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2021-03-01

CAE to be Prime Integrator for NSE Ecosystem

Harnessing the power of digital technologies, artificial intelligence and data to develop and implement systems that not only address military training challenges but also command and control across joint all-domain operations is a huge challenge and that’s what high technology powerhouse, CAE, has taken up.

The company, which offers digitally immersive solutions to elevate safety, efficiency and readiness, is known as a modelling and simulation specialist.

Speaking at CAE OneWorld 2021, Lt. Gen. Ray Palumbo (Ret.), the Pentagon’s former Director of Defence Intelligence, explained: “Every service is looking to eliminate the boundaries of data sources and platforms to create a comprehensive operating environment. Our forces need all-domain data access and visualisation of data and sensors to deliver key analysis and decision assistance during operations, and they need this to make faster and better decisions.”

By fusing and analysing data from varied sources, such a system becomes a tool not only for providing real-time intelligence regarding both friendly and hostile forces, but also presents effective information at all levels of the chain of command. At the upper level, the digitally immersive ecosystem allows commanders across a multi-domain environment -- land, sea, air, space and cyber -- to conduct secure operations with a single common operating picture.

Interestingly, CAE is now taking the concept a step further to act as a core prime integrator for a National Synthetic Environment (NSE), or National Digital Twin.

Gen. Sir Richard Barrons (Ret), former commander of UK Joint Forces Command, aptly describes an NSE as a “transformational opportunity for every country” that is a “foundational enabler for the way that governments and militaries operate and succeed”.

Today, there are a range of new potential threats and challenges, such as the rise of power in Asia, the rise of extremism, population growth, and climate change, and this what makes the case for an NSE leveraging the latest digital technologies compelling.

An NSE can support better and swifter policy-making and enhance security in both physical and ‘grey-world’ cyber confrontations.

CAE’s deep understanding of simulation and synthetic environments, integrated with elements of the digital revolution such as data analytics, networks and cloud computing will be a major plus point for the NSE

The simulation specialist has devised a concept for the digital replication of a nation that generates a digital ecosystem with a range of integrated data from many sources.

Four Elements

This single picture of a nation is built on four elements. Underpinning the digital twin is the physical level, comprising the detailed terrain, weather and infrastructure such as buildings and transport networks.

Secondly, the human level provides information about the population. This could draw on mobile phone technology to provide real-time information about where people are and where they are going through pattern-of-life algorithms. This level can be used to model the effects of pandemics and other human disasters.

A third element of the NSE is the cognitive layer, which uses social media to understand the sentiments of the population, again linked to geography.

Finally, there is a resource element, which adds information about the status and disposition of the resources available to government, such as emergency services and the armed forces.

There are innumerable uses to which an NSE can be applied, including assisting decision-making in areas of national policy and security, and for military operations.

One of the best advantages of the NSE architecture is its ability to use the single overall picture to disseminate data across all levels of government, from ministries at a nation’s top layer down to the various regional and municipal authorities.

As it remains a synthetic environment, the digital twin provides for experimentation to drive developments in how governments can organise and operate differently to boost efficiency, increase resilience, and reduce costs.

Responses to major emergencies or pandemics can be rehearsed at nationwide levels.

“This synthetic and digital technology exists today, it has been experimented with, and it is ready to be leveraged for these new capabilities,” remarked Sir Richard at CAE OneWorld 2021.

While it is true that the implementation of an NSE would take time and remains complex, CAE is confident that the technology already exists to begin the process.

The integration of digital technologies in a national synthetic environment promises a transformative enabler to how a nation works, organises and operates.

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