Spatial Environment for Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (SEEMSO)

A key pillar of Air Force strategy is to maintain superiority in the electromagnetic spectrum. Electronic Attack (EA) uses radio frequency emissions to jam, disrupt or even destroy an adversary’s electronic capabilities such as communications, radar, or data links for weapon systems. To accomplish coordinated EA, the DOD has outlined the need to develop Electromagnetic Battle Management (EMBM) capabilities. The 55th Electronic Combat Group (ECG) conducts EMBM and delivers this capability through the EC-130H (Figure 2)  and new, modernized EA-37B  (Figure 1) Compass Call aircraft.  The current state of mission planning for EA requires spreadsheet calculations of jammer effectiveness on target threats. Implied in this method of evaluation is a static environment with point-to-point effectiveness assessments. In contrast, the operational environment is dynamic with EMS effects happening in 3D space. The combination of existing MapLarge capabilities and the proposed solution to create a software extension that will rapidly visualize a hybrid EMS/geospatial view of the operational environment enables a highly flexible application environment to solve the immediate challenges of conducting complex multi emitter analytics for mission planning and execution. Key technical outcomes of this R&D include: 3D data layers for performing spatial analytics (i.e., jam-to-signal ratios in 3D space). Visualization of radiation patterns and analytic products in a 2D and 3D spatial environment, opening new mission operations due to confidence in situational awareness and understanding of EMSO. An application suitable for pre-mission, live operations, and post-mission activities.