MISSION PLANNING WORKSTATION

THE IMPORTANCE OF TERRAIN DATA TO THE SUCCESS OF TACTICAL OPERATIONS AND ADVANCES IN COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY HAVE CREATED WIDESPREAD REQUIREMENTS FOR THE UTILIZATION OF DIGITAL TERRAIN DATA (DTD) WITHIN THE ARMY. THE CONCEPTS AND ANALYSIS DIVISION OF THE U.S. ARMY ENGINEER TOPOGRAPHIC LABORATORIES (USAETL) HAS THE PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY FOR MANAGING THESE ARMY REQUIREMENTS AND IS INVESTIGATING THESE TECHNOLOGIES WITH THE EXPECTATION OF STANDARDIZING DTD IMPLEMENTATION IN ARMY TACTICAL SYSTEMS. HORIZONS TECHNOLOGY, INC. (HTI) PROPOSES TO SUPPORT USAETL IN STANDARDIZING THE USE OF DTD THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE DEMONSTRATION TERRAIN BASED MISION PLANNING WORKSTATION. EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES WILL BE ASSESSED DURING THE PHASE I EFFORT FOR INCORPORATION INTO THE TESTBED, INCLUDING ELECTRONIC MAP DISPLAY (EMD), GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS), COMPUTER IMAGE GENERATION (CIG), ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI), AND THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS). EVALUATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENTS AND OPERATIONAL AND COMBAT REQUIREMENTS WILL CULMINATE IN THE DEFINITION OF FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE TESTBED AND A SYSTEM FEASIBILITY DEMONSTRATION. MANY ARMY REQUIREMENTS FOR EMD HAVE BEEN SATISIFIED IN MISSION PLANNING SYSTEMS PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED BY HTI. THE EFFORT IS A DIRECT EXTENSION OF SUCCESSFUL HTI RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AND WILL BENEFIT FROM HTI'S REIDENT EXPERTISE IN THESE TECHNOLOGIES AND ONGOING INTERNAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS.