DALLAS, April 18 (UPI) -- The networking technology that will tie U.S. military and intelligence agencies together has made a significant stride forward.
Raytheon said in a news release Wednesday it had recently demonstrated new Web-based capabilities that allow the sharing of intelligence data using a system similar to the civilian Internet.
Raytheon's system is known as Distributed Common Ground System Block 10.2 and allows access to data that is used in missions. The project had its origins in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, world when Washington insisted that the Pentagon and the civilian intelligence community work more closely together.
"The hybrid demonstration depicts how the DCGS can greatly improve intelligence sharing in the network-centric environment," said Anthony DiFurio, director for the Tactical Intelligence System business of Raytheon's Intelligence and Information Systems. "The 10.2 system and its tools will enhance the user's ability to access and exploit vast amounts of intelligence data through the DCGS metadata catalog."
A metadata catalogue is basically a library of data files in which accessing a file leads the user to large collections of other files about a specific topic. It makes searching for information faster and provides richer results, which has distinct advantages for intelligence analysts and users.
In the recent test, DCGS successfully thumbed through the Distributed Common Ground System metadata catalogue and displayed imagery from the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System, which is a primary sensor carried by U-2 spy planes.
