FORCEnet:
FORCEnet
(U.S. Navy enterprise network)
is the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps
alignment and integration effort for three major elements: (1)
Department of
Navy Transformation, Joint Interoperability, and Network Centric
Warfare; (2)
Innovation, demonstration, testing, and assessment to achieve Chief of
Naval
Operations’ (CNO) goal of “Speed to Capability”; (3)
Operational requirements,
architectures, standards, compliance, and oversight of Naval programs
to
achieve Joint War-fighting capability. FORCEnet is an operational
construct
composed of multiple different automation systems, network
infrastructure
systems, and telecommunications systems provided by multiple Navy
program
offices and contractors. It is not a
homogenous network or program; rather it serves as a framework to
define the
Navy tactical network and to define the policies to support standards
development, compliance, and interoperability.
FORCEnet connects diverse automation systems that support
multiple
battlespace functions to include Intelligence, Surveillance, and
Reconnaissance
(ISR); operational Command and Control (C2); and logistical functions. These systems are connected via multiple
transmission systems to include satellite, Line of Sight (LOS) radio
systems,
and fixed telecommunication infrastructure.
The automation systems, network infrastructure, and transmission
systems
are supported by multiple Navy programs that were acquired and planned
in a
disjointed fashion resulting in “stovepipes” systems,
custom designed for a
specific purpose. The systems serve
their defined purpose; however, since they were developed in a
divergent
fashion, sharing data between these systems is a significant technical
challenge due to incompatible message formats and protocols. To improve operational efficiency and
accelerate the decision cycle, the Navy must bridge the stovepipes and
improve
data and information interoperability.
Compounding this challenge and contributing to the “fog of
war” is the
vast amount of data that must be processed to convert data to
information and
eventually to knowledge. FORCEnet
and
the network operational constructs from the other services such as
Constellation C2 (Air Force) and Land WarNet (Army), need to bridge the
“stovepipes” and convert the vast amount of data available
to any combatant
commander to actionable intelligence and enhanced situation awareness.
Selected References:
- George
Mason University C4I Center / SEOR Department, Probabilistic Ontologies
for
Net-Centric Operations Systems, June 2009.
- Costa, Laskey, Chang. PROGNOS: Applying
Probabilistic Ontologies to Distributed Predictive Situation Assessment
in
Naval Operations.
- Costa, K.B.
Laskey, K.J. Laskey, Wright. Probabilistic Ontology for Net-Centric
Fusion.
- FORCEnet:
Official U.S. Navy Website, http://forcenet.navy.mil.
- NESI: Net-centric
Enterprise Solutions for Interoperability,
http://nesipublic.spawar.navy.mil.