary operations, which consist of 250 NGA personnel deployed worldwide in direct support of combatant commanders. Additionally, his office interfaces with the Joint Staff and Office of the Secretary of Defense and manages 445 active duty military billets across the NGA enterprise. Quantock received his commission from the New Mexico Military Institute. He has a bachelor of arts degree from the State University of New York, Plattsburg, and masters’ degrees from Central Michigan and the National War College. He has served in a variety of military intelligence, staff and command positions, most recently as deputy director for trans-regional policy, J-5, Joint Staff. Previous key staff assignments included chief CJ-2, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan, and G-3 Army Cyber Command/2nd Army, Fort Belvoir, Va. His other combat assignments include intelligence adviser/liaison officer for Joint Forces Command-East, Operations Desert Shield/Storm, Saudi Arabia; commander, 250th Military Intelligence Brigade, V Corps, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army, Germany; and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq. Quantock was interviewed by GIF Editor Harrison Donnelly. Q: How would you describe your mission as the NGA military deputy? A: My mission as the NGA military deputy is to help the director and the agency fulfill our mission and vision of providing timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security. Q: What do you see as the key challenges you face in providing and strengthening NGA support to the military services? A: I think the key challenge in providing and strengthening NGA support to the military services is ensuring that our linkage as a combat support agency remains strong. NGA, as an integral member of www.GIF-kmi.com
the intelligence community, has tremendous agility. We can quickly grasp and integrate emerging technologies—NGA’s ability to lead innovative change is enormous. And as a uniformed servicemember, I want NGA to make technological leaps and drive change: it provides us with decision advantage. But as we move out into the future, we have to be mindful that we must ensure that the services are able to stay linked. We cannot be an island; the services are key partners and voracious consumers of our data/products, so we must account for their ability to accept and ingest our information. Q: How do you think changes in the broader strategic context— including fiscal austerity, drawdown from Afghanistan and shift to Asia/Pacific—will change what the military needs from NGA? A: As long as there remains a need to have a world-class military capable of expeditionary operations, the U.S. military’s geospatial intelligence requirements will continue to be robust. What will change is how we satisfy those requirements. We will have to be smarter about what we do and how we do it. We need to minimize redundant capabilities consistently synchronized with the services’ ability to absorb changes (hardcopy to digital, for example). Working with the services to understand their timelines is critical. But at the end of the day, NGA, like all U.S. intelligence agencies, exists to meet the requirements of its customers and partners. And we will certainly do that. GIF 12.7 | 21
Q: What do you see as the key lessons about geospatial support for military operations to emerge from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan? A: Physical presence counts. While our reachback capability provides tremendous breadth and depth of knowledge, NGA presence on the battlefield with our warfighters is essential. As the ISAF Joint Command, J-2 (Joint Staff intelligence), my Geospatial-Intelligence Support Team and the geospatial intelligence support provided was foundational to every operation we ran. The visualization products, drawn from a robust menu of phenomenologies, were essential as we planned and executed operations—from humanitarian relief to hostage rescue to full-up combat. And the NGA team (both forward and in sanctuary) was incredible. I won’t go anywhere in the future without this capability, and I know my fellow senior intelligence officers feel the same way. NGA provides a service that warfighters simply cannot do without. Q: What are some of the initiatives you have undertaken or are planning to take NGA support of the military to the next level? A: Two initiatives we are working hard on are military placement in the agency and a relook of the roles, missions and placement of personnel in our NGA support teams (NSTs) to the services. With regard to military placement within NGA, I’ve asked the team to see, given our Future State Vision, if we have folks in the right places to shape the future. Today the military footprint in NGA is less than 500 military professionals. But the question is: Are they properly positioned to influence the decisions of the future? For example, do we have the right folks at the right grade and experience in our customer service directorate (Xperience) to look at customer requirements? Do we have the right technical and leadership presence in our Technology Services directorate and Office of the Chief Information Officer to help shape future architectures? Unless we have military folks with the right experiences at the right levels, we will be hard-pressed to maintain the NGA-service linkages I mentioned earlier. The second initiative is all about optimizing our support to the military services. Today the service NSTs provide an essential teachcoach-and-mentor role to the uniformed services. They are embedded at several posts and bases across the country performing this role wonderfully. But the GEOINT world has changed and matured since we originally placed the teams at their current locations. So I’ve asked our Military Support team to conduct a review in coordination with the services and other key directorates across the agency to see if we need to adjust our footprint to account for some of the changes. Q: How are you working to strengthen collaboration with geospatial organizations in the military services, such as the Army Geospatial Center? A: By re-energizing the role and prominence of the service GEOINT offices (SGO). Our charter (DoDD 5105.60) provides clear and unambiguous guidance on the roles and missions of the SGOs. I am reemphasizing that while direct collaboration with the services is a good thing, it will be much more effective if done with and through the SGOs (as the charter directs). NGA is a big, complex organization, and GEOINT issues can be quite complicated. Our message is 22 | GIF 12.7
best communicated when we have and maintain clear lines of communication, and the SGOs help us do just that. Q: What do you see as some of the key technologies for supporting warfighters in this area, both now and in the future? A: The technologies menu seems to expand about every 15 minutes. Innovation seems to be hardwired into people here at NGA. Most interesting to me is the Map of the World initiative. Map of the World enables users across the intelligence community to visualize and access integrated intelligence content fixed to accurate and authoritative geographic features on earth. It will be the authoritative foundation upon which all other data layers can be added. By integrating GEOINT imagery and intelligence and navigation data, this online, geospatial, temporal and relational view of the world will provide a common frame of reference throughout the IC, bringing together multiple sources of information on any object of interest, delivered across multiple security domains and on multiple devices. I also look forward to its integration with the Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise plan for cloud-based information sharing across its 17 agencies, and its linkage to the military services’ Joint Information Environment. In August 2014, we achieved our first major milestone of getting 12 disparate content views live and available. Q: What role do you see for industry in providing military support? A: American industry is the greatest in the world: They get it. They work and live with us, see our needs and help develop innovative solutions. They provide us both strategic depth (analytical depth as well as in materiel production capability) and operational flexibility (think of contractors on the battlefield, from logistics to intelligence analysis). But given the fiscal realities today, our challenge remains working together to develop cost-effective solutions. We in government must help industry see our true “needs” as opposed to our “wants,” of which we’ll always have a lot. We can’t afford both. American industry, in its support to the military, is one of our nation’s crown jewels. Q: What are some of your experiences in your military career that have shaped your approach to your current position? A: My time in Iraq and Afghanistan has had a profound effect on my approach to this position. It highlighted the tremendous role NGA plays in the everyday life of a soldier in harm’s way—from safety of navigation (both maritime and aeronautical) to movement of troops (role of geodesy, GPS, maps) to geospatial intelligence (mission planning, target development, mission execution). And while NGA plays a critical role in a host of other mission sets, such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, I see my role as the military deputy to be the troops’ advocate to ensure that military GEOINT needs are addressed. And the good news is that thousands of NGA civilians, military and contractors are more than willing to help. Q: Is there anything else you would like to add? A: It’s an absolute honor and privilege to serve as the military deputy for NGA. We have a vitally important mission, and the NGA professionals with whom I serve are the very best of the best! O www.GIF-kmi.com
Software Mission: Planning A wide range of products are designed to meet user needs to take
advantage of multiple sources of information in planning missions.
By William Murray, GIF Correspondent “They need contextualized awareness,” said Stephen P. Corcoran, As intelligence analysts, decision-makers and operators struggle the director of cyberstrategy at Telos Corp. “It’s a completely differwith processing and making sense of large volumes of data collected ent way of doing mission planning.” from multiple sources, the ability to plan missions with different The ability to leverage information technology to process a large types of data overlaid on one screen is sought by many. The need to volume of multisource data makes this new way of mission planhave near real-time updates to better inform decision-making based ning possible. Mission planners need help with properly visualizing on different sources of data is another operational challenge. and storing data. The closer to the tactical edge, moreover, the more unreliable Some observers point out that the Department of Defense will be and limited is the bandwidth for mission-planning software. So engaged in a more diverse set of mission planning moving forward. effective mission-planning software needs to provide quick updates Following the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, in addition, it is possible for users preparing for a wide range of operational scenarios. that the U.S. Central Command will not dominate military planning The ability to review signals intelligence, satellite data, geospaas much as it has in recent years, according to Andrew P. Dougherty, tial data and tactical data from one screen in a tactical operations business development director for surveillance and exploitation syscenter to achieve a common operating picture is what many operatems at KEYW Corp., a company that focuses on issues that include tors want, according to Chris Ellsworth, technical project manager transforming geospatial imaging into intelligence. for Textron Systems Advanced Information Solutions (AIS). Dougherty predicted more military operations planning for U.S. Textron Systems AIS is an Army All Sources Analysis (ASAS) African Command, U.S. Northern Command, and contractor for company-level and intelligence supU.S. Southern Command, in addition to a more proport and civil affairs. ASAS, a system that has been nounced U.S. military pivot to the Pacific Rim, folin development for more than 25 years, is designed lowing up on the Obama administration’s stated to automate the processing and analysis of intelliforeign policy goals. Whatever happens as a result of gence data from all sources. Textron Systems AIS also President Obama’s decision to take military action works on the Distributed Common Ground Systemagainst the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, it Army program, an enterprise-wide intelligence sysseems likely that the U.S. military will need to be tem that is replacing the Army’s multiple ground able to plan for objectives in many different theaters intelligence systems currently fielded. of operation. Intelligence analysts, meanwhile, are gathering Regardless of the theater of operation, it is posvoluminous amounts of data, aided by cheaper and Stephen P. Corcoran sible in some instances for military planners to be more readily deployable satellites. “With improved stationed 8,000 miles away where the operators are collection assets providing a torrent of data, the abillocated. ity to manage and analyze the data is crucial,” said Rob Zitz, senior vice president and chief systems architect at Leidos. Mission Requirements
Real-Time Collaboration
“There is more to mission planning than just pointing a satellite or aircraft sensor at a target,” said John Ploschnitznig, director of Riverside Research’s Between disaster relief and military missions, the Modeling and Applications Development Laboratory mission-planning software market in the intelligence (MAD Lab). “We work with customers that handle community, Department of Defense and civilian thousands of collection requests each day. The key agencies is so robust that several military contractors John Ploschnitznig is to ensure that the most appropriate collection have developed real-time collaboration products and platforms and sensors are tasked to support the various mission services designed to meet user needs to take advantage of multiple requirements.” sources of information when planning missions. The MAD Lab created the Collection Planning Suite (CPS), “Many customers are pressing for integrated mission-planning which consists of the Automated Collection Planning Tool (ACPT) software that can combine information from geospatial, signals, and the Enterprise Collection Research Tool (eCRT). ACPT is often human reporting and open sources together so that the computer used pre-launch for capability assessments and trade-off analysis does the integration and change detection and recommends tipping before transitioning to an operational role supporting daily collecand cueing across collection platforms and domains,” said Zitz. tion generation; eCRT provides community feasibility analysis for “As one customer recently said, ‘Let’s move away from the sysany constellation and directly supports the development of executtem integration being the swivel in my chair and the swivel in my able collection requests. neck,’” he added. 24 | GIF 12.7
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This capability can also be extended to Together, ACPT and eCRT provide a wide range Riverside Research’s mobile solution, Seamless of capabilities, including the ability to develop colOpportunities. lection plans for a coordinated constellation and “Collection planning today is all about solving a design, and to add platforms and sensors via an intucustomer’s dynamic needs effectively and efficiently itive user interface. A single instantiation supports with an ever-growing constellation of assets in operall security levels. In addition, user-defined apporational timelines. Riverside Research’s collection tionment rules govern the optimized planning, while planning suite provides leading-edge capabilities the system self-adapts plans based on events within that solve today’s issues with a flexible framework operational relevant timelines. that easily adjusts to tomorrow’s challenges and ultiIn much the same way that mission planning mately delivers on our promise to provide trusted across various satellite systems is technically chalEric Patterson solutions,” said Eric Patterson, director of operations lenging, airborne collection systems face similar diffor research and engineering. ficulties. Riverside Research currently supports Lockheed Martin in the development of the Enterprise Collection Planner (ECP), the next-generation ISR mission planner for the Air Force Distributed Integration Glue Common Ground Station. Once operational, the system-agnostic, multiplatform ECP will lay the foundation for coordinated collecWith the military opting to use small-scale, rapidly deployable tion planning across all task-driven ISR collection systems. troops, it seems likely that U.S. Special Operations Command’s Another layer of complexity in mission planning is the often mission planning workload will continue to increase. Army Special classified nature of the work. To address this, Riverside Research’s Forces, meanwhile, are training on Textron Systems iDefense, a versatile Collection Planning Suite supports collection systems cloud-based, mission-planning software product that uses touch and data at all security levels. ACPT and eCRT offer governscreens. ment customers the ability to leverage commercial systems as “IDefense is the integration glue that adds context to raw data” an optimal and integrated mission planning solution, freeing the in near real time in operations centers, said Ellsworth, adding that high-performance collection systems to address more demanding it can significantly shorten decision cycles for intelligence analysts requirements. and commanders.
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GIF 12.7 | 25
phones and notebooks. We want to make it work on Telos has worked in mission planning for more all platforms our customers use,” Pette said. five years in response to customer needs, including “As technology advances, the customer demands work for the Department of Homeland Security, spemore user-friendly, almost intuitive interfaces. They cial operations forces, law enforcement and school want to see more open-source code and plug-and-play systems. Its mission planner is SE7EN: Mission solutions,” said Zitz. “Customers expect flexibility and Planner, an interactive, touch-enabled Microsoft agile software development so that the software will Windows and Vista 8.1-based multi-user “sand table” keep pace with the changing mission environment. that designs, tests and assesses missions. They also expect to see mission-planning software be It is a 2-D system that has the ability to ingest 3-D available on their platform of choice, whether it be a images. A user’s ability not just to use SE7EN at the workstation, laptop or handheld device.” application layer but also to transport it seamlessly, Jeff Schneider Rather than the user adapting to contractor and even to mobile devices, is key to the product’s appeal. program offerings, said Zitz and others, contractors and program SE7EN has the ability to take data from sensors that could developers need to think about adapting their operating systems include UAVs, vibration sensors and wearable computers that check and user environments to the users. In his current role, Zitz leads vital signs, according to Jeremiah Stallcup, product manager of misLeidos’ work to help intelligence and homeland security agencies sion applications at Telos. adapt security tools for areas such as big data, mobile devices and Users could share a full motion video with a team that activity-based intelligence. could range from top secret to secret and sensitive but unclassified users on a handheld through SE7EN, with only those with appropriate clearances given access to information at their security Image Standards clearance level. Telos officials are planning to release a browser-based version of Having industry standards and using the appropriate ones are SE7EN early next year, which could enable a broader set of customcritical to ensuring that information from different sources can be ers to use SE7EN. effectively integrated into mission-planning systems. For example, TouchShare’s initial efforts at developing a 3-D open-source mission-planning product met initial challenges when Yesterday’s Imagery? the company tried to work with Google Earth data. When the company replaced that with Keynote Markup Language (KML) and Meanwhile, the proliferation of smaller and less expensive satelKMZ, a Google Earth placement file, it led to better progress in the lites, as well as customer requests, have caused Orbit Logic to create three-dimensional product development. a product called Order Logic, which better enables users to view and Telos has worked well with customer imagery sets, including order satellite images from commercially available satellites, accordGoogle Earth, and other graphical image file standards that are ing to Alex Herz, Orbit Logic’s president. maintained by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), noted Jeff “It’s a web application that gives a view into the (satellite) planSchneider, vice president of cyber-operations and defense developning database,” Herz said. “You don’t have to be in the core misment. These include KML, which is an XML notation for expressing sion planning database” to create an image order or view its status, geographic annotation and visualization within Internet-based 2-D he said. maps and 3-D Google Earth browsers. Orbit Logic’s mission-planning products seek to apply comTelos also works with Web Map, Web Feature and Web Coverage, plex constraints, speed up planning timelines and reduce planthree OGC web service specifications, in addition to Microsoft Bing. ning manpower requirements for users. The company’s flagship TouchShare’s Pette pointed to a disaster relief scenario in which product is SpyMeSat, a mobile application that enables users to a fire chief, police chief, utilities head and American Red Cross offifind out when an imagery satellite is overhead, based on North cial were meeting to plan a response to events. It would be imporAmerican Aerospace Defense Command orbit data published online tant for these officials to be able to visualize and interpret the data at at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. their conference table in different ways to accentuate what they want The improved ability to move data quickly through informato highlight and not disclose information they’d prefer not to reveal. tion technology is a heightened expectation for many DoD and “There should be different maps for different people, with differintelligence community mission planners. “People don’t want to ent laying options,” he said, since such a scenario enables users to see yesterday’s image or map” in fast-moving geospatial collaborabetter act upon the data. tion scenarios, said Bob Pette, CEO of TouchShare, whose software Such layering of information is important to many ToolShare has been used by U.S. forces for mission planning and review in customers who operate on a need-to-know basis, according to Pette. Afghanistan. “They want to see today’s.” Police chiefs, for example, might want to look at recent crime figThe challenge for many deployed military users lies in ensuring ures block by block and street by street by month of the year to prebandwidth and securing Internet connections, according to Pette. dict where the next spike in crime might occur, but might not want As a result, mission-planning software has to quickly synch and to reveal detailed crime data to other officials. O make updates when users go offline at a moment’s notice, and then later have an active Internet connection. TouchShare’s 2-D mission-planning software product runs on For more information, contact GIF Editor Harrison Donnelly Linux and Windows on smartphones, tablets, notebooks, desktops at harrisond@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives and other devices, with screen “real estate” used to enable zoomfor related stories at www.gif-kmi.com. ing in on images. “We want to work on Samsung phones, Android 26 | GIF 12.7
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GIF RESOURCE CENTER
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Advertisers Index 2D3 Sensing.............................................................................................7 www.2d3sensing.com/gif Airbus Defense and Aerospace.............................................................. C2 www.geo-airbusds.com American Military University................................................................25 www.togetherletsstoptraffick.org BAE Systems.............................................................................................1 www.baesystems.com/gxp BAE Systems.......................................................................................... C3 www.baesystems.com/gxpwebview Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp..................................................23 www.ballaerospace.com Concurrent Technologies......................................................................18 www.ctc.com DigitalGlobe...........................................................................................12 www.digitalglobe.com/insightcloud Esri.........................................................................................................27 www.esri.com/muc Exelis Visual Information Systems..........................................................3 www.exelisvis.com/gif General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems............................. C4 www.gd-ais.com General Dynamics Information Technology.........................................20 www.gdit.com TASC................................................................................................. 14-15 www.tasc.com
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NEXTISSUE
Calendar October 23, 2014 NGA Tech Showcase West St. Louis, Mo. http://usgif.org
February 9-10, 2015 Esri Federal GIS Conference Washington, D.C. www.esri.com
November 17-21, 2014 GEOINT Community Week Northern Virginia http://usgif.org
February 23-25, 2015 International LiDAR Mapping Forum Denver, Colo. www.lidarmap.org
November 19, 2014 Geography 2050: Mounting an Expedition to the Future New York, N.Y. www.geography2050.org
Esri Mid-Atlantic User Conference
March 16-19, 2015 Satellite 2015 Washington, D.C. www.satshow.com
December 1-4, 2014 I/ITSEC 2014 Orlando, Fla. www.iitsec.org
April 13-15, 2015 Sea-Air-Space Exposition National Harbor, Md. www.seaairspace.org
January 19-21, 2015 Defence Geospatial Intelligence Conference London, U.K. http://dgi.wbresearch.com
June 21-24, 2015 GEOINT Symposium 2015 Washington, D.C. http://usgif.org
November/December 2014 Vol. 12, Issue 8 The Magazine of the National Intelligence Community
Cover and In-Depth Interview with:
Rear Adm. Elizabeth L. Train Director National Maritime Intelligence Integration Office Commander Office of Naval Intelligence
Special Section:
2014 Technology and Innovation Review
Features • • • • •
Maritime Intelligence Hyperspectral Imaging Mobile Apps GEOINT in Coalition Warfare 3-D Feature Extraction
Bonus Distribution: DGI 2015 January 19-21, 2015 London, U.K.
Insertion Order Deadline: November 11, 2014 Ad M aterial Deadline: November 18, 2014
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GIF 12.7 | 27
INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
Geospatial Intelligence Forum
Jeff Lovin, CP, PS Senior Vice President Director of Geospatial Services Woolpert As director of Woolpert’s geospatial group, Jeff Lovin oversees the operations of nearly 230 staff members across the firm. Experienced in photogrammetry, surveying and remote sensing, he brings a high level of expertise to firm-wide initiatives that support client needs at national and international levels. He is responsible for his group’s growth as well as the technological advancements that create business opportunities and make it possible for Woolpert to provide the highest level of client service. Q: What are some updates on the newest developments at Woolpert? A: Our innovation section, Woolpert Labs, continues to blaze trails and bring emerging capabilities to the market. For example, we are working on a number of exciting new LiDAR technologies, including miniaturized LiDAR and hyperspectral sensors. We are very involved in creating unique ways to make airborne LiDAR and other remote sensing technologies more mobile, agile and affordable. At the same time, these advancements have the potential to drastically improve coverage rates and standoff in the very near future. On the IT side, we continue to invest in and grow our geospatial web- and cloud-based solutions, and I see that as a critical, evolutionary step for companies like us that have traditionally been focused around content and data. Q: How do the military and federal government benefit from Woolpert’s expertise in both existing and new technology? A: We often begin with COTS solutions and then customize them to meet our customer’s needs. Commercially available technologies are, in many cases, simply the fastest, cheapest and lowest-risk option for us and our customers. However, in cases where an offthe-shelf solution just won’t fit the bill, we’re not afraid to develop a completely unique and situation-specific solution. I think one of Woolpert’s major differentiators is our depth of experience in data 28 | GIF 12.7
collection—both from high up in the sky as well as down on the ground. Our resume reveals over 40 years of airborne data collection experience and an impressive century of surveying experience. This depth of experience proves our ability to handle any technological challenge that the military or federal government presents—to their direct benefit. Additionally, we sometimes see technological advancements in surveying migrate up into our airborne sensing systems—or vice versa. You can see how these surveying advancements affect airborne sensing in the street mapping systems used by the big Web giants (Google, for example). Woolpert operates similar systems with multiple cameras and LiDAR sensors, providing a great tool for the detailed mapping of corridor infrastructure, airfields, physical plants and much, much more.
A: We are very excited about our robust UAS offerings for local, state and federal government clients. Woolpert is merging the principles of traditional manned aircraft data collection with new aircraft hardware and updated photogrammetric workflows to remotely and safely collect detailed spatial data over a variety of geographies, including dangerous or inaccessible locations. Our UAS is particularly well suited to small collection areas, such as islands, levies and parks, or those that need frequent mapping updates, like coastal erosion monitoring sites. We’ve been working to build strategic partnerships and develop our internal capabilities to guarantee that the entire process, from sensor selection and calibration to data collection, processing and distribution, is as seamless and optimized as possible. Woolpert has also been active in advocating UAS for commercial use, and we have presented several submissions to the FAA for exemptions (via Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012) to use UAS for commercial mapping and surveying. Woolpert is also investing in further technology and research, such as exploring UAS-obtained hyperspectral data for precision agriculture and environmental management applications. Q: What issue keeps you up at night?
Q: What LiDAR innovations can you see advancing the GEOINT sector? A: NASA has been using LiDAR systems that utilize single photon counting technology in a variety of planetary mapping and environmental monitoring applications for years. Similar systems have made their way into the mapping and ISR arenas with game-changing results. At Woolpert, we’ve been testing and integrating related nextgen systems for customers during the past several years, and we absolutely see similar potential there, not only for the GEOINT sector, but also for broader government and commercial users. Q: What other developments does Woolpert have in the pipeline?
A: Something I hear being discussed from time to time is the ubiquitous reliance that we, as a society, now have on publically available GPS signals and their assumed availability and reliability. Redundancy and partner country systems certainly have made these assumptions safer, but any number of threats could put a potentially devastating halt to service. From wartime policy changes or cyber-attacks to direct physical threats on hardware systems, signal interruptions are a very real possibility. While some might only mildly impact the daily habits of society at large, others have the potential to put an immediate stop to a huge portion of our business. While this issue doesn’t steal sleep from me regularly, it’s certainly on my list of show-stopping threats. O www.GIF-kmi.com
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