A new approach for information dissemination in distributed JISR coalitions

To meet todays challenges in ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) defense coalitions Systems of Systems (SOS) architectures are needed that are flexible, function in a networked environment and support relevant operational doctrine and processes. To enable the distributed production of intelligence in networked operations the Intelligence Cycle and Joint ISR (JISR) provide process descriptions that adhere to multinational and multisystem collaboration. An interoperable SOS architecture supporting those processes needs to make use of standards for data/information management with a special focus on dissemination. The NATO ISR Interoperability Architecture (NIIA) and supportive standards (STANAGS- standardization agreements) have been specified to provide a solution to these needs. In terms of data distribution, STANAG 4559 is the core standard of relevance here. It defines a concept, data- and information models, interfaces and services to support information dissemination according to JISR. The current specification for synchronization of JISR results however has some deficiencies in terms of implementation complexity, flexibility, robustness and performance. Thus, there is a need for a new approach to data dissemination in networks implementing STANAG 4559 that enables the usage of all aspects currently supported by this standard but seeks to solve the known issues. Thereupon this paper presents requirements for data dissemination in a JISR enterprise, derives key performance indicators (KPIs), identifies possible technical approaches and finally defines a new solution based on the concept of Hash Tries. Here a tree-based data structure is organized based on hashes of nodes, which allows a quick identification of changes in replicated data.