12 July 2001
FM
3-34.230
TOPOGRAPHIC OPERATIONS
Table
of Contents
The FOC serve as the basis for the TRADOC requirements-determination process (to include conducting studies and experimentation). The FOC provide the focus for the Army's science and technology programs. The following paragraphs outline some of the specific FOC that focus on topographic operations and terrain visualization.
C-195. Information management (IM) provides the capability to receive and process customer requirements; order imagery, imagery-and-geospatial-information (IGI) products, or other information; schedule and assign exploitation tasks; provide status reports; and manage the delivery of information through Army Imagery and Geospatial Information and Services (AIGIS) or the US Imagery and Geospatial Information Service (USIGS). Information management also provides the services that monitor and direct activity and information flow throughout AIGIS/USIGS. This capability accepts customer requirements for creating new information and assigns tasks to one (or several) of three other FOC (exploitation, archive and dissemination [A&D], and collection and processing [C&P]) to obtain or create required mission-specific information. The IM capability tracks the status of all requests and assigned tasks so that users can monitor the progress toward satisfying their information needs. It also exchanges information with entities beyond AIGIS (such as the ABCS and USIGS) in a common format. These include tip-offs to support cross-cueing with other intelligence disciplines and delivery instructions (push, pull, priority, and profile) that facilitate the management of communications resources shared by AIGIS and other enterprises. Seven key and enabling elements support this FOC.
C-196. The information-requirements-management (IRM) element provides the capabilities for receiving, validating, prioritizing, and entering all AIGIS information requirements. This element provides the initial work flow and breaks down orders into collection, processing, exploitation, and dissemination requirements. It includes a common shared-requirements database that records all AIGIS/USIGS requirements for collecting, processing, exploiting, and disseminating. The shared-requirements database interacts with a greater all-source intelligence-community distributed-requirements database. The IRM element provides—
C-197. The ICM element manages collection requirements received from the IRM element and sends taskings to collection sources to satisfy the requirement. The ICM enabler allows the IRM element to graphically view the collection assets available and their capabilities. It also provides an indication on collection nominations being successfully fulfilled. The ICM element coordinates the assignment of collection requirements across multiple collection sources (including national, airborne, ground, commercial, and other information sources). It does not control the specific collection assets or resources of these sources; it simply tasks them based on their capabilities and current availability. Specific planning for using and scheduling a collection source's assets remains with the owner of that resource. Status messages concerning a source's current operational status, resource usage, and progress toward satisfying assigned tasks are passed back to the ICM element. The ICM element also works with the cross-cueing element for automated collection tasking.
C-198. The IPM element accepts, manages, tracks, and assigns production requirements received from the IRM element. The IPM element manages these requirements and sends production taskings to exploitation environments that have the capability and capacity to satisfy the requirement. The IPM element coordinates the production assignment across multiple exploitation environments throughout its administrative domain. It does not control the specific job assignment or work-flow management for exploitation assets; it simply tasks the exploitation environment based on its skills, capabilities, and current availability. Specific planning for using and scheduling exploitation resources remains with the owner of those resources. Status messages concerning an exploitation environment's operational status, resource availability, and progress toward satisfying assigned tasks are passed back to the IPM element from the exploitation environment's work-group-management element.
C-199. The IDM element controls the flow of information through AIGIS/USIGS. It accepts delivery requirements and sends delivery instructions to the appropriate information sources, libraries, archives, and exploitation environments. The IDM element receives the delivery status from AIGIS/USIGS libraries. This allows informed decisions to be made about the delivery of information, such as the time of delivery, the selection of the network, and the selection of the source location (if the data exists in multiple locations). The IDM element will contain a rule set for executing decisions that may change due to different scenarios. It will also have the capability to interface with the WIN and Defense Information System Network (DISN) communications-management enabler for managing communications support provided by the Army Signal Corps and the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). As the IDM element receives the delivery status from delivery and library systems used by AIGIS/USIGS, it will collect metrics and forward the requirement status to the WIN/DISN communications-management element. The IDM element also maintains delivery profiles. As user information changes, the IRM element provides this information to the IDM element, which maintains tailored delivery profiles for its users. These profiles are used by AIGIS/USIGS library components to support standing retrieval functions.
C-200. The work-group-management element manages taskings assigned to the exploitation environment. It assigns jobs, allocates resources, and tracks the tasking's progress. The work-group-management element receives assignments from the IPM element and manages their allocation and execution within the work group. A work-group-management component may support one or more exploitation environments, but generally, each environment will have access to its services to manage job execution and resource allocation within the environment.
C-201. Cross-cueing management enables data sharing and automatic collection tasking between intelligence and battlefield systems for the purpose of alerting these systems to a given, predefined activity tip-off. The exchange of tip-off information extends beyond AIGIS/USIGS to the other intelligence and battlefield functional areas.
C-202. The WIN/DISN communications-management element is an Army- and DISA-provided service that optimizes the use of communications networks. The IDM element interfaces with the ICM element to manage the flow of IGI through the WIN and the DISN.
C-203. The IGI C&P capability collects and processes source information required to produce imagery, imagery-system-derived measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT), imagery intelligence, and GI. It obtains imagery (in various spectra) and other data with associated support data (such as coordinates and ephemeral data). The C&P functions gather collected data from sensor-specific signals and convert it into standard forms and formats that are useful for either direct interpretation by customers or subsequent exploitation and product generation using the exploitation element. This processed data is provided to the A&D element for cataloging, storage, and delivery to customers. The C&P element receives taskings from the IM environment and provides processed data to the A&D element for delivery and storage. The C&P element provides the IM element with the collection status as the tasks are accepted, scheduled, executed, and completed. It also provides information and imagery to AIGIS/USIGS from airborne (theater, tactical, and national airborne collection), commercial (commercial imagery service providers), national, and other IGI sources. Other information sources include, but are not limited to, interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR), names data, bathymetric data, navigational data, geodetic data, geophysical data, aeronautical data, gravity data, foreign and civil imagery, maps, and reference material. Seven key and enabling elements support this FOC.
C-204. Airborne C&P includes the sensor, platform-image-processing (onboard or ground-based), image-screening, and other capabilities required to collect and capture imagery in theater. This element will collect and process imagery and imagery screening on the collection platform or on the ground before its acceptance by a library or a colocated exploitation environment. The screened imagery is delivered to the exploitation and production environment where exploited products are developed. The screened imagery is also provided to AIGIS/USIGS libraries for storage and dissemination to customers.
C-205. Airborne mission management and planning supports airborne C&P operations. This element receives taskings from the ICM element and distributes them to the C&P resources under its control. It is controlled by operational elements to meet mission objectives. The airborne-mission-management-and-planning element provides the airborne C&P element with critical information (such as mission planning, mission control, navigation routes, flight control, flight status, and sensor-control data).
C-206. Theater downlinked-(TDL) imagery processing provides the capability to receive, process, and screen in-theater imagery on the ground before its acceptance by a library or a colocated exploitation environment. The screened imagery is delivered to the exploitation and production environment where exploited products are developed. The screened imagery is also provided to AIGIS/USIGS libraries for storage and dissemination to customers.
C-207. The components within the commercial-imagery-sources environment are largely not AIGIS/USIGS components, but are private-sector service providers. The specific arrangements of components within these service providers' enterprises are based on their own business rules and needs. However, it is assumed that service providers will offer their products for delivery either electronically or as physical media (digital or hard copy) and that they will provide access for users to search their holdings and order imagery and products. Select AIGIS units will have the capability to receive commercial imagery downlinked to their locations. Units requesting commercial imagery are responsible for paying for this imagery directly or having the imagery paid for through a DOD license agreement. Imagery purchased by NIMA or other DOD organizations will be licensed for use across the DOD/Title-50 communities. If broader access (such as a coalition) is required, broader licenses may be purchased. Licensed commercial imagery will be stored in the Commercial Satellite Imagery Library, which will control enterprise-wide access to ensure that only those licensed for its use are allowed to retrieve the data.
C-208. Service-provider resource management is the interface provided by the vendor for ordering commercial imagery. It allows commercial imagery to be exploited in a full range of military environments (strategic to tactical).
C-209. A geodetic and topographic survey provides highly accurate positioning and orientation information in the form of SCPs used for navigation aids, fire, and imagery control, and for airport-obstruction chart surveys. Differential GPS sites are established to assist in precise navigation.
C-210. Assisted/automated target recognition (ATR), assisted/automated feature extraction (AFE), and automated change detection (ACD) are components of both IGI C&P and exploitation. They are capabilities needed to improve the capacity, efficiency, and timeliness of AIGIS. Future volumes of imagery have the potential to overwhelm the AIGIS exploitation work force and systems that do not use these new methods. The ATR and ACD components will be used for automatic target cueing and image triage. Large volumes of imagery can be searched, prioritized, and enhanced in a tailored manner before being presented to an analyst. In some cases, reports can be drafted and databases can be updated automatically. Similarly, the AFE component will be used to locate, bound, identify, and attribute objects of interest in support of GI production. The ATR, ACD, and AFE capabilities will be provided as centralized preprocessing services and as flexible, tailorable work-group tools.
C-211. The IGI-exploitation-environment capability produces imagery intelligence and GI. It provides the capabilities and services that allow AIGIS personnel (particularly imagery analysts, topographic analysts, and other GI specialists) to generate imagery intelligence and geospatial information and products to support the military decision-making process (MDMP). To support planning, the exploitation environment provides services for internally managing assets (such as personnel and equipment), tracking a task's status, assembling work packages, and supporting other work-flow-management functions. The exploitation environment may receive IGI directly from the C&P, or it may retrieve source information from the A&D element to support its information- and product-generation processes. To facilitate the execution of assigned information-generation tasks, the exploitation environment provides tools to establish a collaborative environment to manipulate, analyze, and fuse information from various sources. This information is then used to create new imagery intelligence and geospatial information and products. This environment includes exploitation and A&D components. Each exploitation environment has an assigned set of tasks and allocated resources to support those tasks. Exploitation environments may be set up hierarchically and may range in size from a single-person work group to an exploitation center. An environment may be physically colocated and unified, or it may be virtually unified and physically distributed across the imagery and geospatial community's organizations and sites. The exploitation environment is a flexible work unit with direct access to the following functional enablers:
C-212. While some exploitation environments may not include all enablers, most of them will. A single enabler could be shared among multiple exploitation environments, with the level of service granted or guaranteed to the environment governed by the operating rules defined and enforced by the work-group-management component. Exploitation environments will exist within the Army at service level, Army-component commands, and echelons corps and below. Exploitation tools will enable the necessary functionality and performance to exploit and produce imagery intelligence and GI. Exploitation tools include scalable hardware and software with the functionality and performance necessary to exploit imagery and other sources and to produce imagery intelligence and geospatial information and products. Five exploitation enablers support this FOC.
C-213. The ATR, AFE, and ACD elements are components of both the IGI exploitation and C&P capabilities. These elements are needed to improve the capacity, efficiency, and timeliness of AIGIS. Future volumes of imagery have the potential to overwhelm the AIGIS exploitation work force and systems without these new methods. The ATR and ACD components will be used for automatic target cueing and image triage. Large volumes of imagery can be searched, prioritized, and enhanced in a tailored manner before being presented to an analyst. In some cases, reports can be drafted and databases can be updated automatically. Similarly, the AFE component will be used to locate, bound, identify, and attribute objects of interest in support of GI production. The ATR, ACD, and AFE elements will serve as the centralized preprocessing services and as flexible, tailorable work-group tools.
C-214. Data-preparation capabilities provide the means to acquire imagery, imagery intelligence, geospatial data and associated metadata; access source materials for content and completeness; identify shortfalls; augment source materials with auxiliary data; assemble work packages for exploitation; and perform the imagery-screening function associated with motion and video imagery exploitation. The data-preparation component also transforms legacy products into usable formats. It provides for automated ortho- and geo-rectification of selected national and theater images. This will not delay the immediate analysis of the imagery.
C-215. The data-analysis element provides the capability to display and manipulate imagery and geospatial data for analysis and to extract, integrate, and conflate information. The data-exploitation component uses a suite of imagery and geospatial-imagery analysis, information-extraction, and information-validation tools to support the extraction of imagery intelligence and GI from various sources.
C-216. The information-generation element provides the capability to use multiple types of input to prepare finished GI and imagery intelligence in standard and user-specified formats. The information-generation element provides final quality control, validation, and security review and the release of data produced by AIGIS entities.
C-217. Exploitation support provides common-processing functions used in data preparation, data exploitation, and information generation. It provides local exploitation task management and data control. Exploitation support also performs exploitation-status collection and reports results to the work-group management element.
C-218. The A&D capability provides seamless access to AIGIS/USIGS. It also provides the capability to store, catalog, retrieve, replicate, and disseminate information across AIGIS/USIGS. The A&D element receives imagery, imagery intelligence, and GI from both the C&P element and the exploitation environment. This element responds to the customer with the requested imagery or geospatial information and products, or it indicates that the request cannot be filled with existing information. The A&D element receives delivery instructions from the IM element to coordinate information movement and storage across AIGIS/USIGS.
C-219. Storage services maintain the information holdings of AIGIS/USIGS and ensure that these holdings are available to authorized customers. Operating security levels for AIGIS/USIGS libraries and USIGS archives may range from unclassified (U) to secret (S) to top secret/sensitive compartmented information (TS/SCI). The IGI libraries are maintained for internal exploitation and for external dissemination.
C-220. Discovery services allow customers to research available information by searching catalogs describing AIGIS/USIGS information holdings. A global catalog enables the customers to search the holdings of multiple libraries with a single query and to receive a single, consolidated query response.
C-221. Dissemination and retrieval services allow users to obtain a copy of information maintained in AIGIS/USIGS holdings through brilliant push and pull strategies. Automated, knowledge-based information services increase responsiveness and ensure synchronization across the battle space.
C-222. Access services provide a common, web-technology-based interface for accessing the services of other components. It provides a common gateway to access information stored by the A&D element's components and to request and track the creation of new information using the IM element's components. The global catalog will support discovery services by allowing users to view the contents of multiple associated AIGIS/USIGS libraries.
C-223. Media-generation services provide capabilities supporting the generation of physical media (including film, hard-copy, and digital media). The media-generation services allow users to request the creation and delivery of media in physical form as an alternative to the electronic delivery provided directly by dissemination and retrieval services. There are four primary subelements to this element:
C-224. Communications infrastructure provides the capabilities used by the IM, C&P, exploitation, and A&D capabilities. The resources and services of the communications-infrastructure capability are provided by organizations outside of the imagery and geospatial community, and they may be shared by AIGIS/USIGS and other enterprises. Having robust, on-demand communication pathways capable of horizontal and vertical IGI information flow is critical to the successful fulfillment of AIGIS/USIGS concepts. Primary enablers include—