New Tech Brings Data to 'Tactical Edge'.

• Author: Heckmann, Laura

Situational awareness once depended on outdated maps, phone tag and spotty internet connections. Today, edge computing technology is providing situational awareness to the warfighter in minutes.

Delayed information in a contested environment literally weaponizes time, said Ki Lee, chief technology officer at Booz Allen Hamilton's global defense sector.

Booz Allen invested in small business Reveal Technology to fight time with decentralized data. Reveal created a platform called Farsight--a software application that receives images from drones or surveillance platforms and rapidly creates threedimensional, situational awareness products for mission planning.

While Defense Department operations have become "much more decentralized" over the past decade, "from a data perspective, the prevalent pattern is to centralize data--bring that data from the sensor to the ground station, copied over numerous times to every single operation center," Lee said.

The time lag created in the data's slog through a centralized model is "huge," Lee said. "Our technology, and what we wanted to do, was actually extend from the centralized pattern to a decentralized pattern through a data mesh." Booz Allen modeled the internet, he said.

Booz Allen's internet model and data mesh concept allow data discovery and access "where it exists without having to move it," he said. "You're accessing it where it persists, and it's resilient. It's available wherever you're at."

Reveal's CEO Garrett Smith defined the "edge" as the point at which tactical decisions are being made and executed. And that's exactly where he's bringing the data.

Farsight's AI-powered capabilities include real-time 2D and 3D mapping, line-of-sight analysis and route planning. A tour of the website reveals red and green-blotched layouts of thermal imaging, vertical measurement tools and detailed 3D models equipped with drag-and-rotate features that allow clicking through city streets and swirling around aerial views.

The software allows for rapid creation of geospatial intelligence by operators at the point of decision, Smith said. Untethered from distant headquarters, the software is organically controlled and owned "right there on the edge." Historically, entities operating in tactical environments were reliant on higher headquarters or remote processing and exploitation intelligence cells for situational awareness, Smith said. "They were kind of left to their own devices."

Unencumbered by network...