Military Embedded Systems

Military IoT nears achievement during bi-directional data sharing test

News

December 16, 2020

Emma Helfrich

Technology Editor

Military Embedded Systems

U.S. Air Force photo.

WASHINGTON. The joint force announced it has taken another step toward achieving a military Internet of Things (IoT) after fifth-generation aircraft overcame long standing connectivity limitations to share actionable operational data in their native secure digital “languages” with and through multiple sources for the first time.

This test was the latest demonstration of the open architecture Advanced Battle Management System. The joint effort included a Marine Corps F-35B variant and the Air Force F-22 Raptor and F-35A Lightning II variant flying with an attritableONE XQ-58A Valkyrie for the first time. 

According to officials, fifth-generation fighters are typically limited to communicating with each other and to command and control centers via legacy tactical data connections. gatewayONE is designed to translate between formats, and during testing showed that it can move data that is normally relegated to an operations center or tactical ground node, directly pushing it into the cockpit at the edge of the multi-domain battlespace for the first time.

Additionally, the test pushed the position data of each platform outside of the aircraft’s close-proximity formation through gatewayONE, which is intended to enable battle managers on the ground or in the air to better orchestrate operations. Officials claim that these bi-directional communications pathways occurred in the platforms’ native digital “languages” and the data was displayed through the aircrafts’ organic systems.

 

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