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Wide Bandwidth Information Infrastructure Program ("WBII")IntroductionScience Applications International Corporation (SAIC) was awarded a $6.3 million contract from the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Advanced Technology Directorate, on May 5, 2000 for the Wide Bandwidth Information Infrastructure (WBII) program. The period of performance is 18 months. WBII is applying advanced information technology that will help facilitate the development of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Navy Theater Wide (NTW) missile defense programs sponsored by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). WhoSAIC is the WBII prime and integrating contractor. SAIC's wholly owned subsidiary, Telcordia, of Morristown, NJ is a team member, along with Galaxy Scientific Corporation (Warminster, PA and Egg Harbor,, N3); Decisive Analytics Corporation (Crystal City, VA), Miltec Corporation (Huntsville, AL), COLSA Inc., (Huntsville, AL), the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the MITRE Corporation. WhatThe main objective of WBII is to create additional system-level Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) test capabilities for Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPS) supported by the BMDO. WBII is providing next generation network connectivity and software run-time interfaces to link together previously stand-alone, geographically distributed, HWIL facilities (e.g. radar, battle manager, launcher, and missile) to create a system-level test capability for the THAAD and NTW programs. Advanced networking is required to provide the stable low latency, high bandwidth communications infrastructure and distributed services needed for a true systems-level capability. The WBII team is also investigating networking architectures and technologies to support requirements for Battlefield Learning and Adaptation (BFLA). BFLA is an ongoing development under BMDO's Project Hercules Initiative that will provide battlefield data to a CONUS "analysis network" and return tactical software changes to fielded systems. WBII is assisting in the development of the connectivity for the collection, dissemination, and distribution of missile defense data and software between and among the fielded and CONUS elements. Where/WhenOn both August 22nd and 28th, 2000, a team led by SAIC successfully demonstrated the first network connectivity solution under the WBII Program at the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL. The WBII team demonstrated a regional real-time, high-bandwidth, encrypted fiber optic network that connects two geographically distributed hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) facilities of the THAAD Evaluation Center (TEC). The TEC provides a reconfigurable, integrated test bed of THAAD tactical hardware and software, models and simulations to support engineering analyses and assessments of THAAD system performance. The WBII program, the THAAD Project Office, and the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) jointly implemented the WBII network, which will remain in place for use by THAAD. The next level of connectivity will be demonstrated for the NTW program in August of 2001. NTW network performance is challenged by the increased geographical distance between the Aegis Weapons System (radar) Combat Systems Engineering Development Sites (CSEDS) in Moorestown, NJ and the Raytheon Missile Systems Company Standard Missile-III SIL in Tucson, AZ. The WBII team is working closely with TBE and TMI to implement an HLA-compliant simulation of THAAD with the Theater Missile Defense System Exerciser (TMDSE). The team is assisting with the development of the preliminary Federation Object Model (FOM), supporting the selection of an High Level Architecture (HLA) Tool Suite and supporting the selection of an Run Time Interface (RTI). As part the RTI selection process, the WBII team is using the FastLAB to evaluate the real-time aspects (including latency) of free and commercially available RTIS. HowWBII is providing low/controlled latency and high bandwidth enabling networking technology using advanced Department of Defense networks for missile defense applications. The WBII baseline network services will be provided using the Defense Information Services Network - Leading Edge Services (DISN-LES), the same network selected for the Joint Distributed Engineering Plant (IDEP). DISN-LES offers authorized networking at the US Secret level over the public Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) backbone through the use of National Security Agency (NSA) Type I encryption. WBII is also adding new functionality, including real-time network latency monitoring and alarms, and the use of dynamic Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology to support message prioritization, traffic management, and security among several applications inside of one entry portal. The VPN technology will also provide a growth path to advanced Internet Protocol (IP) networks such as Internet-2, Abilene, and VBNS+, which offer ubiquitous connections to the nation's universities. HLA compliant federations interact through the RTI. Test plans are currently being developed to benchmark available partial & full implementations of the RTI, determine their strengths and stressing their capabilities. Once benchmarks are available, comparison between RTI's will be performed, analyzed and made available. WBII will develop and test the RTIs that govern the HLA protocols mandated for distributed simulations by the Department of Defense. WBII will develop HLA compliance plans for the TMDSE, and will test available RTIs to determine their ability to meet the communication latency and bandwidth requirements for geographically distributed HWIL and simulation performance. Follow-on PlansFollow-on plans to the WBII program are being made in the form of a joint HUBS-Southeastern Region program (Alabama, Tennessee, etc.) program to:
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