Advancing Battle Management Systems

摘要

Modern combat vehicles rely on sensors for situational awareness. These include video cameras and thermal imagers providing peripheral surveillance at short and long distances, threat warning receivers for lasers, radars, and gunshot detectors, for detecting threats and employing countermeasures against them. Sensors also monitor the primary and secondary weapons to inform the crew what sectors are covered and initiate an automatic response when required. Other systems determine the platform position and orientation, supporting blue force tracking information systems. Since each system was developed separately, their integration is a daunting, risk-prone, and expensive process. Moreover, without a high level of automation, operating a system-rich platform faces significant challenges in crew training. It poses a cognitive burden on the crew resulting in poor performance under a stressful combat situation. For laymen, the digital displays represent the BMS in combat vehicles, but this is a superficial view. In previous articles, this author examined armoured vehicles' situational awareness trends, particularly for crew members under armour, using digital displays, helmet visors with augmented or virtual reality, digital walls, and virtual windows. Whatever the display used, the BMS is responsible for providing the information projected to the crew using an optimised human interface and ergonomic design. The goal is to filter, simplify and optimise the information displayed to the junior commanders leading the squad and platoon while presenting a more comprehensive view of the same information to the commander at the company and battalion levels.