A Near Real-Time Tactical Land C4I Assessment Capability

Fred Bowden, Paul Gaertner and Peter Williams

Land Operations Division, Defence Science and Technology Organisation
P.O BOX 1500
SALISBURY, SA 5108
Keywords:
C4I, synthetic environment, Army, wargame, simulation, modelling
ABSTRACT: The tactical land command, control, communications, computer and intelligence structure is essentially
an array of complex and dynamic systems of systems. In this paper we address a capability deficiency in the
identification and analysis of critical information requirements, flows and processes to support decision-making within
this tactical structure. We accomplish this by incorporating modelling, simulation and wargame technology to create an
environment whereby military users, analysts and developers can interact to provide near real-time analysis of tactical
command control, communications, computer and intelligence systems, and combat tactics, techniques and procedures
during command post exercise activities. The usefulness of the study environment stems from its ability to provide a
controlled experiment setting to support the development and analysis of both current and future information
management and dissemination technologies aimed at assisting the tactical commanders decision-making process. We
demonstrate the environment via a battle group digitisation experiment.

1. Introduction
Subjective analysis at command post exercises (CPX)
has traditionally been the method used to study the
effectiveness of command, control, communications,
computer and intelligence (C4I) systems and structures.
The deficiency in this type of analysis is that the results
are often not reproducible and the analysis is usually
unable to focus on the major determinants of
effectiveness. Since the actions of a military C4I system
obviously exert strong influences on mission
accomplishment, the value of an objective method for
measuring the effectiveness of C4I functions and
processes is self-evident.
To aid in the provision of an objective effectiveness
capability, Land Operations Division (LOD) has
successfully completed the initial coupling of the Janus
brigade level wargame and elements of the real-world
Army tactical Battlefield Command Support System
(BCSS). The coupling, which was completed with the
aid of Information Technology Division, the BCSS
Project Office, Command System Incorporated, Integra
and CelsiusTech Australia, provides the modelling and
simulation infrastructure of the LOD Tactical Land C4I
Assessment Capability (TLCAC).

2. Tactical Land C4I Assessment
Capability
The TLCAC forms part of the analysis component of
the LOD Synthetic Environment Research Facility
(SERF). Its aim is to enhance Armys ability to support
the development and implementation of future tactical
C4I systems. It does this by creating an environment
whereby military users, analysts and developers can
interact using real and experimental C4I infrastructure
to address issues such as, insertion of new technology
(for example information systems, automation, decision
aids, communication links, etc), and changes to C4I
systems and organisational structures. Essentially, the
TLCAC is able to assist in answering questions such as
What should be done to improve the effectiveness of
the tactical headquarters (HQ)?
The Janus/BCSS coupling removes the requirement
to manually transfer tactical unit locations from the
wargame to the Command Support Systems (CSS). This
realistically stimulates and stresses the C4I system
being evaluated. The wargame provides an artificial
environment representing entities which commanders
control from their respective operational CSS terminals
(Figure 1). Information Technology Divisions
Distributed Interactive C3I Effectiveness (DICE)
simulation [1] acts as a GPS position server,
receiving tactical positions from the wargame and
transmitting them to the CSS terminals. The position
server has the task of arranging information from the
wargame into a format consistent with that of the CSS
host. From the CSS host, information can be
automatically disseminated to CSS terminals.
Commanders use the information presented to them via
their CSS terminals to assist in determining actions to
be taken. These actions are passed to wargame
operators acting as a lower/higher control organisation
under the control of a white umpire. Individual
commanders send their commands, either via radio or
the CSS, to operators who implement them in the
wargame (see Figure 1). Radio communications are
monitored using a Digital Speech Time Recorder
(DSTR) which allows near real time analysis of the use
of up to two radio networks.

In summary, the TLCAC provides:

A capability that can be deployed at Brigade and
below level CPX activities, providing a mechanism
to automatically collect C4I and manoeuvre data,
which can be quickly turned into information to
assist in after action reviews.
A reconfigurable environment that can be tailored
to emulate existing tactical C4I systems and form a
basis for investigating implementations of new
concepts and technologies.

RADIO NET
BCSS
LAN
CNR
Bde/Bn HQ
RADIO NET
Janus LAN
BCSS
LAN
LOCON
HICON
DSTR
Server
Modified
BCSS
Janus Host
DICE
Position Server
EXCON
SIMCON
OPFOR
CGF
Comms
C2
Acoustic
Intell

Figure 1: TLCAC Configuration

An improved ability to constrain the level of
human participation within a particular study to
relevant components of the command and staff
team and so reduce the extent of the deployment
requirement mentioned above. The eventual goal in
this area is to provide an appropriate closed model
of the C4I system under investigation and so permit
more complete quantification of performance
within any particular study.
An ability to interface military users and analysts to
simulation based activities within other application
areas such as training or mission planning.
Provide a controlled environment in which to run
experiments on C4I systems, both current and
future.

3. Performance Measures
Evaluation provides the most detailed insights into
information activities. The primary performance
measures used for assessment of information activities
are in terms of time consumed and accuracy. Measures
of a systems behaviour must therefore be reduced to
measures based on time, accuracy, or a combination
that may be interdependent. Time based measures are
usually quantitative, while accuracy measures may be
quantitative and qualitative. It is important to realise
that time-based and accuracy-based measures often bear
an inverse relationship, implying a tradeoff between
speed of performance and accuracy of performance.
Speed of performance must be specified in terms of
minimum desired accuracy or completeness, and
accuracy measurements in terms of time available.
Therefore the specification of threshold or standards for
metrics must be referenced in terms of imposed
constraints.
The performance measures quantify the degree to
which an organisation or system meets its requirements.
Essentially, measures of effectiveness are quantities that
result from the comparison of the system and mission
attributes. They reflect the extent to which the system is
matched to the mission In order to assess the
effectiveness of an organisation, the organisations
measures of performance are compared to the
organisations requirements. Measures of effectiveness
are quantities that result from this comparison. They
can be computed in the decision strategy space by
identifying all decision strategies that satisfy the
requirements. In addition, the TLCAC includes a
rigorous set of methods and procedures for applying
measures to exercises, and for analysing the results.
These fall into three broad categories:

Process measures that describe how command staff
seek and use information, arrive at decisions, and
coordinate among themselves and with other
commands;
Performance measures that describe how well the
internal HQs processes are carried out in terms of
accuracy, timeliness, consistency, and completeness;
and
Effectiveness measures that gauge whether or not
HQs accomplishes it mission.

Applying the analysis capability to experiments and
exercises result in the assignment of values to these
measures.

4. Application of TLCAC

Experimentation involves the testing of one or more
hypotheses by repeated trials or automated wargames
under controlled conditions. Hypotheses are often
framed in terms of the operational benefits of some
change in a system that is tested through statistical
analysis of the results. Exercises involve the resolution
of issues critical to an operational command or defence
agency. They cannot be replicated and their results are
less generalised. Exercises however, provide richer
operational contexts, and can thereby bring to light
factors that need to be examined more carefully.
4.1 Battle group experiment
The TLCAC was demonstrated during a battle group
experiment held at LOD Salisbury Between August 23 -
- 27. The objective of the experiment was two-fold.
Firstly, to demonstrate a fully working assessment
capability and to present it as an analysis tool. The
second was to gather data on the effect of battlefield
digitisation on a HQ.
The laboratory networks together the Janus wargame
and BCSS within an electronic environment which is
ideal for data gathering. The wargame represents the
movement and actions of entities on the battlefield. It
generates positions of all the entities involved in the
scenario being played, which is then relayed to the army
tactical Command Support System. Other aids, such as
Petri Nets, were incorporated to provide more detailed
realism to the experiment.
The BCSS(OPS) tool is the Australian Armys
Operations component of BCSS and it provides
Situational Awareness (SA) and messaging capabilities
as well as simple intelligence functions. DICE is used to
link the Janus wargame and BCSS together so that they
may communicate and interact with each other. DICE
also has capability to represent a complete C4I
environment as described in [2].
There are a number of other tools linked to DICE that
enhanced the experiment. Some of the more important
tools are now considered.
The Collection Plan Management System (CPMS) is
a tool that provides the commander with a surveillance
plan based on the information requirements and the
available resources.
A sound model was created using Petri nets (PN) to
simulate the ability of certain Blue units to detect the
approximate locations of certain Red forces by acoustic
detections. Though currently very crude, it is seen as a
very valuable asset and with some work in the future
will attain a high level of fidelity.
Finally, a DICE Human Player screen was used to
inform the players of Blue detections of Red in Janus
and any detections made by the sound model. This
interface displayed formatted text messages that were
then input manually into BCSS(OPS).

4.2 Experiment Design
The experiment utilised a scenario based on the area
defence of a vital asset. A battle group (BG) was
deployed to protect the asset from possible attack. The
BG was divided into four combat teams (CT), one
deployed to the south of the asset (CT South), one to the
north (CT North), one protecting the asset (CT Asset)
and a quick reaction force (CT Actuate). The force was
arrayed with a concentration of observation posts,
berms, screens and sensors on the base perimeter. Away
from the perimeter the CTs aggressively patrolled while
static patrols and electronic sensors were used to control
approaches to the base. CTs would deal with any enemy
in their Area of Operations. If the enemy force proved
to be too large the CT was instructed to fix the enemy
and wait for additional support from CT Actuate. The
problems facing the BG in each experiment would be
similar. Variations were largely the result of changes in
the Red force initial deployment and allowing relatively
unrestricted play by the Red commander.
The experiment was run over a five-day period. Two
variations of the BG HQs were considered so as to
investigate the effect of digitisation (in this case the
inclusion of BCSS(OPS)) on a CT HQ. The variations
were:
All information is transmitted via radio and
recorded manually.
Blue force locations are updated automatically on
the BCSS(Ops) terminals. Blue detections of Red
force entities are placed manually on the
BCSS(OPS) network.

The experiments and their associated success rate is
as follows:

Monday Variation 2 (rehearsal)
Tuesday Variation 1 (successful)
Wednesday Variation 2 (unsuccessful)
Thursday Variation 1 (successful)
Friday Variation 2 (successful)

The two sets of data gathered for Variation 1 allowed
the impact of external factors such as learning, boredom
or fatigue from running four very similar scenarios over
such a short period of time, to be estimated.
4.3 Player Layout
The TLCAC experiment consisted of four interacting
cells. Each cell represented a different element of the
real C3I system. Figure 2 shows the links between the
four cells.
Figure 2: The four cells of the C4I system.
The main focus of the experiment was CT South in
which the CT HQ was simulated with commanders
played by Subject Matter Advisors (SMA), a radio
logger and a BCSS operator when necessary. CT
Souths link to lower level units on the battlefield came
through the LOwer CONtrol cell (LOCON). While
links to higher commander came from HIgher CONtrol
(HICON). The links to LOCON and HICON were via
radio and for the second variation also via BCSS(OPS).
LOCON comprised a SMA, a Janus operator and two
BCSS(OPS) operators. The SMA had two roles. The
first required representing the elements of CT South.
This meant acting as the CTs low level elements on the
radio (and BCSS(OPS) for variation 2) to receive
commands and make reports. Commands were passed
to a Janus operator who implemented them as actions in
Janus. To assist in this a BCSS(OPS) operator was also
place in LOCON to send reports and read commands
sent via this means. The other role of LOCON was to
act as the other CTs, in particular CT Actuate if the
main body of the enemy force was located. The second
BCSS(OPS) operator watched the DICE human player
interface for Janus Blue detections of Red and outputs
from the sound model, these were placed on the
BCSS(OPS) network.
HICON contained three personnel. The HICON cell
had access to the Red and Blue Janus pictures, a BCSS
terminal, the BG combat radio net and the CPMS
software. HICON was required to fill in gaps about out
of exercise information or if one cell was not receiving
the information they should. This also meant ensuring
that the Red player did not do anything that was
unrealistic. Another role of HICON was to liaise
between all the other cells (including the observers and
data gatherers) to ensure the scenarios ran smoothly and
the goal of the experiment could be achieved, that is, to
act in an exercise controller capability. The final role of
HICON was to assist in the deployment of sensor assets
using the CPMS tool.
CT
South
HICON
LOCON Red HQ
Opposing CT South and its support forces was the
Red force, commanded entirely through Janus by an
SMA accompanied by a Janus operator.
4.4 Equipment Required
The equipment required to represent the C4I system
used in the experiment was as follows:
Four Janus terminals.
A Red terminal for the Red commander, a Blue
force LOCON terminal, and two terminals for
HICON (displaying Red and Blue forces
separately).
Four BCSS terminals.
One for CT South, one for HICON and LOCON
required two BCSS terminals.
DICE-BCSS computer.
A computer running a copy of BCSS that was
modified to allow DICE to send it Blue positions.
Two DICE terminals.
Both a controller and a human player screen were
needed. The human player screen allowed for
detections of Red by Blue from Janus to be
displayed as well as messages from the Sound
Model PN.
One CPMS terminal.
Five radio headsets.
Two separate radio nets were used in the
experiment. The first was the BG combat net (the
higher level net). Three radios were placed on this;
one each for the HICON (representing BG HQ),
CT South HQ and LOCON (CT Actuate HQ). The
second net, the CT South combat net required
radios to be placed in the CT South HQ and
LOCON (representing the lower level units).

Figure 3 and Figure 4 show how this equipment was
connected.

Figure 3: The communications links between cells.

Figure 4: Links between Janus, DICE and the
remaining components.
4.5 Analysis Layout
The main advantage of running the above experiment
in TLCAC is that it provides a controlled environment
in which data could be gathered. In order to gather data
on the effect of BCSS(OPS) on a CT HQ and to
demonstrate the capability for the TLCAC to be used as
an analysis tool, observers and data gatherers were used
during the experiment to complement the data gathered
automatically. The observer layout is shown in Figure
5.
The first area of interest was to observe the decision-
making of the CT South commander, which was done
both remotely and locally throughout the experiment.
The second area of interest was to monitor the radio
communications between the different elements of the
experiment.
Local to CT South, observers were placed to directly
observe human factors aspects of the commanders
tasks and decisions. One of the foci of these
observations was looking at how the commander used
the tools he had available to him. These types of
observations are useful for a wide range of data
gathering. The types of information that can be
collected depend mostly on how the scenario is
scripted. For example, individual resources can be
tracked and the amount of consideration a commander
gives to them can be seen from close proximity.
Alternatively, the effects of stress or sleep deprivation
on decision-makers can be monitored by human factors
experts.
JANUS SERVER
HICON JANUS
TERMINAL
(x2)
RED JANUS
TERMINAL
DICE
BLUE JANUS
TERMINAL
(LOCON)
CPMS
SOUND
MODEL
HUMAN PLAYER
INTERFACE
BCSS LOCON (x2)
BCSS HICON
BCSS
CT SOUTH
HICON
LOCON CT South
Red HQ
CT South CNR
BG CNR
BCSS Links
Phone Link
Observations were also performed remotely. An
analysis bay was set up and video, audio and BCSS
information were automatically piped to it. The video
cameras were placed in CT South focused on the
commander and his main source of Situational
Awareness (map or BCSS as appropriate). From the
observation room, C2 modellers could monitor the
workings of the CT HQ and confer with SMAs openly
without interrupting the exercise. In addition, a
microphone was placed in the remote observation cell
to record comments from the SMAs.
The radio net communications were monitored from
a remote room by using a DSTR in conjunction with
other observation software. A single data gatherer was
able to record information on the volume and
information type of all radio communications.
Figure 5: Observer layout for the TLCAC experiment.
Finally, automatic data logs were also stored at the
end of each experiment. This included BCSS(OPS)
message logs, DICE message logs and Janus data.
Analysis tools have been used to look at this data in
post exercise analysis.
5. Future Work for the TLCAC
Although the BG experiment proved the TLCAC to
be operational and effective, it is currently far from
optimal. Much work needs to be done in order to gain
the most benefit from the capability. The main areas of
concern are now covered.
The current link to BCSS(OPS) is very limited. It
only allows Blue entity positions to be fed into the
system. It is hoped that this interface can be enhanced
so that more information can be sent automatically into
BCSS(OPS). Of particular interest are Blue contact
reports. This would further automate the representation
of lower level units during experiments reducing the
staff required to operate LOCON. It would also be
desirable to develop a link from BCSS(OPS) to DICE.
This would allow messages sent from BCSS to be
received by DICE nodes and sent to other entities
linked to DICE. This would allow artificial agents in
DICE [3] to be used to represent entities with which
BCSS(OPS) communicates.
In addition to adding to the current BCSS(OPS) link
it is hoped that links can be made to other BCSS
modules including: BCSS(INT), BCSS(ENG) and
BCSS(GIS).
Janus generates other information about the
battlefield that is not currently sent to DICE. Some of
the information generated by Janus that is being
considered to output includes:
Fall of indirect fire, including fall of fire, type of
fire and information about the entity that fired.
Artillery firing data, including the start and end of
artillery fire as well as the type of fire and
information about the entity that fired.
Casualty reports, including current strength,
ammunition and fuel.
Reports on the elimination of entities. This
information can be used to reflect the existence of
hulks on the battlefield.
Reports of obstacle detections.

Currently LODs land situation awareness (SA) tools
are the only advanced SA tools included in the TLCAC.
This interface will be further enhanced to allow for
more message types to be sent as well as allow the land
SA tools to send information to DICE. Another aim is
to link the TLCAC to other advanced SA tools so that
the effect of different representations of situational
information on a HQ can be investigated.
The PN based sound model allows Blue units to
detect Red units acoustically when they come within a
defined range. Though it is still very crude and
unrealistic, it is an example of how the TLCAC can
enhance the laboratory environment, making the
analysis more realistic. Improvements to the sound
model will include allowing only certain types of units
to detect other certain types of units (for example
infantry detecting armour while armour can not detect
infantry) over differing distances. Detections of
weapons firing and explosions will also be added and
possibly the effects of the environment.
Clearly, as DICE is a central part of the TLCAC, any
changes to the information sent/received by systems
interfaced in the TLCAC, such as BCSS(OPS) and
Janus, will require changes to their DICE interfaces.
Some work is also being done to include a
communications model in the TLCAC. This model will
influence the flow of information between nodes both in
DICE (which can currently be done) and nodes outside
DICE, such as those in the BCSS network.
There is work being done to look at the use of
computer generated forces representing key decision-
makers. This could be done by using the DICE PN or
intelligent agent capabilities.
Work is also planned to enhance the analysis tools
available as part of TLCAC. This includes enhancing
the current message analysis tools and introducing more
tools that can be used to aid in conducting observations.
A further capability of the TLCAC is to provide
mechanisms for exploiting the benefits offered from
BCSS BCSS
REMOTE
VIDEO/AUDIO/BCSS
OBSERVATIONS
CT SOUTH
REMOTE DSTR
OBSERVATIONS
Local
Observations
new technologies such as advanced systems concepts
and procedures.
6. Summary
Key decision-makers on the tactical battlefield are
already suffering from information overload. This is
likely to become dramatically worse with the
introduction of more capable sensors and information
technology. Therefore the information supplied to a
user must also be managed and effectively presented.
The benefits of the results of the TLCAC project are
a more flexible and rapid development of command and
control experiments by taking advantage of the object-
oriented model development paradigm. Other benefits
include:
Wargaming environment useable for: training,
autonomous assessment of human generated
courses of action (COA) and testing algorithms and
automated command decision software
Reduction in the number of human-in-the-loop
controllers at command post exercises

7. References
[1] Fred D.J. Bowden, Carsten Gabrisch and Mike
Davies. C3I Systems Analysis Using The Distributed
Interactive C3I Effectiveness (DICE) Simulation.
Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE International Conference
on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Orlando, Florida,
USA, October 12-15, 1997, pp. 4326-4331.
[2] Carsten Gabrisch, Fred D.J. Bowden, Mike
Davies, Noel A. Haydon and Jim Winkles, Synthetic
Environment Support to Air Asset Visualisation Tool
Development, Proceedings of SimTect99, Melbourne,
Victoria, Australia, 1999, pp. 281-288.
[3] Fred D.J. Bowden and Mike Davies.
Application of a Role-Based Methodology to Represent
Command and Control Processes Using Extended Petri
Nets. Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE International
Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Orlando,
Florida, USA, October 12-15, 1997, pp. 4348-4353.
Author Biographies
Mr Fred Bowden
Fred Bowden completed his Bachelor of Science at
Murdoch University in 1989 majoring in Mathematics
and Physics. He joined DSTO in 1990. In 1993 Fred
completed a First Class Honours degree in Applied
mathematics at the University of Adelaide. He is
currently studying for a doctorate for which his area of
interest is the application of extended Petri nets to
military Command, Control, Communications and
Intelligence systems. The focus of Freds work is in the
area of modelling and analysis of military Command,
Control, Communications and Intelligence systems

Dr Paul Gaertner
Paul Gaertner completed his PhD at the University of
South Australia in Mathematics. Paul is currently
employed as a Senior Research Scientist at DSTO
working on topics such as: tactical command and
control, intelligent agents, systems dynamics and
mathematical optimisation. Dr Paul Gaertner has
worked as a consultant to the South Australian Research
and Development Institute (SARDI), and the US
Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA).

Mr Peter Williams
Peter Williams graduated from the University of
Adelaide with majors in Applied and Pure Mathematics
and an Honours degree in Applied Mathematics (Fluid
Dynamics) in 1997. His most recent employment has
been at DSTO Salisbury (Land Operations Division)
since April 1998. He has worked mostly on Command
and Control and the modelling of vegetation.