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Volpe Center Highlights

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Director's Notes | Focus | Safety | Mobility | Human and Natural Environment |
Economic Growth and Trade | National Security

Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration in London, England (USAF AMC & RAF)

The Volpe Center, in partnership with the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Air Force, participated in the Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (JWID) from July 12 to 30 in London, England. The Volpe Center demonstrated an application called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Flight Following.

Aircraft Information Screen

The Volpe Center was asked to demonstrate that it was feasible to enable communication and information sharing among information technology platforms that use different formats. Volpe's developers took parts of four stand-alone computer systems from two countries (one involving aircraft, one involving ground-based vehicles, another involving maintenance, and another involving passengers), and put them into one graphic display. The result is a data fusion device known as broker, which can consolidate information over the Internet in simple, graphic, yet secure forms using Windows 95 formats. Mr. Jack Krumm of the Intermodal Logistics Systems Planning and Integration Division is the broker system's principal developer.

The Volpe Center negotiated agreements for an international sharing of data between the Air Mobility Command of the U.S. Air Force and the movements unit of the Royal Air Force. The result of this international cooperation was a joint tracking of the strategic airlift of two NATO countries during an exercise. The demonstration also showed that information could be linked rapidly and cost effectively; as NATO or other nations make joint efforts with the United States, it will be feasible to rapidly integrate transportation systems. The Volpe Center's application was highly praised, and was viewed by representatives from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, France, and the United States.

Screen Displaying Location of Various Aircraft 1.) 'clicking' on an aircraft reveals details of location, speed, ETA, etc. 2.) 'clicking' on a base reveals details of assets (e.g. vehicles), maintenance status of each parked aircraft, block in/out, etc.