Information advantage: what is a data fabric and why is it essential for armed forces?

Data is a critical resource in the modern battlespace, but it is all too often restricted to silos, limiting its potential. To best seize opportunities, militaries must unify data across disparate sources, empowering commanders and frontline units with the information and insights they need – at speed.

For C4ISR software specialist Systematic, the answer is to build a framework that pulls data together across different platforms and in every domain, providing a consistent, coherent and accessible viewpoint. Such a solution produces a fluid data ecosystem, enabling faster insights that are empowered by automation and AI – a “data fabric”.

Why is this so vital today? Chris Harris, lead solution architect at Systematic UK, describes a battlespace that is increasingly defined by data proliferation at the edge. This has been driven by the rapid expansion of sensors, from body-worn equipment to satellites and uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), as well as more “traditional” land, sea and air platforms.

This proliferation comes on top of an explosion in commercial, open-source data, such as AIS in the naval domain and ADS-B in aviation. On top of this, the volume of intelligence produced by social media is continuously expanding, while militaries must also interact with the information provided by connected partners, coalitions and various agencies.

Data at the edge

Not only is data increasing in volume, but armed forces are engaging with that data in new ways. Advances in computing and the development of smaller sensors have led to a bias towards edge-based processing, rather than the previous, centralised approach, noted Harris. This brings significant positives, notably reducing the load on bearer systems.

“The old model was gathering a lot of data, putting that down a pipe somewhere for central processing, and then expecting a result sometime later,” he said. “That's clearly gone now – you can take that data, analyse it, process it right at the edge, and send the result back.”

This provides clear advantages for warfighters and commanders. However, it must be exploited effectively. Data can easily become restricted to in silos, with all the limitations that implies for integration, interoperability and accessibility.

How do data fabrics overcome this problem? The concept is built on architectural approaches that are designed to connect disparate sources together, Harris explained, integrating information across platforms, personnel and equipment – in all domains.

“Data fabrics cover everything from the smallest sensor all the way through to cloud-hosted data lakes,” Harris noted. “They provide a consistent, coherent view right across the data landscape.”

Ukraine lessons

The importance of effective data fabrics can already be seen in the modern battlespace. The war in Ukraine, for instance, has provided crucial lessons about the power of speedy and effective data-driven insights.

At a basic level, it is clear that effective information transfer is vital to support warfighting capability, Harris said. The Ukraine conflict has also highlighted the vital importance of speed in decision-making and fusion of intelligence across domains, he noted.

Additionally, data fabrics empower rapid deployment of algorithms, Harris said, which can be used to predict enemy movements and in other roles. Another prominent use case seen in Ukraine and other conflicts is the vital importance of crowd-sourced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

“People become sensors with their phones, with their eyes, and the data fabric gives them a mechanism to contribute,” he explained.

The SitaWare solution

For the more than 50 nations which operate the SitaWare software suite, this data fabric advantage is already at their fingertips.

SitaWare provides combat-proven commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software that enables seamless operability and C4ISR capability across all domains. For mobile operations, SitaWare Frontline, which enables battle management and tactical communications for the mounted commander; and SitaWare Edge, designed for use by dismounted personnel, give situational awareness for those on the ground. For higher level command operations, SitaWare Headquarters provides situational awareness, planning and orders capabilities, intelligence support, joint interoperability, and multidomain situational awareness.

These solutions are built on two core technologies that enable effective data distribution and management across the battlespace, Harris explained. First, SitaWare Headquarters Communication (SHC) provides seamless data exchange on a large scale; it is designed for use in data-rich environments, such as command centres, he said.

Second, SitaWare Tactical Communications (STC) empowers militaries with a communications backbone, allowing data exchange across tactical networks, whether individual soldiers in the field, commanders at the edge or personnel in headquarters.

Together, these tools enable advanced data orchestration and scalable capture, on both a large scale (at headquarters level) and for resilient, tactical information exchange in challenging conditions.

Open architecture

Data fabrics must be both flexible and resilient. SitaWare captures data across the battlespace, both structured and unstructured. It is extensible, Harris added, meaning it can include a wide range of data types and incorporate new sources as needed.

Each component in the SitaWare suite is a “data injection point”, Harris explained. With multiple instances of the software across the battlespace, militaries have access to a robust, expansive data fabric covering all domains.

“You've got a common, standards-based unifying data model that underpins the software. This provides a single source of truth across the battlespace, overcoming the danger of operational silos,” Harris noted.

Crucially, SitaWare has an open architecture and is interoperable by design, meaning it can work with more than 20 military and civilian data protocols. This includes NATO’s Federated Mission Networking (FMN) framework, the Multilateral Interoperability Programme, and a range of other protocols.

Importantly, SitaWare’s application programming interfaces (APIs) enable users to seamlessly exchange data from third-party applications and support systems or sensors that do not utilise standard protocols.

Likewise, the system is designed to work across different radios and other communications systems; thanks to its APIs and software development kits (SDKs), users can introduce SitaWare’s digitalised BMS technology into their operations, no matter their equipment.

“Customers aren’t locked in. They don't have to come to us to do that integration – they have complete flexibility to engineer the integration points for systems, sensors and radios,” Harris emphasised.

Capability in adversity

While the data fabric concept may seem novel, SitaWare customers have always had access to it, Harris stressed. There is no need to pursue an additional capability, with all the integration risk and cost that entails.

“Using ‘out-of-the-box’ supported protocols with plug-and-play interoperability reduces integration risk tremendously,” he said, with adaptability further enhanced through the use of APIs and SDKs.

The SitaWare suite’s effectiveness as a data fabric has been proven in operational use, with the software utilised by over 50 nations and NATO. It is regularly tested in exercises, such as NATO’s Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exploration (CWIX), the US Army’s Project Convergence, and Talisman Sabre, led by the US and Australia.

Additionally, Harris stressed the importance of data sovereignty. With SitaWare, the data is maintained within industry-standard storage mechanisms, but it is held in customer-owned and managed environments. This allows for flexibility across different types of infrastructure.

Systematic pays careful attention to customer feedback, adjusting and enhancing the software accordingly. “Our customers are willing to share that feedback with us so that the products can be improved for them,” Harris noted. “It's all about trust.”

Of course, militaries must operate in challenging environments; they need uninterrupted data exchange even in denied, degraded, intermittent and limited (DDIL) conditions. The SitaWare data fabric is designed to function seamlessly in such landscapes.

The STC solution can operate across any data-capable communications barrier, whether SATCOM, 5G or WiFi. Its resilience and adaptability are founded on a PACE approach, meaning it can move quickly through primary, alternate, contingency and emergency communication methods depending on need, Harris noted.

It also benefits from local autonomy, he explained, even if the wider network suffers outages in DDIL environments. “Our support for decentralised deployment – which favours edge-based computing – means that local results can still be ingested, analysed and used. STC ensures those local nodes sync with others when the comms links come back up.”

Enduring advantage

As AI expands in military use and platforms such as drones proliferate in the battlespace, the data environment will only become more complex, presenting both challenges and opportunities. An effective data fabric will be essential to make sense of the environment and to thrive across domains.

The challenge and the opportunity today is to access all that data and make sense of it quickly, to support faster decision-making, develop more accurate common operating pictures, and produce enhanced intelligence, Harris concluded.

“Because the capability already exists in SitaWare, our customers can access it far more quickly, with much less risk, and at a lower cost.”