Laying the Foundations for True Cross-Domain Commonality: Why Is the Common Range Integrated Instrumentation System (CRIIS) Not the Answer for Test and Training Time-Space-Position Information

摘要

The vision of advancing to interdependent, interoperable, and, ultimately, common instrumentation for test and training has long been accepted as the utopian solution for accomplishing these two vital functions of defense preparedness. Whereas common challenges such as shrinking budgets, range encroachment, and diminishing frequency allocation would seem to compel these closely related domains to work together, cultural - not technological - barriers have prevented the U.S. Department of Defense from realizing this collaborative vision. The Test Resource Management Center, through its Central Test and Evaluation Investment Program, has initiated a standards-based approach to ensure that both the test and training communities have a common range platform from which to deliver time-space-position information (TSPI) suitable for both domains. The Common Range Integrated Instrumentation System (CRIIS) builds on the historical business model for common test and training range instrumentation, finally ensuring that the Department has a wholly government-owned solution ready to bridge the test and training interoperability gap. After years of closely analyzing the similarities of test and training TSPI systems, CRIIS contains all the right ingredients to deliver the most fundamental range capability using a common architecture - so why is it not the answer to both test and training domains.