Publication

Vehicle Electronics & Architecture (VEA)
2014

EVOLUTION OF 360 DEGREE LOCAL SITUATIONAL AWARENESS (LSA) TO AID THE WARFIGHTER

by Christopher Viscovich; Susan Geoghegan; David Worthy

Abstract

Northrop Grumman has developed a software and hardware solution to provide enhanced 360 degree local situational awareness (LSA) to enable the warfighter with an overmatch capability on today’s modern battlefield. The architecture exploits technological gains in cameras, video processing, and video compression. The approach allows rapid comprehension of local and remote situational views presented with operational relevance for a ground combat platform or tactical wheeled platform crew. The 360 Degree LSA approach provides direct visualization of relative positioning of targets, threats, and lines of fire; and additionally offers common situational understanding / operational picture from the dismounted soldier to higher echelon commands. The approach provides prioritized information through LSA software to provide an enhanced view to the warfighter whereas the squad leader becomes an integral part of the crew with a view of the common operating picture (mounted) and additional sensors on tablet or handheld device (dismounted via wireless). The approach uses a platform agnostic form factor with components that can be selected and applied to legacy or new platforms based on their size, weight, power, and mission constraints.