The Mounted / Dismounted Interface
Integrated Mission Systems (as per GVA)
With the advent of digitised vehicles and digitised soldiers comes the often-spoken problem of the Mounted/Dismounted interface. That is, how does a soldier connect with the vehicle when they climb in and what benefits might that enable.
Many modern military vehicles have digitised architectures and distributed power backbones. Documents such as the UK’s Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA) and the US Victory standard define how power and data infrastructure should be implemented within the vehicle and how platform mission systems may be integrated. Theses mission systems usually include Local Situational Awareness (typically cameras to give the crew all round vision), Communications (giving the crew access to the radio comms) and the Battlefield Management System (giving the crew access to mapping, location of assets and areas of interest). All these are accessed via a common display located at each crew station.
UltraLYNX connecting an EUD (running ATAK) to the vehicle databus (running DDS Middleware)
For these subsystems to communicate with each other, the architecture standards define a set of databus messages or “services” that are used by each vendor to ensure interoperability. For GVA, these messages are defined as topics within a Data Distribution Service (DDS) which resides within each sub-system on the platform. DDS, an open standard middleware, defines a near real-time, publish-subscribe architecture for connecting critical systems.
Each sub-system simply publishes and/or subscribes to a series of available services. For instance, “Vehicle location” is published by the navigation sub-system, allowing each crew-station to subscribe to it as opposed to having individual GPS hardware.
By defining the DDS messages, GVA enables a kind of plug and play architecture, where new sub-systems can be added and easily integrated as long as they comply with the message set, also known as topic definitions (these are found in the UK Land Data Model).
UltraLYNX running DDS with a WPDT Power & Data connection to the vehicle
Recognising that modern military platforms offer these power and data architectures we can easily start to explore the benefits the Mounted/Dismounted Interface might offer. Firstly, there are obvious benefits to re-charge the soldier’s battery from the vehicle, but what about accessing the vehicle sub-systems? The potential to gain information from vehicle camera feeds or perhaps updating GPS and situational awareness from the BMS enhances preparedness. Another use case may be that data from the soldier can be ‘uploaded to the vehicle (things like battery usage, imagery and even 9 Line reports).
For the dismounted soldier to “plug in”, their own digital architecture must be able to send and receive DDS messages. The soldier would appear as a new “sub-system” on the vehicle and be able to subscribe to any of the platform services as well as publish their local information onto the platform. This is exactly what Ultra has done with its UltraLYNX smart hub. Utilising the hubs application processor, DDS middleware has been deployed within its own software ‘container’ and via one of its data ports, the hub provides GVA compatible messaging allowing the soldier to access any of the connected vehicle sub-systems via an EUD (or smart goggles). Again, the application processor within UltraLYNX is used to translate the DDS topics to a data format understood by the EUD applications (for instance ATAK).
However, the Mounted/Dismounted interface story does not end here. The physical connection to the vehicle has always been a concern, especially if rapid egress is required, Ultra has been working on a “wireless” power and data solution that not only provides over 100W of electrical power, capable of charging the soldiers battery pack but also up to 100Mb data connectivity that can support DDS messaging.
The WPDT molle mounted receptacle (left) and the receptacle with paddle in-situ (right)
Half of the Wireless Power and Data Transfer (WPDT) system is fitted to each crew seat in the vehicle. Here Power and Data connections are made to the vehicle architecture and the WPDT “paddle” is held in a cradle until needed.
The other half of the WPDT, a receptacle for the paddle, is fitted to the molle on the soldier’s vest. A connection from the receptacle is made to the UltraLYNX hub, where the power and data are routed as required. The paddle is designed to simply slide away, allowing rapid egress when required. In an infantry vehicle or troop carrier, it would be possible for each dismount soldier to simply “connect in” by sliding the paddle into the receptacle.
By combining the DDS data messaging with the WPDT system, Ultra’s concept for the Mounted/Dismounted interface offers a true operational advantage for the digitised soldier of the future.
The potential in the Mounted/Dismounted Interface will undoubtedly not be limited to simply exchanging power or small data updates. As new technologies are developed it is our hope that we can integrate them rapidly and in turn offer greater integration between dismounted soldiers and vehicle crew, ultimately delivering greater collaboration and capability.
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www.ultra-pcs.com | www.ultra.group
