A Presentation by Professor Steve Roberts at the RAF Air Power Conference

1. Sensors in Future Air Applications
Steve Roberts
VP, Strategy
Airborne & Space Systems Division, Selex ES
&
Visiting Professor in EW Systems
Cranfield University & UK Defence Academy
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Air and Space Power Doctrine
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Control of the Air
Offensive Counter-Air (OCA)
Defensive Counter-Air (DCA)
Active Air Defence
Passive Air Defence
Intelligence & Situational Awareness
Intelligence
Surveillance
Targeting
Reconnaissance
Attack
Deep Attack
Counter-Land Operations
Counter-Sea Operations
Information Operations
Air Mobility
Air Lift
Air-to-Air Refuelling
Airborne Operations
Special Air Operations
Aerial Delivery
Aeromedical Evacuation

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SENSE
Search
Detect
Locate & Track
ATTACK
Target
Engage
Assess
SURVIVE
Detection
Targeting
Engagement
ISR
Direct
Collect
Process
Disseminate
INTEROPERABILITY
Co-ordinate
Exchange Information
CORE
Position & Time
Crypto
Operator Interface
System & Data Management
Mission & Resource Management
ID & ROE
Record

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Selex ES - Airborne & Space Systems Division
Key Capabilities
• Multi-platform surveillance systems
• Sensors and Electronics for fixed and rotary wing
• Avionics sub-systems for civil aircraft
• Complete, independent UAS capability
• Multi-mission, highly realistic training
• Earth-observation and positioning systems for
satellites
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SELEX ES Capabilities on Fixed Wing & Rotary Wing Avionics
Sensors Computers Cockpit Comms
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• The electromagnetic spectrum (or EMS) is the domain for collecting information, distributing
information and for distorting information – it will also be a means of direct attack
– A future conflict could take place without physical contact between opponents
– The EMS is congested and contested and must be defended
– “Freedom to Manoeuvre” and “Operational Advantage” also apply to the EMS
• “Boyd’s OODA Loop (It’s not what you think)”
• Chet Richards, J. Addams and Partners, Inc., March 2012
– “A lot has happened since Clausewitz in 1832 and Sun Tzu in 400B.C.” - Boyd
– “Doctrine is one small step away from Dogma” - Boyd
• Boyd’s OODA models are normally applied to Physical Domains of Land, Sea, Air and Space
• Can they be applied for sensors, information and achieving spectrum dominance?
What are sensors for and how should we use them?
Time to assess the future
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• OODA is shown as sequential steps
– Observe, then
– Orient, then
– Decide, then
– Act
• You win by being faster round the loop - “Duelling OODA Loops” - “Quickest decision wins”
• BUT
– We do not always wait to complete the loop before acting effectively
– Sometimes, slowing down creates better effects
• What did Boyd actually draw for his OODA diagram?
The usual interpretation of OODA
OrientObserve
DecideAct
Commands
Information
Knowledge
Effect
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The original 4-phase OODA diagram
“The essence of winning and losing” - Boyd, J. R. (1996) - Unpublished briefing
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Boyd put forward other ideas in “Patterns of Conflict” (1986)
• “Operate inside opponent’s OODA loops”
• “Observe, orient, decide and act more inconspicuously, more quickly, and with more irregularity …”
• “Produce a period of shock, confusion, hesitancy until the opponent develops an understanding of what
has happened”

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Boyd’s Diagram - 2015
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OBSERVE
Observations
DECIDE
(Hypothesis)
ACT
(Test)
Outside
Information
& Circumstances
Implicit
Guidance
& Control
Implicit Guidance
& Control
Interaction with
Environment
Feedback
Feedback
Feed
Forward
Feed
Forward
Feed
Forward
Previous
Experience
New
Information
Analysis and
Synthesis
Cultural
Traditions
Genetic
Heritage
ORIENT

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The ‘popular’ OODA Loop is still there
OBSERVE
DECIDE
ORIENT
ACT
Outside
Information
& Circumstances
Interaction with
Environment
OrientObserve
DecideAct
Commands
Information
Knowledge
Effect
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Electromagnetic and
physical environment
Sensors - The root source of Information
ES
Radar
EO
• Sensors make measurements and
process these to derive information
• Information usually released to
platform at track or plot level
OBSERVE
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‘Observe’ - The Internal OODA Process of a Sensor
Observe Physical
Phenomenon
Orientate by
Processing
Data
Decide what to
change based on
data collected
Act by modifying
sensor or moving
platform
Measurements
Information
Commands
OrientObserve
DecideAct
Commands
Information
Knowledge
Effect
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The OODA Model applied to a Platform
• All sensors and many effectors are operating their own ‘autonomous’ OODA process
• The Orientation and Decision element on a platform is human
– Often, the human operator must observe the information output from the individual sensors on the platform
– Orientation may also require assessment of data from the network
Effectors
Sensors Platform
OrientObserve
DecideAct
Commands
Information
Knowledge
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
Information
from Network
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Previous
Experience
New
Information
Analysis
and
Synthesis
Cultural
Traditions
Genetic
Heritage
The ‘Orient’ phase
lies at the heart of
the OODA concept
Orient – The most complex phase
OBSERVE
DECIDE
ORIENT
ACT
Outside
Information
& Circumstances
Interaction with
Environment
Implicit
Guidance
& Control
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The ORIENT Phase • It is the ‘corporate culture’
• Doctrine and/or Dogma
• Also known as:
‘Situation Awareness’
• It shapes the way we understand the
situation and the way we react
• Must be continuously updated, which relies
on a learning process
• When all participants are aligned, we have:
Common understanding of mission intent
&
Shared Situation Awareness
Analysis and
Synthesis
Previous
Experience
New
Information
Cultural
Traditions
“Genetic”
Heritage
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The “OO-OO” Loop is not always bad!
OBSERVE
Observations
Outside
Information
& Circumstances
Implicit
Guidance
& Control
Feed
Forward
Previous
Experience
New
Information
Analysis and
Synthesis
Cultural
Traditions
Genetic
Heritage
ORIENT
• Experienced observers know when they
need more time
• Taking extra time is not being passive nor
giving up the initiative
• Applies to sensors as well as to humans
“The 2nd Toyota Paradox:
How delaying decisions can make better cars faster”
Ward, Liker, Cristiano, Sobeck (1995)
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Taking effective action
“Plan what to do in advance”
OBSERVE
DECIDE ACT
Outside
Information
& Circumstances
Implicit Guidance
& Control
Interaction with
Environment
ORIENT
Previous
Experience
New
Information
Analysis and
Synthesis
Cultural
Traditions
Genetic
Heritage
• Implicit Guidance & Control for speed
• Self-synchronising, flexible, agile groups
achieving the desired effects
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• Avoid the Formal Decision Phase (if possible)
• “A non-aligned group often interacts to create
the wrong decision, or take the wrong actions,
or act at the wrong time”

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EXPLICIT guidance and command
The “popular” OODA loop with feedback
OBSERVE
Observations
DECIDE
(Hypothesis)
ACT
(Test)
Outside
Information
& Circumstances
Interaction with
Environment
Feedback
Feedback
Feed
Forward
Feed
Forward
Feed
Forward
Previous
Experience
New
Information
Analysis and
Synthesis
Cultural
Traditions
Genetic
Heritage
ORIENT
• Note the use of the words
‘Hypothesis’ and ‘Test’
• Note the feedback paths to
the ‘Observe’ phase
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• The Implicit loops allow us to use our ‘proven repertoire’
– Fastest responses and the ones we have been trained to use
• The slower Explicit command and guidance loops are the way we build up the experience and
knowledge that allows us to use the faster Implicit loops
• The DECISION & ACTION phases in the Explicit loops develop a ‘new repertoire’
– Trials, training and computer-based scenario modelling are the way of building up a set of plausible scenarios,
information and a range of ‘hypothetical responses’
– This is an experimental approach, which takes time and needs data to be collected
• The ‘D-A’ loops are the heart of Innovation
– Investigation to build capability and understanding of the possible scenarios we may face
Experimentation using the EXPLICIT loops
Developing new ideas, capabilities and doctrine
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The 6 key questions
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“What if?” should come first!
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Posing “What if?”
questions should be
the starting point
that allows us to be
ready to adapt to the
unexpected

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Known Knowns
Known Unknowns
R&D
Hypotheses and Experimentation
The “Unknown Knowns” are the key
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Unknown Unknowns
Donald Rumsfeld, 2002
Time
Unknown
Knowns
The Unknown Knowns
Slovoj Zizek – Slovenian Philosopher
“What we may not like to know”
or
“The things we have forgotten”
Klein Heidelberg
Elephant/Rüssel
Fritz-X
Counter-stealth?
Radio-controlled air vehicles?

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Chain Home RDF
The Transmitter
Klein Heidelberg
The Receiver System
Omni to synchronise with Chain Home
Directional Antenna for echoes
Klein Heidelberg – Bistatic “hitch-hiker” radar 1943-5
Expect and plan for the unexpected
• Ellipse formed by one Klein
Heidelberg receiver using signals from
one Chain Home transmitter
• Accuracy and resolution similar to
Chain Home radar
• Disrupted by jittering Chain Home
signals to break synchronisation
Klein Heidelberg – a WW2 bistatic radar system that was decades ahead of its time
Klein Heidelberg – the world‟s first modern bistatic radar system‟, IEEE Trans. Aerospace and Electronic Systems
Vol.46, No.4, October 2010. Hugh Griffiths and Nicholas Willis 23

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• The UAV operates in the Observe and Act parts of the physical and
electromagnetic OODA
• To maintain our operational advantage in the physical domains, we must
protect freedom to manoeuvre in the EMS
– We rely on “MOTS” to provide navigation and the connectivity to the UAV
– The UAV is inherently “noisy” in the EMS
– Some of its sensors are vulnerable to relatively simple counters
– Many internet sources refer to “How to kill UAV”
• We need to develop “Protection of Information & Bandwidth”
– Possibly more important than “Protection of the Platform”
What if? – defending UAV
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What if? We implement NCW in the EMS
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System of Systems of Sub-Systems
• Network bandwidth limits data transfer to ‘information’ level
• Limited number of ‘trusted’ systems contributing to network
• Some examples of higher bandwidth cross-platform networking exchanging
‘measurement’ level information
Sensors and Effectors
(Sub-systems)
Platforms
(Systems)
Network
(System of Systems)
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
Commands
Information
Knowledge
Effect
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First level of NCW integration
• Proven approach improves quality of information on platform and reduces workload
• Key is to retain and share data on platform for collaborative orientation and decision-making
– e.g. ‘Directed Search’ and ‘Detection of Intent’
• Additional benefit is that more platforms are able to contribute high quality data to network
PlatformSensors
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
Shared Data
Orient
Decide
Information
to Platform
Information
to Network
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Second-level of NCW Integration
• Track level data from network would improve sensor operation
• Important contribution to the Orientate and Decide phases of OODA
– e.g. ‘Dynamic Library’ & ‘Collaborative Sensing’
• Does not impact on bandwidth requirements of network
• Currently, there is reluctance to adopt this approach due to fear of ‘data incest’
PlatformSensors
Information
from Network
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
Observe
DecideAct
Shared Data
Orient
Decide
Information
to Platform
Information
to Network
Information
from Network
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Third-level of NCW Integration
• Exchange of data between sub-systems on platforms
• Enables distributed & diverse sensing and effects
– ‘Networked location’ & ‘Co-ordinated sensing and effects’
• Needs higher bandwidth than available on current networks
Cross-platform communication
PlatformSensors
Information
from Network
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
Observe
DecideAct
Shared Data
Orient
Decide
Information
to Platform
Information
to Network
Information
from Network
PlatformSensors
Information
from Network
OrientObserve
DecideAct
OrientObserve
DecideAct
Observe
DecideAct
Shared Data
Orient
Decide
Information
to Platform
Information
to Network
Information
from Network
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Implications
Meta-data
Mega-data
Geo-spatial Reference
Time Reference
Covert datalinks
Protocols

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Example - Typhoon in a network enabled EMS
Improved Situational
Awareness
(Sensor Co-operation)
Distributed
Sensing
Collaborative
Effects
Co-operative
effects
Interoperability for
Complementary Effects
Enhanced Mission
Support
Interoperability for Force
Protection and Effectiveness
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Military Operational Networks
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Naval Battlegroup
UAS GCS
Theatre HQ
GNSS
Communications
Satellite
Strategic
HQ
Base Station
Strategic UAS
Tactical UAS
ADS
TLB2011
Cyber domain opportunities and vulnerabilities
apply not only to traditional network warfare
and information warfare, but extend to all
aspects of electromagnetic spectrum warfare.
The latter encompasses certain aspects of
electronic warfare, some of which in turn have
close synergies with intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance and other operations in
both the air and space domains.
USAF Technology Horizons

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Orient
Electromagnetic
Spectrum
& Physics
Observe
Decide
Summary
The EMS OODA Model can be used to explore and define Sensor Performance
Act
Commands
Information
Knowledge
Real World
Data World Data World
Cognitive World
Manoeuvre
EW
Radar
EO/IR
EW
Weapons
Communications
&
Information networks
Decision support
Picture compilation
Data fusion
Mission planning
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• “Our Strategic Aim is to improve our ability to shape and adapt to unfolding circumstances so that
we can survive on our own terms” (Boyd – The Strategic Game – 1987)
– This applies to the EMS as well as to physical domains
• Operations in the total EMS Domain are often separately managed
– Radar, Communications, ISTAR, Electronic Warfare & Cyber, Land, Sea, Air and Space
• We must align and orient if we are to protect and dominate the EMS
– We need to develop a shared approach to ORIENT all EMS activities
– We need to experiment to develop our Implicit responses
– We need to record much more meta-data for analysis and synthesis
– We need to be ready to deploy or defeat novel ideas quickly
Protection of Information & Bandwidth = Protection of Platform & Force Effectiveness
Conclusion
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