TECH FOCUS AREAS: Network Command, Control and Communications TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems OBJECTIVE: Develop and apply technologies to fuse, analyze, and present new, secure, multi-domain (air, land, space, and cyber/spectrum/electronic), command, control, communications, and situational awareness capabilities for collaborative and efficient conduct of ICBM operations, including status monitoring, maintenance, security and missile launch. DESCRIPTION: Fast, low-cost, effective, and efficient tactical command, control, communication, and situational awareness (C3SA) of a team for a single domain (e.g. ground) is a hard problem, but much harder is integrating adjacent domains (e.g. air, space, and cyber) into forward warriors' and rear leaders' scope of awareness and influence. Similarly, merging legacy stovepipe data sources, (e.g. logistics, maintenance, communications status, system status, mission requests, etc.) into a single, easily digestible format that can be used for command and control or planning is challenging. Gen Goldfein, former Air Force Chief, directed a pivot to Multi-Domain Command and Control (MDC2) in 2017 and articulated the essential role that communications capabilities and battlespace situational awareness play in enabling effective MDC2, an integrated capability dubbed MDC3SA, MDC3SA information may be urgently needed by warfighters, but massive amount of divergent information risks overloading human awareness; a key question is whether effective MDC3SA can be enabled by technology for fusing and presenting only mission-essential information? Also, command centers currently hand-fuse significant amounts of information from legacy data sources in order to complete day to day operational planning and C2; can these processes and information sources be integrated to increase effectiveness? This topic seeks to develop, prove in the field, and implement MDC3SA tools/capabilities in this fast, complex, area. The focus of this topic is operations in the nation's Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system that provides a land-based nuclear deterrence and strike capability. The current system comprises 450 missiles and their associated C3 facilities located in several northern US states that stand on alert to provide a day-to-day, safe, secure, responsive, global nuclear strike capability to assure our allies, dissuade proliferation, deter adversaries, and, should deterrence fail, decisively defeat adversary targets and retaliatory capabilities. The operation of this capability encompasses a range of activities, including monitoring of health and status, transport and maintenance of missiles and launch hardware and software systems, physical and cyber security, training for and actual operation of, and if directed, missile launch operations. Because of the strategic significance and nature of this mission, the coordination and conduct of these operations is of paramount importance requiring unprecedented communication and collaboration, shared situational awareness of ongoing and planned activities, assured integrity and timeliness of information, and man-power efficiency. Some examples of key operations that require coordination, tactical control and enhanced situational awareness include: The combined-forces Convoy Team' within a USAF Missile Wing involving dozens of vehicles, aircraft, and command center awareness, including coordination with civil authorities and law enforcement Daily, 2-person USAF Security Forces patrols across a typical base or region, and security response forces Missile Wing Command Center operations planning and mission control This topic area is intended to explore architectural and functional aspects of these operations, including methods to maintain Shared Situational Awareness and Order of Battle, provide effective human interfaces for visualization and collaboration of operational data, automate the mining, fusion, and presentation of data supporting commanding, controlling, and reporting status of assets and support systems/activities, and enable capabilities for operators to proactively plan and respond to events in real time. PHASE I: This is a Direct to Phase 2 (D2P2) topic. Phase 1 like proposals will not be evaluated and will be rejected as nonresponsive. For this D2P2 topic, the Government expects the small business would have accomplished the following in a Phase I-type effort via some other means, e.g., independent research and development (IR&D) or other non-SBIR funded work). It must have developed a concept for a workable prototype or design to address at a minimum the basic capabilities of the stated objective above. Proposal must show, as appropriate to the proposed effort, a demonstrated technical feasibility or nascent capability to fuse multiple disparate data sources and present a unified picture. Proposal may provide example cases of this new capability on a specific application. The documentation provided must substantiate that the proposer has developed a preliminary understanding of the technology to be applied in their Phase II proposal to meet the objectives of this topic. Documentation should include all relevant information including, but not limited to technical reports, test data, prototype designs/models, and performance goals/results. PHASE II: Design and develop command center systems to encompass the range of ICBM operations and functions, and provide the technical (hardware, software, communications) and physical (building, layout, human-machine interfaces) elements of such an operations center or Wing Command Center. These elements might include some or all of the following, categorized into two broad areas, for which the contract may propose to address either or both: Data Fusion and Information Processing a) Improved information systems to support enhanced operator awareness and efficiency; b) Tools that automate the mining, fusion, and presentation of data including legacy data systems and formats and communication infrastructure supporting commanding, controlling, and reporting status of ICBM assets; Architectural and Functional Modernization a) Effective human machine interfaces for enhanced understanding of situations and rapid decision making; b) Enhanced presentation capabilities for shared situational awareness, both large and small scale. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The contractor will pursue commercialization of the various technologies developed in Phase II for potential government applications. There are potential commercial applications in a wide range of diverse fields that include cargo transport operations centers, industrial systems monitoring, and security response command centers. REFERENCES: 1. Enhancing Multi-domain Command and Control... Tying it all Together , General Goldfein, USAF, 2017, https://www.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/csaf/letter3/Enhancing_Multi-domain_ CommandControl.pdf 2. Multi-Domain Command and Control: Maintaining Our Asymmetric Advantage , Major General (retired) Tim Zadalis, USAF, https://www.japcc.org/multi-domain-command-and-control/ 3. Understanding Command And Control , Albert and Hayes, DoD Command and Control Research Program, 2006, http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Alberts_UC2.pdf 4. Three Tenets of Security, ATSPI Technology Office, https://www.spi.dod.mil/threat.htm 5. Quantitative Metrics and Risk Assessment: The Three Tenets Model of Cybersecurity , Hughes and Cybenko, 2013, https://timreview.ca/sites/default/files/article_PDF/ HughesCybenko_TIMReview_August2013.pdf
