CHDS State/Local / Our national security and prosperity depend in part on secure and competitive ports. Effective public and private sector collaboration is needed in a world with myriad security challenges and fierce global competition. Although steps have been taken in the years since 9/11 to realize these twin goals, much more needs to be done. The current maritime domain awareness (MDA) paradigm needs to be expanded to provide comprehensive awareness of intermodal operations in our ports. An effective Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) program that succeeds in leveraging intermodal data is fundamental to better port-level MDA. Developing effective port level MDA and using it to enhance the security of our ports relies on the effective organization of public and private sector resources. The joint operations centers called for in the SAFE Port Act, once broadened to include key intermodal players, provide an excellent organizational model to pursue enhanced port security. / Comptroller, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)

We have developed metrics of the performance and operational impacts of METOC support to strike operations conducted on operational aircraft carriers (CVs). Our goal was to assess that support and make recommendations on improving it. We adapted an existing automated real time METOC metrics system, which was developed for land based training missions, for use on CVs by developing a new data collection form, new metrics, and new collection, analysis, and reporting architecture for the remote entering of sensitive mission data without compromise. The weather support element of a CV, the OA division, does not provide strike mission planning support, but does provide situational awareness to pilots. Our system allows that situational awareness to be measured and assessed using metrics that quantify the performance of the forecasts, the relationship of the forecasts to the mitigating actions taken by pilots due to adverse weather conditions, and the effects of individual weather phenomena on the execution of strike missions. A key element of the data collection, analysis, and reporting system developed in this study is the collection of METOC related data from pilots during their intelligence debriefings. This system is readily adaptable for the assessment of METOC support to other warfare areas.

As the United States Navy strives to attain a myriad of situational awareness systems that provide the functionality and interoperability required for future missions, the fundamental idea of open architecture is beginning to promulgate throughout the Department. In order to make rational, informed decisions concerning the processes and systems that will be integrated to provide this situational awareness, an analytical method must be used to identify process deficiencies and produce quantifiable measurement indicators. This thesis will apply the Knowledge Value Added methodology to the current processes involved in track management aboard the AEGIS and Ship Self Defense System (SSDS) platforms. Additional analysis will be conducted based on notional changes that could occur were the systems designed using an open architecture approach. A valuation based on knowledge assets will be presented in order to.

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Situational awareness is often understood as the perception of environmental elements and comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of future status. The advancements in cyberspace technology have fuelled new business and opportunities, but also brought an element of risk to valued assets. Today, the growing gap between different types of cyber-attacks threatens governments and organisations, from individuals to highly organized sponsored teams capable of breaching the most sophisticated systems and the inability to cope with these emerging threats. There is a strong case to be made for effective Collaborative Cyber-Security Situational Awareness (CCSA) that is designed to protect valuable assets, making them more resilient to cybersecurity threats. Cybersecurity experts today must rethink the nature of security, and shift from a conventional approach that stresses protecting vulnerable assets to a larger, more effective framework with the aim of strengthening cyber assets, making them more resilient and part of a cybersecurity process that delivers greater value against cyber threats. This study introduces a new approach to understanding situational awareness of information sharing and collaboration using knowledge from existing situational awareness models. However, current situational awareness models lack resilience in supporting information systems infrastructure, addressing various vulnerabilities, identifying high priority threats and selecting mitigation techniques for cyber threats. The use of exploratory and explanatory analysis techniques executed by Structure Equation Modelling (SEM) allowed the examination of CCSA, in this study. Data from 377 cyber security practitioners affiliated to cybersecurity expert groups including computer emergency response team (CERT) and computer security incident response team (CSIRT) was gathered in the form of an electronic survey and analysed to discover insights and understand the mental model of those cybersecurity experts. Also, a finding from the SEM was the CSSA model aligned perfectly with the second-order Cybernetics model to test the theory in practice, confirming the possibility of using the proposed model in a practical application for this research. Furthermore, the SEM informed the design of the CCSA Environment where an empirical study was employed to verify and validate the CCSA theory in practice. In addition, the SEM informed the design of a behavioural anchor rating scale to measure participant situational awareness performance. The experiment results proved that when using the CCSA model and replicating real-world cyber-attack scenarios that the outcome of situational awareness performance was 61% more than those who did not employ the use of the CCSA model and associated dashboard tool. Further, it was found that both timeliness and accuracy are important in influencing the outcome of information sharing and collaboration in enhancing cyber situational awareness and decision-making. This thesis for the first time presents a novel CCSA theory which has been confirmed in practice. Firstly, this research work improves the outcome of effectiveness in cyber SA by identifying important variables related with the CCSA model. Second, it provides a new technique to measure operators' cyber SA performance. Secondly, it provides the necessary steps to employ information sharing in order to improve cyber security incorporated in the CCSA model. Finally, cybersecurity experts should collaborate to identify and close the gap between cybersecurity threats and execution capacity. The novel CCSA model validated in this research can be considered an effective solution in fighting and preventing cyber-attacks. Attainment of cyber security is driven by how information is both secured and presented between members to encourage the use of information sharing and collaboration to resolve cyber security threats in a timely and accurate manner. This research helps researchers and practitioners alike gain an understanding of key aspects of information sharing and collaboration in CSSA which is informed by the CCSA theory and new capability that the implementation of this theory has shown to deliver in practice.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of West Florida, 2009. / Submitted to the Dept. Of Psychology. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 77 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

ITC/USA 2012 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Eighth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2012 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / The Western Aeronautical Test Range of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dryden Flight Research Center needed to address the aging software and hardware of its current situational awareness display application, the Global Real-Time Interactive Map (GRIM). GRIM was initially developed in the late 1980s and executes on older PC architectures using a Linux operating system that is no longer supported. Additionally, the software is difficult to maintain due to its complexity and loss of developer knowledge. It was decided that a replacement application must be developed or acquired in the near future. The replacement must provide the functionality of the original system, the ability to monitor test flight vehicles in real-time, and add improvements such as high resolution imagery and true 3-dimensional capability. This paper will discuss the process of determining the best approach to replace GRIM, and the functionality and capabilities of the first release of the Positional Awareness Map 3D.

As near-Earth space becomes increasingly crowded with spacecraft and debris, the need for improved space situational awareness has become paramount. Contemporary ground-based systems are limited in the detection of very small or dim targets. In contrast, space-based systems, above most atmospheric interference, can achieve significant improvements in dim target detection by observing targets against a clutter-free space background, i.e. targets above the horizon (ATH). In this study, numerical methods for the evaluation of ATH coverage provided by constellations of satellites are developed. Analysis of ATH coverage volume is reduced to a planar analysis of cross-sectional coverage area in the orbit plane. The coverage model performs sequences of boolean operations between polygons representing cross-sections of satellite sensor coverage regions and regions of interest, returning the coverage area at the desired multiplicity. This methodology allows investigation of any coverage multiplicity for planar constellations of any size, and use of arbitrary sensor profiles and regions of interest. The implementation is applied to several constellation design problems demonstrating the utility of the numerical ATH coverage model in a constellation design process. / text

In the military domain, situation awareness (SA) is an important concept. The precise definition is elusive - generally it is accepted to mean 'knowing what is going on'. The presumption is that in battles, all combat personnel must have SA, without which they may face defeat or make serious mistakes with potentially dire consequences. The dynamic environment in which they operate is far from favourable for gaining and maintaining SA. Commanders and soldiers are under pressure to make decisions even though the situation is unclear. / The goal of the research project reported in this thesis is to adapt an existing measure of SA for use in the land force domain, and to investigate the validity of the measure. An SA metric provides a powerful tool in SA research. It has the capacity to provide rigour in studies examining the impact of technology insertion on SA. / SAGAT (Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique)*, [Endsley, M. R. (1995). Measurement of Situation Awareness in Dynamic Systems. Human Factors, 37 (1), 65-84.] was developed to provide objective measures of SA for computer simulation studies in the aviation domain. In order to apply SAGAT in the field environment in the land domain, the technique had to be modified. This resulted in a new method called the Direct Questioning Technique (DQT). The DQT followed the principles of SAGAT, but was different in its implementation. / The DQT was applied in three studies to measure SA in the land force. The method was successively refined over the three studies. The first dealt with a Command Post exercise in which the SA of a command team was measured. It served as a pilot to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the method. In the second study, the SA of members of an infantry section was measured in a field setting to investigate the effects of intra-section radios on SA. The environment in which the study was conducted demanded further modification of the method. The third study, also conducted in the field, involved SA measures of members of the Ground-Based Air Defence Regiment. In this case the impact of digital display on SA was investigated. / SAGAT has been demonstrated to have a high degree of sensitivity, reliability and validity in other domains. The three studies reported in the thesis produced results that were entirely consistent with those that would be expected from the SA theory and model, showing that the DQT has criterion validity. Content validity was ensured through a rigorous process. The environment in which it was implemented conferred face validity. / It will be shown that the DQT is a sound method for providing objective measures of SA in the land domain. The method produces rich data, the analysis of which may provide insights about the operator's SA in terms of each SA level (perception, comprehension and prediction), and category (friendly or enemy force and terrain). The DQT is not difficult to implement and does not require special equipment. A disadvantage is that it is effort intensive, including the requirement for a Subject Matter Expert to support the researcher during the activities. / Thesis (MEng(ComputerSystemsEng))--University of South Australia, 2006.

Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2009. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/30/2009). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-85).