Ian Owens

Information systems evaluation and the information systems development process

In this paper, we consider the synergy between two areas of information system (IS) literature: that concerned with the evaluation of IS and that concerned with explaining the phenomenon of IS failure. On the basis of an analysis of both areas, a model is presented which attempts to integrate IS evaluation into the life cycle of IS development. The model links the issue of failure assessment with the evaluation process and constitutes a strategy for stimulating organisational learning in relation to IS development. The paper concludes with a description of our attempts to validate aspects of the model and plans for further empirical work in this area.

A Simple Tool to Assist in Agile Methodology Adoption Decisions

This paper discusses the importance of adoption factors to the adoption of an Agile method and the usefulness of a decision support tool to help determine the viability of such methods for specific software projects. It proposes the Adoption Assessment Matrix, to be used as a precursor to the selection and use of an Agile method. The Adoption Assessment Matrix was used to assess the suitability of Agile methods in software development projects in a series of workshops. The experiments show that the tool is beneficial as a guide for discussions, concentrating the debate on the critical factors, applied to the individual project, which proved as valuable to the decision making process as the output of the tool itself. Furthermore, the use of the Adoption Assessment Matrix moves beyond the debate on Agile versus traditional methodologies and concentrates on adoption decisions for individual projects, rather than on Agile as universal solution. It is often argued in the diffusion of innovation literature that the adoption of innovations can be hindered by the learning required to successfully deploy innovations. The decision support tool we propose attempts to overcome knowledge barriers by raising stakeholder awareness as to the suitability of Agile.

SOA and Wireless Mobile Networks in the tactical domain: Results from experiments

The NATO research task group IST-118 titled “SOA recommendations for disadvantaged grids in the tactical domain” is addressing the challenge of implementing the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) paradigm at the tactical level by providing guidance and best practices in the form of a Tactical SOA Profile. The group will conduct identification and feasibility assessments of possible improvements of the Tactical SOA Profile, over a series of live and emulated experiments. In this paper, we describe our first experiments in applying SOA Web services to mobile nodes that are connected using Wireless Broadband Mobile Networks (WBMN) in the tactical domain. The experiments involved components provided by various nations, including radio hardware equipment, the Publish/Subscribe messaging service and NATO Friendly Force Information (NFFI) (as our functional service). We measured the system performance at service and physical (radio) levels in the presence of network disruption. We conclude by presenting the results of the experiments and a view of future work.

The electronic procurement of ideas

This paper focuses on two non-traditional but important domains for electronic procurement - electronic government and electronic democracy. In particular, we describe how electronic consultation, an important form of electronic democracy, is being used to procure ideas from partnership organisations and citizenry and hence support the policy formulation processes at a devolved regional assembly in the UK. Such forms of intellectual procurement are seen by many to be significant ways in which government may re-engage with its populace and address issues of social exclusion in the area of democratic participation.

Discovery of Things: A Fully-Distributed Opportunistic Approach

The emerging trend towards all-IP networks provides network-layer interoperability for the Internet of Things (IoT). Service oriented architecture is expected to provide the application-layer interoperability and hence achieve IoT objectives. The first component into realizing this vision is efficient discovery of things and their services. In this paper, we present a fully distributed opportunistic approach to optimize the discovery of constrained-node services. We also discuss the impact of radio duty cycling on the performance of such a multicast-based approach. Simulation and testbed results have shown the capacity of such an approach to cope with network dynamics and provide high discovery rates, fast response times and low energy consumption.

Reliable full motion video services in disadvantaged tactical radio networks

Todays “connected soldier” is both the source of and destination for electronically transmitted data used by an ever growing range of battlefield information services. In much the same way as the demand for new video services has driven innovation in the consumer domain, the acquisition and dissemination of high resolution Full Motion Video (FMV), either for surveillance and intelligence gathering purposes or to provide immediate situational awareness, is becoming an increasingly important component of NATOs C3 collaborative working taxonomy. However, the bandwidth-intensive, delay and loss intolerant nature of high resolution FMV transmission means that there are still challenges in transmitting over disconnected, intermittent and limited (DIL) networks such as those often found in tactical edge radio networks. This paper proposes a robust video streaming service, as part of a service oriented architecture for DIL tactical networks, that is based on the newest H.265 video encoding standards. The proposed service uses H.265 specific unequal error protection and selective packet dropping to ensure that the most important packets (in terms of image quality and decoding robustness) of a video are successfully delivered. The results of a comprehensive empirical evaluation show that the proposed video streaming service delivers a video quality improvement of up to 2.1 dB Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) over H.265 streamed with no UEP support. Additionally, it also demonstrated that the H.265 proposed service requires an average of 39% less bandwidth than the current H.264 video encoding service recommended in STANAG 4609, while delivering video of a similar perceptual quality.

Enhancing visual communications capabilities in tactical networks

The Motion Imagery Standards Board (MISB) specifies imaging standards in the military domain. MISB standards are based on commercial standards which, although proven, are at least 10 years old and do not represent the current state of the art in video encoding. High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), a major step forward in video compression technology, has recently been adopted as the H.265 standard by the ITU-T. This paper investigates the disruptive potential of the new HEVC video encoding technology, within the context of motion imagery in the tactical military domain. Firstly current MISB and NATO motion imagery standards are investigated and the potential benefits of adopting H.265 for military use cases outlined. Secondly MPEG-2, H.264 and JPEG2000 profiles from the MISB and NATO standards are mapped to appropriate profiles in the H.265 standard, providing an invaluable insight into potential upgrade paths which will help to inform future procurement requirements. Finally a single tactical use case is examined in detail and a real-time capable H.265 encoding configuration offering both bandwidth savings and quality improvements over the existing H.264/AVC-based MISB standard is presented. The proposed H.265 configuration is validated through an extensive set of experiments which demonstrate the disruptive potential of H.265 to deliver, reliable, colour video at bandwidths compatible with transmission using existing IP enabled tactical radio networks with a quality which exceeds that delivered by current technologies.