Intelligent Ground System Survivability: Ways and Means

Ground vehicle survivability and protection systems and subsystems are increasingly employing sensors to augment and enhance overall platform survivability. These systems sense and measure select attributes of the operational environment and pass this measured “data” to a computational controller which then produces a survivability or protective system response based on that computed data. The data collected is usually narrowly defined for that select system’s purpose and is seldom shared or used by adjacent survivability and protection subsystems. The Army approach toward centralized protection system processing (MAPS Modular APS Controller) provides promise that sensor data will be more judiciously shared between platform protection subsystems in the future. However, this system in its current form, falls short of the full protective potential that could be realized from the cumulative sum of sensor data. Platform protection and survivability can be dramatically enhanced if all incoming sensor “information” and other system metadata can be synthesized beyond limited situational awareness and into situational understanding. Protective response that is informed with synthesized information and doctrinal context can significantly enhance vehicle survivability beyond the current layered approach that is sought. Intelligent cognitive processing and augmented with doctrinal analysis processing can realize this enhanced state.

In combat situations, platform commanders are overburdened with the tactical execution of their mission and the simultaneous operation and defense of their platform. This creates a significant cognitive burden on the vehicle commander and crew. Intelligent Ground System Survivability can enhance the platform commander and crew’s situational awareness toward situational understanding, while developing most- suitable and survivable courses of action for the employment of their vehicle platform. This paper will describe the ends of the Intelligent Ground System Survivability concept and propose ways and means in which these ends can be realized.