Operation Desert Bloom 1.0 -
First Call for participation – CALLING ALL COMMS
What is Desert Bloom- An experimental test network for unified communications
When - March 10-15
Where - Barstow College , Baker , Primm (more details soon)
Who - Synergy Strike Force
a cooperative arrangement of organizations from across the country and
from multiple disciplines, all falling-in on a common axis and unified
intent for supporting public safety communications in cooperation with
civil and military authorities for disaster relief and homeland defense
An emerging team from the following units is currently forming
Mindtel , SRA, I3, SDSU, Autonomechs, LLU, NIUSR, Aerospace (and a growing list of others)
The Synergy Strike Force objectives of Desert Bloom are to
1 develop a useful skill and knowledge set in order to best approach civil military communications in ways that optimize the citizens capacity to assist and support response
2 develop a test bed to vet tech that might be usefully deployed in iraq
3 demonstrate adhoc comms networks and document their utility
4 develop a web resource for public reporting of interesting environmental , educational and historical sites and observations
5 demonstrate an operational model for deploying transitional comms for post conflict military support of civil mil communications and public safety operations and homeland defense
Wifi out reach -Ad hoc networking an initial architecture for communications between public persons, professional responders, civil authorities, federal agencies and military commands
We intend to Develop a testnet environment to field test potentially deployable technology
Operation desert bloom is a living laboratory for testing civil military communications
Cooperative communications for collaborative response to any civil social crisis
Operations desert bloom is sponsored in part by the OSD-NII
Cooperative Communications For Civil Military Operations
There are concurrent and complimentary agenda, goals and objectives
The major themes are all related to communications support for civil military cooperation
The other primary component is to develop cooperative communications skills between various agencies, entities and individuals that may be needed for a unified response in natural and unnatural disasters.
Overall Intent of Desert Bloom
To begin to develop a roadmap and experimental process to ensure robust, crisis surviving communications infrastructure
To develop as series of information collection tools that allow the geo spatialized information to be acquired
To engage in test network experiments with the goal to maximize inclusion
To work with professional responder groups and volunteer groups to coordinate the basic roles of engagement for cooperative communications
To work toward developing a deployable communications system to support civil stabilization efforts
To test and evaluate various ad hoc networks and emerging technologies /techniques
To develop trust networks for establishing citizen wide reporting
To further develop methods and tactics of shadow operations
Experimental opportunities
1 – sensor net works
2 – communications networks
3 – multi source information fusion
4 – collaborative information tools
5- joint civil military emergency response readiness drill
we will develop a series of integrated field tests and experiments to explore and discover both the needs and the capabilities of the community
Desert Bloom Operational Objectives are:
to bridge communications between the Darpa Grand Challenge official incident command , law enforcement, public safety personnel, emergency response entities , a distributed array of environmental sensor networks and diverse citizen groups
to support emergency response and medical communications efforts to augment civil security and public safety during the DARPA Grand Challenge
to develop and deploy a heterogeneous testnet for vetting communications systems and sensor networks and assess their immediate utility and deployability to Iraq and Afghanistan for supporting civil security and public safety
to provide communications support for a common operational experience to unite a wide variety of first responders, law enforcement, public safety entities, civil authorities and volunteer citizen groups
to develop and test a cooperative communications model to support unified incident command operations
to develop and operate a set of operational command sites to support the efforts to test and demonstrate specific communications systems
to develop and demonstrate a distributed heterogeneous ad hoc communications network in an austere environment – 120 miles of desert from Barstow to Primm
Background. Central to DOD’s mission is its ability to
use all forms of traditional and non-traditional data and tools to produce
actionable intelligence, and to enhance overall geospatial readiness and
responsiveness.
Objective. The objective for this initiative is to enhance a Sustainable Regional Test Network (SRTN) with the required connectivity to support the execution of collaborative inter-agency “shadow operations” that build or solidify local, state and federal relationships. In the process, the contractor shall develop an innovative, cost-effective integrated systems framework for providing public safety agencies and national security entities a shared common operational picture (COP) for monitoring activities within designated environments and for managing a developing or expanding critical incident within the context of a distributed unified command structure. The partnerships, relationships, new capabilities and methodologies brought forth from this domestic effort may be analyzed for applicability to military service requirements overseas.
The team shall research and document existing adhoc communications networks, collaborative tools, domestic event support communications, and operational and systems architectures as they relate to Coalition Provisional Authority Civil – Military operations. This partnership between MindTel and SRA has the following objectives:
Research adhoc network capabilities to identify and document the emerging best practices in the context of supporting civil military communications.
Research, identify, document, and determine both the capability and availability of COTS and GOTS off the shelf resources to be considered for inclusion in civil military communications.
Research prototypes and demonstrate an operational open architecture for communication systems that meets the field-deployable requirements of civil military cooperative interactions.
Focus on both the foreign and domestic aspects of the civil military communications systems throughout this effort and recommend any identified and vetted technologies or communications practices that may have immediate utility in Iraq. This will include Iraq - Centcom - CPA specific needs.
Plan and conduct shadow operations in real-world events in cooperation with civil authorities and their military counter parts in order to test and demonstrate domestic capabilities with regard to civil military communications for homeland defense.
Concept Of Operations
“Shadow” Operations
and Regional Test Net Support
DESERT BLOOM
is a shadow operation of the Darpa grand challenge. It sponsored by OSD-NII,
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information
Integration, to research, identify and recommended a fieldable mobile
communications system for civil
military communications in the immediate post conflict transition period
Typical tasks include: enhancement of a communications rich test bed in San Diego and San Bernardino Counties and establishment of a context for operations involving a partnership between the public and private communities that emphasizes networked sensors, high-volume data visualization, predictive analysis and emergency response collaboration.
Geo-referenced Information Representation and Event Intelligence will be produced as a steady stream of custom-tailored geo-referenced visualization products based on fused, open- and multi-source data to add to the event-specific geospatial framework. The contractor shall deliver intelligence products for each event supported as directed by the government and the public safety officials onsite.
The Desert Bloom team shall work directly with local, state
and federal law enforcement, public safety and academic organizations, and
other regional agencies in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside,
jurisdictions as required to develop innovative concepts of operations for
deploying cost-effective situational awareness technologies, as well as the
associated tactics, techniques and procedures for supporting a unified command
structure during special events.
Initial efforts will concentrate on immediate
communications needs of the military and their humanitarian support
counterparts and establish methods to enable them to effectively communicate
with the civil authorities immediately after major combat activities have
subsided.
Efforts will be made to ensure that region specific differences are accounted for so that a general solution can be implemented effectively in each region
Another overall focus of Desert Bloom is to provide an assessment of the communications capabilities required to establish an adhoc communications system for civil military communications including an estimate of bandwidth requirements and recommended actions to provide the bandwidth, to include commercial carriers suitable for post conflict civil military communication systems This initiative will survey the current communications infrastructures, and recommend a process for establishing a solid communications path between military and civil authorities
Desert Bloom efforts will instigate– “Cooperative Communications”
Innovative use of unified communications and social networking to enhance civil security and public safety
Plan
Establish a comprehensive set of contacts from each agency and regional entity
initial entities of interest (incomplete list)
1 blm
2 environmentalists
3 off roaders
4 military bases
5 national wilderness areas
6 dept of transportation
7 dept of commerce
8 dept of ag
9 chp
10 SBC sheriff
11 power lines
12 fiber optics
13 caltrans
14 medical response
15 bun boy baker
16 search and rescue
17 primm valley area
18 telcos
19 truckers
20 schools
21 landmarks
22 geologic
23 geographic
24 real estate
25 mineral rights
26 water
27 ???
Core activities of the SYNERGY STRIKE FORCE will be to – provide the comms, lift and power to all that need them
Specifically during desert bloom we will develop and maintain an experimental ad hoc communications network to support any and all emergent communications requirements to the limits of the technology, and human resources available
Within Desert Bloom there are several distinct areas of interest and activity. We are seeking participants/technologies/volunteers with expertise/experience/interest in the following areas
unified command
incident response
communications
sensor networks
intelligence fusion
cybercitizen
search and rescue
readiness training
first aid
medical response
telemedicine
educational outreach
environmental monitoring
communications infrastructure
transportation
remote power
FROM THE OPERATIONS SIDE …….
A note from the SYNERGY STRIKE FORCE –the CALL TO COMMS
We have some specific immediate needs to support the comms for public safety and incident command through out the Darpa Grand Challenge Course
We are seeking point to point communications 2-15 miles or more at 2mbps or more
We are seeking direct access ports to the internet in Baker and Primm
We are open to any intelligent suggestions
Civil Military Operations – Strong Angel www.strongangel.org
Unified Incident Response – DERIS -
Civil Support For Public Safety And Law Enforcement – www.shadowbowl.org
Event Specific Communications – Skycastle
Our strategy will be overwhelming comms
“Getting bandwidth to the desert”….
Linking
Community college
Roaming environmentalists
Off roading environmentalist
Off road search and rescue
where
Barstow
Baker
Primm
when
Operational dates
Mar 12th comms testing, operational drills, sensor net operational
Mar 13th event date – all systems operational
Mar 14th final stunt science