Today’s combat scenarios complicate tracking, monitoring of forces.

IDGA Future Ground Forces Interview with Dr. Carole Teolis of TRX Systems

07:53 GMT, August 31, 2010 Dr. Carole Teolis*, the Chief Technology Officer of TRX Systems Inc., recently discussed with Nick Younker, Senior Editor of the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement (IDGA), the difficulties of tracking and monitoring dismounted ground forces in our current wars. Further, in the following interview, she explores the expansion of an embedded training project to provide soldiers with expanded situational awareness in theater.
Dr. Teolis will speak Monday, September 20th, at the Future Ground Forces Lightening the Load & Dismounted Soldier Technology Focus Day.


Q. (NY): What do you see as the biggest difficulty for tracking and monitoring dismounted ground forces is in our current wars?

A. (CT): In Iraq and Afghanistan soldiers are increasingly tasked with conducting operations in either complex urban or remote and potentially cavernous environments. In both cases, GPS signals are often severely corrupted or unavailable due to partial or complete obstructions of the satellite signals. An additional issue is that GPS signals can be jammed or spoofed so that GPS is unavailable or erroneous in regions where one might expect good GPS to be available. Situational awareness in such environments is critical but very difficult to attain.

In the US, cell phone providers have developed systems that “fall back” to cell tower triangulation schemes or knowledge of Wi-Fi access points and signal strength maps to get some very course position information indoors. These capabilities are sufficient for many consumer applications. Now that these additional systems have been integrated seamlessly with GPS into our phones, many people are not even aware that GPS does not provide any position information in most buildings.

However, these cell and Wi-Fi systems are highly dependent on installed infrastructure that is not under US control and their accuracy varies widely based on the infrastructure location and availability. Elevation information is not provided so it is not possible to determine exactly where in a building a person might be. In a combat situation, while we may be able to get information from these signals of opportunity, it certainly cannot be relied upon. Reliable solutions for military GPS denied navigation must have a basic component that is infrastructure free.


Q. (NY) How do you see future ground forces overcoming the challenge of maintaining strong situational awareness in the current conflicts we face, which are both urban and in remote locations?

A. (CT) Soldier modernization programs are increasingly embedding excellent mapping and GPS capabilities in smaller and smaller packages. These newer situational awareness systems show building locations, escape routes, target houses, and deliver communications with battle managers.

In many remote locations GPS signals are good unless they are jammed or blocked by heavy canopy or other structures such as cave walls. GPS availability is more of an issue in urban areas but both situations require some sort of system for backup and augmentation in areas where GPS coverage is poor. Soldiers need high levels of detail and accuracy and systems that can be counted on – indoors and out.

Commercial solutions available in many locations around the world to augment GPS leverage signals of opportunity from surrounding infrastructure such as cell towers, Wi-Fi hot spots, TV signals or location information from “ad hoc” infrastructure (e.g., RFID tags). These solutions are tough to count on in a battlefield environment – even when in an urban center – and as mentioned previously accuracy of the results varies widely based on the infrastructure location and availability.

Augmenting GPS on the battlefield requires software – and in some cases hardware – that can pick up when GPS signals are no longer reliable and fill in these gaps – sometimes for long periods of time. Integration within existing soldier modernization systems will allow deployment of this capability while minimizing size/weight/power impacts – exceptionally important to making such systems realistic in the field.

Stand-alone systems with GPS-denied tracking capabilities can directly be deployed for many training applications. Such systems will allow soldiers to prepare to navigate and search buildings and caves in advance of doing so on the battlefield.


Q. (NY) In areas with limited infrastructure or in areas that are not firmly under friendly control how will ground forces and commanders in the future still be able to keep a clear battlefield picture to maintain the advantage?

A. (CT) Many investments are being made in broader situational awareness, communications, and modernization systems all intended to deliver a clear battlefield picture to field commanders. Location technologies are a small but important part of these investments. Soldier systems with GPS technology are not yet deployed broadly in the hands of soldiers in the field. Training is required to ensure the limitations of GPS technologies are well understood so that they can be best used to increase effectiveness. Augmenting these systems with GPS-denied capabilities will ensure these soldiers systems deliver more reliable information, regardless of the terrain being traversed.

Training is again an important part of preparing for deployment in these environments. Training environments can in many cases afford systems that have more targeted capabilities. Systems that allow for the planning, rehearsal, execution and review of operations in GPS-denied environments, such as urban battlefields and in-building environments as well as remote and varied terrain such as caves and densely forested areas, are being built to expand training capabilities to provide visibility of all soldiers regardless of whether they are inside or outside.


Q. (NY) Do you see having a decisive edge in technology as the fundamental point for winning future ground conflicts even in insurgent type wars?

A. (CT) Counter insurgency fights like Iraq and Afghanistan are highly dependent on small groups of dismounted soldiers fighting in urban and highly varied terrain. Adapting training to these battlefields and outfitting them with technologies optimized for these is an important part of deploying soldiers with the skills they need. Navigating and searching house-to-house, large buildings and caves are all important scenarios.

Once deployed, small unit leadership and situational awareness within that small group becomes critical for the dismounted soldier. Providing our soldiers with better tools – including tracking and monitoring tools that work in all environments - may even the playing field, if not tilt it in our favor, when dealing with insurgents who have intimate knowledge of local terrain.


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* Dr. Carole Teolis, the Chief Technology Officer of TRX Systems Inc. is responsible for the long term vision and technical direction of TRX and oversees all research and development activities including the team developing the TRX SentrixTracking System. She has also secured over $6 Million in funding for TRX GPS denied tracking system development, secured a TRX beta contract with the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, and secured a TSWG commercialization contract.