Big Data and Artificial Intelligence techniques applied to defence decision-making

The European Defence Agency (EDA) has awarded GMV the contract for conducting the study “Artificial Intelligence and Big Data for Decision Making in C4ISR – ABIDE”. This project will be applying Artificial Intelligence and Big Data techniques to Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems to improve their performance and boost their capabilities.

C4ISR systems take in a wide range of architectures, IT- and communications systems. Their aim is to glean information on the state of operations and pass it on in formatted form to the operation commanders to help them gain a clear overview and make the right decisions. They also serve as a communications platform for transmitting orders and any other information deemed relevant.

Military operations are nowadays inconceivable without systems for obtaining and working up information from several types of sensors and sources. Today, the amount of data of interest and available to be processed is increasing to amounts previously unimaginable, and the emerging disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, in combination with infrastructure and sensor technology, could help the defense community to overcome the current shortfalls of C4ISR systems in terms of performance, resilience, scalability, interoperability and efficiency. They ensure that information is quickly and reliably shuttled backwards and forwards to the troops, and enable various operation-planning strategies to be weighed up and adapted to suit the ongoing operation as it unfolds. The generated information may also be made available at different levels of complexity, according to the needs of each line of command. An added complication is that it has to be shared among heterogeneous systems with different levels of detail and automation. This means C4ISR systems have to become increasingly smart, interoperable and adaptable to complex scenarios.

GMV is now one of Europe’s leading companies in the development of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) software systems. At the moment it is taking part in various programs for the Spanish MoD, NATO and the European Commission. In this study GMV will be drawing on its Artificial Intelligence expertise built up in other business lines such as cybersecurity and space and applying it to defense matters. Under this study several technological breakthroughs will be assessed and developed for networked capabilities to improve information-sharing based on wider interoperability, enhancing quality of information and providing a shared situational awareness.

This study will help out EDA Member States in all the following: identification of existing or required common specifications or standards to boost interoperability by means of innovative technologies; analysis of the current C4ISR landscape and challenges; review of C4ISR techniques in other sectors; and identification of AI and BD techniques that could be applied to meet challenges and improve capabilities.