Getting intelligence data to troops in the field, especially those without access to high-bandwidth networks, remains a difficult challenge. Geospatial data is one of the most difficult types of intel to send due to the sheer size of the data required to create high-resolution images.
The Army's Dr. Joseph Fontanella discussed the challenges of disseminating data to disadvantaged troops during a June 3 C4ISR & Networks webcast. The on-demand version of the event is available now. Click here for more.
"The challenge has always been how do you move bulk data into devices with limited capacity, and what we're seeing is a shift from stand-alone applications to more open access to Web services," said Joseph Fontanella, director of the U.S. Army Geospatial Center, in a 2014 interview with C4ISR & Networks. "The goal is something that already exists on the civil side, like using an Android or an iPhone to navigate to a retail store. The data is pulled into the phone through an application that lives there, but the bulk of the data resides in the cloud. Ultimately the application and the data will have to reside on the device."
(Read the full interview here.)
Since that interview, new tools have become available to ease that data transmission. DigitalGlobe, a close partner of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, for example, recently released web-based tools into beta testing phase that give users access to complex data processing done in the cloud.
The tools are accessible through a smart phone or other portable device, and can be downloaded for later use, according to a Reuters report.
"This is a very, very bandwidth-light way of working with data," said Walter Scott, DigitalGlobe's CTO, quoted in the report. "All the heavy lifting is happening in the background in the cloud ... and you get just the results you need."
