Handheld Apps for Warfighters

Tactical counter-insurgency (COIN), counter-terrorism, and anti-piracy operations require a combination of human and machine-based ISR collections to be accelerated through the Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (PED) processes of small units. Lightweight mobile communication and computing devices together with highly portable ground-based and small UAS sensors are rapidly enabling new CONOPs for tactical multi-INT support. As a Phase I demonstration of system feasibility, the Geolocation and Tactical Reconnaissance Application for COIN (GeoTRAC) project developed a prototype warfighter application for the handheld Android platform. The prototype shows use of tablets and smartphones for conducting SIGINT operations via remote access to the GEOnet service, a system developed by Ticom Geomatics that supports theater net-centric geolocation using the tactical/national sensor grid. In Phase II, we propose to productize and extend GeoTRAC to support advanced capabilities such as tasking of RF sensors for geolocation, cross-cueing of UAS imagery sensors, manipulation of cached audio and video clips, and improving situational awareness of tactical unit members. Phase II provides an end-to-end capability that will be validated in a realistic Field Demonstration and can be rapidly transitioned. USSOCOM Naval Special Warfare and the US Marine Corps have indicated strong interest in becoming GeoTRAC transition partners. Additional areas for investigation and prototyping in Phase II will be further exploitation of the Android handheld platform as a sensor and integration with other DoD Android apps.