The theories supporting Network Centric Warfare (NCW) continue to mold the tactical use of U.S. forces throughout the global warfare environment. This thesis research will correlate the four tenets of NCW to the tactical employment of the Naval Postgraduate School's LRV. The four tenets of NCW are: 1. A robustly networked force improves information sharing. 2. Information sharing and collaboration enhance the quality of information and shared situational awareness. 3. Shared situational awareness enables self-synchronization. 4. These, in turn, dramatically increase mission effectiveness. The faculty and students at NPS are dedicated to researching methods to leverage science and technology in order to maximize the combat effectiveness of U.S. and allied forces. In teaming with our primary sponsor, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), NPS has developed the Tactical Network Topology (TNT) series of experiments aimed at providing the warfighter information solutions for the battle space. The NPS LRV was derived from an operational requirement to have a mobile C4I/ISR platform that provides enhanced real-time information sharing to tactically employed units. Total force combat effectiveness is growing more reliant on agile means of information sharing. Wireless communications and collaborative technologies are essential to ensuring dynamic, forward-deployed forces have the ability to transmit and receive critical information when and where it is needed. Through past TNT experimentation, the LRV has not demonstrated itself as a stable platform providing a high-bandwidth information sharing capability. This research advanced the LRV concept by bridging the multiple wireless technologies and providing a reliable high-bandwidth communications link.

Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Don Brutzman, Curtis L. Blais. Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-176). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-82).

Civil War images are important visual records that captured and depict the realities endured by the American people during the Civil War. These images are a powerful visual platform that depicts the vivid representation of past history. Images of Civil War are frequently used as interpretive media, particularly at historic battlefields to enhance the visitor experience and understanding. However, empirical studies of the characteristics of Civil War images that can influence visitors\' experience are limited. Using historic images of Civil War landscapes, this study identified visitors\' preferences and attitudes for Civil War images at five different American Civil War battlefields: Chickamauga and Chattanooga Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Shiloh National Military Park, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Antietam National Battlefield, and Gettysburg National Military Park. For this study, the Content Identifying Method (CIM) and eye-tracking technology were used in understanding visitors\' preferences. The results indicate that visitors at historic battlefields prefer images that have a strong sense of active military activities and battle-related action. In addition visitors also preferred images that exhibit a high sense of mystery and are visually complex. The study also revealed that visitor background variables such as gender, age group, and ancestors who fought in the Civil War significantly influence visitor preference for Civil War images. Motivation variables such as interest in learning about "the people," "the military elements," "physical artifacts of the Civil War," and distance travelled to historic battlefields also significantly influence visitor preferences. In term of visitor attitudes towards gruesome images, the majority of the participants believe that these types of images are important visual media that can influence their visitation experience at historic battlefields. Eye-tracking technology was useful in revealing the content that attracted participant attention in some of the images, but not in other images. This study provides information that will be useful to park managers and interpretive designers regarding the characteristics of Civil War images that are important in developing interpretive media for the public and factors that may help in the process of customizing the visitor experience at historic battlefields. / Ph. D.

In today's heterogeneous computing environment, a wide variety of computing devices with varying capabilities need to access information in the network. Existing network is not able to differentiate the different device capabilities, and indiscriminatingly send information to the end-devices, without regard to the ability of the end-devices to use the information. The goal of a device-aware network is to match the capability of the end-devices to the information delivered, thereby optimizing the network resource usage. In the battlefield, all resources - including time, network bandwidth and battery capacity - are very limited. A device-aware network avoids the waste that happens in current, device-ignorant networks. By eliminating unusable traffic, a device-aware network reduces the time the end-devices spend receiving extraneous information, and thus saves time and conserves battery-life. In this thesis, we evaluated two potential DAN architectures, Proxy-based and Router-based approaches, based on the key requirements we identified. To demonstrate the viability of DAN, we built a prototype using a hybrid of the two architectures. The key elements of our prototype include a DAN browser, a DAN Lookup Server and DAN Processing Unit (DPU). We have demonstrated how our architecture can enhance the overall network utility by ensuring that only appropriate content is delivered to the end-devices.

, and the transportation capacity assets within the CSSE dedicated to moving supplies are all significant contributing factors in sustaining the movement of the GCE. This thesis defines a logistics process and develops a simulation where the GCE consumes logistical resources necessary to sustain its movement toward assigned objectives while being supported by a CSSE in an expanding maneuver warfare environment. We define a successful sustainment of the GCE and using logistic regression, confirm the above three factors contribute significantly to the success rate of sustainment in the simulation. Through regression and leverage plots we determine which of the three factors contribute significantly more to the responses of success and time. We also conclude through a sample means comparison the combination of factor values that achieve a minimal delay in sustainment for the GCE in the simulation.

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are playing a significant role in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). Until recently, small UAS (SUAS) were an insignificant part of these efforts. Now their numbers exceed those of their larger counterparts by an order of magnitude. Future projections anticipate a growing demand for SUAS making now the best time to examine the functions they perform in order to make better decisions concerning their future design and development. This thesis provides a brief history of UAS and discusses the current capabilities and mission areas in which they perform. Their relevance to modern warfare and assumptions concerning their future roles on the battlefield is presented. Predominant UAS missions are identified, as well as the technical requirements deemed necessary for their success. A generic UAS functional model is developed to illustrate where the challenges and technology gaps manifest in SUAS design. Possible technology solutions that could fill these gaps are presented and a field experiment is conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of several possible solutions. The goal of this thesis is to identify existing technology gaps and offer technology solutions that lead to better design of future SUAS flight and mission control support systems (FMCSS).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2007. / Vita. Appendix: leaves 139-177. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-182).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2007. / Vita. Appendix: leaves 139-177. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-182).

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of History / Charles W. Sanders, Jr. / The thriving areas of development around the cities of Franklin and Nashville in Tennessee bear little evidence of the large battles that took place there during November and December, 1864. Pointing to modern development to explain the failed preservation of those battlefields, however, radically oversimplifies how those battlefields became relatively obscure. Instead, the major factor contributing to the lack of preservation of the Franklin and Nashville battlefields was a fractured collective memory of the two events; there was no unified narrative of the battles. For an extended period after the war, there was little effort to remember the Tennessee Campaign. Local citizens and veterans of the battles simply wanted to forget the horrific battles that haunted their memories. Furthermore, the United States government was not interested in saving the battlefields at Franklin and Nashville. Federal authorities, including the War Department and Congress, had grown tired of funding battlefields as national parks and could not be convinced that the two battlefields were worthy of preservation. Moreover, Southerners and Northerners remembered Franklin and Nashville in different ways, and historians mainly stressed Eastern Theater battles, failing to assign much significance to Franklin and Nashville. Throughout the 20th century, infrastructure development encroached on the battlefields and they continued to fade from public memory. By the end of the century, the battlefields were all but gone. However, to support tourism in the 21st century, Franklin’s preservationists and local leaders largely succeeded in recapturing the memory of their battle by reclaiming much of the battlefield space. In contrast, at Nashville, memory of that battle remains obscure. The city continues to focus its efforts on the future, providing little opportunity to reclaim either the battlefield or memory of the Battle of Nashville.