Vanguard Magazine

T The laST WoRd Satellites, communications equipment, radios, sensors, controls, and computer systems. These are typically the things come to mind when C4ISR is discussed. However, at the recently held C4ISR and Beyond 2016 event hosted by Vanguard, top military officials made it clear that they wanted equipment and service vendors to consider seriously an- other factor – the person that will be using the their products. In the age of the Internet of Everything, mobile and connectiv- ity technologies have turned almost every device, every endpoint, including the foot soldier, into a node or sensor that collects in- formation. But more importantly, "every soldier is a consumer of information," according to Col. Sean Sullivan, director of land command and information. In speaking at the panel which discussed how C4ISR will enable military operations in the next decade, Sullivan reminded C4ISR vendors to consider the complexity of the battlefield. There was a time when information and the networks they trav- eled on were divided into tactical, operational and strategic. "Today that concept no longer exists," says Sullivan. "The in- formation exchange requirement calls for relaying data to the HQ but also information exchanges among troops on the ground" so that they can make well-informed decisions. In designing networks and equipment, vendors need to be mindful of building in interoperability that enables communica- tions between various channels but also building in robust secu- rity capabilities. Technical complexity is a critical barrier for users. "There is no standard army network," explains Sullivan. "Every time the army goes out, the network demand is slightly different. But what our soldiers need is a system that is designed to be simple." In far too many instances, the military simply does not have two to three months to build and operate a communication structure. It is critical to understand what customers intend to use the equipment for and how they will be using it. Sullivan suggests providers strive to get this information from the users and pay closer attention to this instead of chiefly focusing on meeting the technical requirements they find in an RFI. In the civilian world, it seems that mobile communication de- vices iterate every three months. But in the military, troops often do not have the luxury of time to familiarize themselves with every new version of a product. Providers need to "take away the complexity" of products in order for the soldier to quickly learn how to effectively operate these devices. "The army can't hire a technician or IT expert to become a sergeant. Most likely an IT expert would go to the private sec- tor," says Sullivan. "What we do is train our sergeants to become technicians and IT experts." Keeping C4iSr simple by nestor arellano 46 aPRiL/may 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com A Canadian soldier performs a radio check prior to their departure from Kandahar Airfield on their way to a Canadian Forward Observation Base (FOB) outside Kandahar City, Afghanistan. Photo by: MCpl Robert Bottrill, Canadian Forces Combat Camera

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