Michael J. Kwinn

Simulation modeling requirements for determining soldier tactical mission system effectiveness

In order to maintain an edge during this time of unprecedented technological growth, the Army must field infantry soldier systems quickly; however, the cost of doing so without some assessment of utility is quite high. Therefore, the acquisition community must estimate the operational impact of proposed systems with an increasing degree of accuracy. For this, the Army has turned to combat simulations. However, the focus in the past has been on larger battlefield systems and unit-level analyses. Additionally, infantry soldier models require unprecedented fidelity in terms of the soldier entity and his environment. As a result, the simulation representation of the individual soldier on the battlefield has not kept pace with other representations. In this paper, we discuss our identification of the unique simulation requirements for modeling the infantry soldier as a system of systems in support of acquisition decision making.

The Federal Air Marshal Service Using Value Focused Thinking to optimize field office allocations

The Federal Air Marshal Services (FAMS) mission is to promote confidence in the nations civil aviation system through effective deployment of Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) to detect, deter, and defeat hostile acts targeting United States air carriers, airports, passengers, and crews. To accomplish this mission, the FAMS has established field offices across the United States and assigned marshals to these offices. As with all of government, the FAMS continues to work to operate efficiently as well as effectively. To this end, they seek to determine the best field office and marshal assignment set to maximize risk coverage at the minimum cost.

Small unit unmanned weapon system for today's army

While engaged in the Global War on Terror, our soldiers have discovered the need at the small unit level for a non-line of sight, man portable, lethal, unmanned device that could be used to gain entry into a building by blowing the door, kill enemy personnel or disable soft skinned vehicles without a soldier ever exposing himself to the enemy and while minimizing collateral damage. This capability could potentially save soldiers lives and increase the combat effectiveness of our units currently deployed in combat zones. Our project team will evaluate several alternatives and provide a recommended solution for such a device to provide these capabilities to the soldier on the ground. Currently, the US Army - specifically special operations command (SOCOM) and the US Marine Corps operate with small and unmanned surveillance equipment. None of these systems however have a lethal component. Additionally, they are currently all operated primarily at the company or battalion level. Other unmanned ariel vehicles are equipped with a lethal capability but they are too heavy and require too large a launch footprint to be effectively employed by small unit ground forces. FMI 3-04.155 (army unmanned aircraft system operations) is the current field manual which outlines the effective employment of current UAS in the inventory [3]. Currently, there is a noticeable capability void which can be best addressed by a system which incorporates the flexibility of a smaller man portable UAV with the lethality of one of the larger systems. Our study seeks to find a solution which will address this capability void.

Taking a Systematic Approach to the United States Military Academy Systems Engineering Program

Our group examined the United States Military Academy Systems Engineering (USMA SE) program from an internal perspective using the tools we learned in our program. The purpose of the project was to take a holistic system view of the SE program in support of the program assessment being conducted by our client, the SE Program Director. A major development in our capstone process is when we discovered our program should have a heavy emphasis in the decision-making aspect of systems engineering. This is due to the fact that all of our graduates will be commissioned as officers in the US Army and the primary job of an officer is to make decisions for his or her unit. This is why we believe that our program should emphasize decision making. Our revised objectives and outcomes is a culmination of research that looks at the values of different stakeholders while keeping in mind constraints like the USMA mission and ABET requirements. Next we developed alternatives to change the program curriculum to fulfill the program objectives and outcomes. Our recommendation is to eliminate two electives and a required course to allow for a three track stem. By doing this, our program is more systems engineering and aligning with what system engineering cadets should learn by graduation.

A systems approach to John Wayne airport security

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 dramatically changed Americas feeling of security. The American people called for stricter security standards on all flights. On November 19, 2001, President George W. Bush signed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, establishing a new law. Under this new law, the transportation security administration (TSA) would be responsible for regulating all airport security throughout the US. Among other things, this law states that 100% of passenger baggage must be screened for explosives, weapons, and other harmful materials or objects at all federally regulated airports no later than December 31, 2002. We focus on using systems engineering to solve the problem of screening all passengers and luggage while maintaining smooth airport operations that satisfy the traveler.

Architecting a development and testing plan for the Army's common operating environment: Applying agile systems of systems development to army network acquisition

Information is the fuel of modern society; from social media to the stock exchange, the ability for individual entities to connect with each other over distance makes everything possible. Similarly, the ability to leverage information across a complex battlespace is one of the key elements that makes the U.S. Army such a potent fighting force. At the heart of this capability is a robust and adaptive tactical network that facilitates mission command at every echelon. Though the Army possess a strong network, continuing efforts to improve it over time is a struggle. Cost and schedule overruns have become normal occurrences as individual systems fail to pass the Armys rigorous interoperability certification requirements. Without interoperability, the network does not work. The Armys acquisition communitys shift to focus on a new paradigm of network development, the Common Operating Environment (COE), promised to create a better system for insuring network interoperability in a timely manner. Old habits and practices, however, have threatened the promise of the new paradigm in terms of development, evaluation, and certification. This document examines current practices and issues regarding network development and makes a recommendation for how to approach COE to achieve greater levels of interoperability faster and cheaper. By utilizing an agile based approach, COE can be developed as a system of systems through iterative sprints that focus on developing an interconnected network that works the first time.

Evaluating army geospatial data collection tools

During the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were thousands of different types of equipment delivered to Army units to support their efforts. These “rapidly fielded” systems did not follow the standard Department of Defense procurement process to become what is termed a “Program of Record”, or PoRs, meaning a program which has a funding stream to continue fielding and support. Now that the war effort is winding down, these systems will either be terminated or become PoR. One such system is the Buckeye system. This system provides very high-definition 3D photo capabilities which can provide Army units with near real-time pictures of the terrain which they are about to walk through or, in the case of helicopters, land on. To become a Program of Record, the Army must determine if the system provides the most cost-beneficial solution. In this paper, we evaluate the value of systems which can be used to evaluate terrain data for Army units using a process known as the Systems Decision Process.

Acquisition-based simulation

The army acquisition community requires high-resolution simulations that represent the dismounted infantry soldier in enough detail to conduct an analysis of alternatives (AOA) for individual weapons and equipment. These models must also be capable of assessing future, proposed capabilities and technologies. Previous work established a detailed, representative set of soldier functions which should be modeled, as well as proposed coordination among three different models. This paper describes the technique used for implementing that coordination on behalf of the acquisition community. It does so in two parts. First, we discuss the methodology used to transforming the needs of the acquisition community into analysis needs. Second, we describe how we integrated the soldier functions into those analysis needs to derive simulation requirements. We conclude with a discussion of how effective the technique has been in practice

Management of personnel policies to increase the stability of Patriot crew members and their families: a simulation approach

The overwhelming success of the Patriot Air Defense weapon system during Operation Desert Storm has become a double edge sword for the systems enlisted crew members and their families. During the war, the Patriot system became the first proven means of defending against Tactical Ballistic Missile (TBM) attacks. The people and the governments of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States praised the Patriot crew members as true heroes. Unfortunately for the Patriot crew members, their success also meant that every country wanted the protection that the system offered. A battalion is now permanently stationed in Korea. Another battalion rotates every six months to Saudi Arabia. The increased number of deployments of the system and the crew members has had a dramatically negative impact on morale, retention and recruitment of Patriot crew members. In this paper, we present a simulation model which allows a personnel manager to vary personnel policies effecting Patriot crew members to determine the impact on the number and frequency of deployments and on unit readiness.