Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
IBCS Completes Warfighter-Centered Design Exercises
by Staff Writers
Huntsville AL (SPX) Dec 21, 2010


The most recent design exercise took place Nov. 16-18 with the Army 11th Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas. The exercise was conducted with 20 soldiers who had a variety of weapon system experience. The IBCS team conducted two previous warfighter-centered design exercises with the 11th ADA Brigade in April and July of this year to test earlier concepts.

The U.S. Army and Northrop Grumman have completed a series of warfighter-centered design exercises for the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS).

The exercises are part of the IBCS development plan that incorporates a disciplined focus on the needs and limitations of the soldier in order to improve and shorten decision and execution cycles when using the system.

"While threats evolve and technologies change, the one constant is the warfighter," said Karen Williams, vice president of Air and Missile Defense Systems for Northrop Grumman's Information Systems sector.

"The IBCS program will not only transform Army air and missile defense for joint and coalition operations, we're partnering with the Army and taking extraordinary means to maximize what is humanly possible given the technology advancements."

IBCS features the warfighter-centered design philosophy and process that gives extensive attention to the needs, wants and limitations of the end user - the warfighter. The design process is based on user involvement, iterative prototyping and user-based assessment. It involves prototyping concepts prior to development and validation testing of the design concepts with actual users.

This ensures that the design satisfies the operational needs of the user and reduces development costs by validating the concepts before the software is built.

The most recent design exercise took place Nov. 16-18 with the Army 11th Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas. The exercise was conducted with 20 soldiers who had a variety of weapon system experience. The IBCS team conducted two previous warfighter-centered design exercises with the 11th ADA Brigade in April and July of this year to test earlier concepts.

The November exercise was the final event of the series scheduled for 2010 and provided significant information for continued efficient software development on the program.

"The usability of a system can be measured," said Ed McAlister, IBCS program director for Northrop Grumman.

"Our interdisciplinary team of software and systems engineers, human factors engineers and graphic artists develop the IBCS system with the human element as an integral part of the system, and these human performance assessments are a crucial part of the process.

"Unprecedented connectivity and value-added information has to be in the right form to enable warfighters to take effective and timely action. Making sure the system capabilities are intuitively usable for the soldier is absolutely critical when split seconds count and lives are at stake," added McAlister.

The IBCS program will provide the Army with its first truly open-architecture and mission-tailorable battle command system for air and missile defense units. The system will utilize an integrated fire control network based on a track management solution that provides vastly improved decision-making aids.

This will enable IBCS to supply warfighters with the data to make time-sensitive tactical decisions under the most demanding conditions and significantly enhance joint integrated air and missile defense operations.

Systems that will be integrated via IBCS include Patriot, Surface-Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (SLAMRAAM), Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor (JLENS), Improved Sentinel radar, and - if the U.S. Department of Defense directs the inclusion - Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS).

.


Related Links
-
Read the latest in Military Space Communications Technology at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Arianespace Will Orbit Sicral 2 Milcomms Satellites
Paris, France (SPX) Dec 07, 2010
Telespazio (Finmeccanica/Thales) has chosen Arianespace to launch the Sicral 2 satellite in the framework of a turnkey contract that the Italian Defense Ministry and the French DGA armament agency (Direction Generale de l'Armement) have with Thales Alenia Space Italy. Arianespace has announced that it has signed a service and solutions launch contract with Telespazio to orbit the new-gener ... read more


MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Total Lunar Eclipse: 'Up All Night' With NASA

Robotic Excavations Could Help Get Helium 3 From Moon To Earth

A Softer Landing on the Moon

Neptec Wins Canadian Space Agency Contract To Develop A New Generation Of Lunar Rovers

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Wind And Water Have Shaped Schiaparelli On Mars

The Three Ages Of Mars

Odyssey Orbiter Nears Martian Longevity Record

Drilling For The Future Of Science

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Voyager Crosses Point Of Solar Stillness

Japan's low-cost space programme pushes the limits

Virgin Galactic To Join NASA Submissions For Orbital Spaceflights

Paolo Nespoli Heads To ISS On MagISStra Mission

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
China Builds Theme Park In Spaceport

Tiangong Space Station Plans Progessing

China-Made Satellite Keeps Remote Areas In Venezuela Connected

Optis Software To Optimize Chinese Satellite Design

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
New ISS Crew Members Set For Friday Arrival

New crew members dock with space station

ISS Tracks Months-Long Voyages Of Ships At Sea

Busy Day For ISS Commander

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Arianespace To Launch ESA's First Sentinel Satellite

The Flight Of The Dragon

SpaceX Dragon Does Two Orbits Before Pacific Splashdown

NASA, SpaceX giddy over historic orbit launch

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Citizen Scientists Join Search For Earth-Like Planets

Qatar-Led International Team Finds Its First Alien World

Planetary Family Portrait Reveals Another Exoplanet

New Pictures Show Fourth Planet In Giant Version Of Our Solar System

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Berkeley Researchers Discover Mobius Symmetry In Metamaterials

Goodrich Begins Environmental Test Of ORS-1 Satellite

Japan telecom firm KDDI to start e-book distribution

New Google TV sets facing delays: reports




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement