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.

 

Civil  Military Collaboration and Communications  

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