Grant: Department of National Defence / NSERC Research Partnership

Today's modern military faces many challenges directly related to the information age. Of particular concern is the increasing number of military-relevant information sources (e.g., on-vessel sensors, commercial databases) that are providing ever increasing volumes of data. The Royal Canadian Navy is particularly influenced by data volume issues, as at-sea platforms have a more limited communication capacity as compared to land-based networks. Defence Research Development Canada, Lockheed Martin Canada and Dalhousie University propose a collaborative research project tackling some of the issues related to effective and efficient data harvesting, data production, and data serving in a dynamically changing, cloud-like environment. Our work will focus on the data science issues related to the following scenario: multiple friendly assets (a coalition of navy vessels, base stations, ground units) are investigating a particular vessel. The decision maker in each asset will have a point of view about the world based on his/her own capabilities to process only (and all) relevant data collected from its sensors, augmented with additional information available by variable connection access with other assets. Connectivity levels between assets differ, ranging from full internet-style connectivity to zero connectivity. This context will drive our collaborative, applied research in data management, data analytics, collaborative community cloud, and task-relevant data visualization. We will also consider a dual use application in information management in an international disaster relief effort, when multiple heterogeneous partners come together on short notice with a need to track significant quantities of data - some of it derived from social networks - about people, area conditions, infrastructure, safe/unsafe areas, weather, etc. In general, the capability to fuse intelligent/pertinent data from multiple sources will help position Canadian industry, and Lockheed Martin in particular, to be an international leader in issues related to data resource identification and exploitation for a varied mission set. This research will contribute to a more agile and effective RoyalCanadian Navy fleet and properly position the fleet to handle data volumes of the future.