SYSTEMS

In an effort to put more complete and actionable battlefield knowledge in the hands of field commanders, the Battle Command Battle Lab at Fort Huachuca, AZ, is evaluating ways to fuse intelligence data from multiple sources into a cohesive combat picture with help from an array of technologies, including new server and visualization systems from Silicon Graphics. The new SGI systems are deployed as part of the U.S. military's BrUte Force Fusion (BUFF) Program, which is evaluating methods for achieving a clear understanding of current battlefield conditions. BUFF is focused on what is known as Level II fusion, which merges data from a growing array of intelligence sensors to create a picture of what is happening on the battlefield now. With some 170,000 hourly intelligence reports generating 3 terabytes of data a day, BUFF's research is also focused on assembling the data into actionable intelligence for specific field commanders or troop leaders. "What we face on the battlefield is a massive glut of information to be sorted," said Jason Denno, deputy director of the Battle Command Battle Lab-Huachuca. "The amount of data generated by sensors on the modern battlefield is rapidly outpacing the ability of the human to understand. The problem is hard enough when sensing only enemy forces, but it gets completely unmanageable when you add the presence of coalition forces, non-combatants -- even domestic or wild animals. To truly understand what's going on, all of these things must be identified and tracked." To develop and assess new fusion methods, Fort Huachuca recently installed two 16-processor SGI Altix 350 systems and a Silicon Graphics Prism visualization system. "Computing architectures that feature shared-memory capabilities and scalable processing -- like those found in SGI systems -- allow us to take exponential data sets, and then process and analyze them in real time," said Denno. "We are constantly looking to achieve the most recent picture of what's happening, all to maximize situational awareness. This is the goal: to transform all this data into actionable intelligence for the warfighter." With the new Linux OS-based SGI systems, BUFF researchers can leverage Altix computing and Silicon Graphics Prism visualization capabilities to develop new processes that someday may give commanders an accurate assessment of the conditions they face. While BUFF efforts are focused on what is happening on the battlefield now, today's Level II fusion research may eventually lay the groundwork for more predictive levels of fusion. Someday, researchers hope that advanced fusion efforts will help commanders determine whether or not to engage the enemy, gain insights into opposing force movements, or identify potential enemy strategies before the enemy actually adopts them. Installed in December 2004, the two Altix 350 systems are each equipped with 16GB of globally addressable memory to enable military analysts to achieve maximum performance as they seek ways to aggregate and pull insights from multiple terabytes of data received daily. The lab then plans to identify methods by which they can interpret the combined data using its Silicon Graphics Prism system. Both systems leverage an industry-standard, 64-bit Linux operating environment and scalable Intel Itanium 2 processors, which adhere to the Department of Defense's efforts to adopt open systems-based solutions. "The war on terror requires the immediate delivery of actionable intelligence to the warfighter. As the sources, volume, and complexity of intelligence data explodes, it is critical we find ways to provide the warfighter with sophisticated and effective systems to filter, analyze, and deliver key information whenever and wherever it is needed to make good decisions," said Benn Stratton, director, government affairs, SGI. "The BUFF project at Fort Huachuca represents the kind of groundbreaking intelligence analysis that may someday be used for real-time decision making involving soldiers on the ground and in the battlefield. SGI is excited to serve this effort, both today and in the future." The Battle Command Battle Lab-Huachuca is one of 10 battle labs in the United States. Established in May 1992 and formally chartered in December 1994, the battle lab's mission is to discover, develop, experiment and integrate state-of-the-art science and technology to ensure future intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance dominance. Growing increasingly popular within technical computing environments in a broad range of markets, SGI Altix 350 mid-range servers leverage the built-in SGI NUMAflex architecture, which dramatically reduces the time and resources required to run technical applications by managing extremely large data sets in a single, system-wide, shared-memory space. For the first time, more complex data sets and complete workflows can be driven entirely out of memory, enabling productivity breakthroughs that traditional clusters or enterprise-class UNIX servers can't achieve. Silicon Graphics Prism is built on the same foundation of NUMAflex shared-memory architecture as the SGI Altix family of servers and supercomputers. This gives the Silicon Graphics Prism system the large-memory functionality needed for today's interactive visualization environments. With an entry list price of US $30,000, Silicon Graphics Prism introduces a new pricing model for SGI visualization systems. This low entry price allows a wider community of users and developers access to SGI technology benefits with a system that still provides the capability for growth when usage demands it. Availability SGI Altix 350 systems are available today in single-system configurations of four to 16 processors, with larger multi-system configurations scaling to thousands of processors. Additional Altix 350 system technical and availability information is posted on www.sgi.com/products/servers/altix/. Silicon Graphics Prism systems scale to 16 graphics pipelines and 512 processors. Additional information on SGI's scalable, high-performance visualization solutions is available at www.sgi.com/products/visualization. Both systems are available through SGI sales offices and SGI Solution Providers worldwide.