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Abstract
Near Real-Time Solutions for the U.S. Army's Mobile Positioning Initiative
Track: Defense and Intelligence
Author(s): George Dardouphas, Troy Marsh, Daniel D Moreno
The United States Army in Europe learned important lessons from Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The Government Accounting Office Audit on Operation Desert Storm found that Army officers and supply managers did not have access to reliable information on shipments of materiel and other critical military supplies; some 28,000 cargo containers had to be opened just to determine the contents. The cost to the Army in lost and stolen supplies, wasted personnel time, and in late fees for return to containers to their owners, was staggering.
The Army responded to this challenge by launching the Mobile Positioning Initiative (MPI), which explored solutions to allow the Army to track in near real time the geographic positions of military trailers, trucks, rail cars, and other vehicles. To support this initiative, the Army contracted
Systems Resource Corporation (SRC) to develop and implement a suite of Automatic Identification Technologies (AIT) to perform these tasks. Army vehicles have been equipped with GPS receivers and transponders that regularly record and send vehicle locations to an Oracle database stored on a server at the Logistics Automation Division (LAD) in Fredrichsfeld, Germany. The database establishes linkages between vehicle tags, vehicle locations, and the identification and contents of the cargo being transported.
Until recently, this system, despite its overall complexity and sophistication, lacked a critical component - delivery of vehicle and cargo information, in a user-friendly map format, to key Army decision-makers. CH2M HILL was contracted to design, develop, and deliver a Web-based GIS application (known as the “Logistics Locator”) that would allow Army personnel to view and query the locations of vehicles, positioned throughout the European theater, in near real-time mode. The Army’s functional requirements specified the ways in which vehicles could be selected, tracked, and symbolized on the map.
The Logistics Locator application is comprised of several technical components that were developed and integrated to provide an overall solution that would meet the Army's requirements.
ArcIMS: Esri’s Internet Map Server software is used to manage map data sources, process client requests, and deliver maps to the browser.
ArcSDE Application Server: ArcSDE provides communication between the GIS ArcIMS web server and the relational database management system (Oracle 8). Vehicle locations, and historical tracts, are stored as ArcSDE layers that are accessed by ArcIMS.
Timed Update Application: A Visual Basic/MapObjects component was developed in order to update the ArcSDE vehicle positions with their current locations, as they are received from transponders and entered into the Oracle database.
Base Map Data: The base map layers are used to orient the user and provide a visual reference, or backdrop, upon which vehicle locations are displayed. The base map layers were assembled from a variety of spatial data sources, and are stored as Esri shape files. A sample data set of detailed, highly accurate features covering the Manheim-Heidleberg area, was obtained from TeleAtlas, a European data vendor.
The Logistics Locator is undergoing field testing, and the feedback from field users has been extremelly positive. Plans call for application enhancements and possible global deployment.
George Dardouphas
Titan Systems Corp
HQAUSAMC Europe
Fredrichsfeld, AE 09266
Germany
Phone: 49 621 487 5148
E-mail: george.dardoufas@titan.com