ConSERT will provide a Systems Development Kit which can be used by Stakeholders as a vehicle to stage demonstrations, conduct experiments and to evaluate systems configuration and operation. It is envisaged as an expandable and evolutionary facility, and to achieve this it is an open system; details of project interfaces, standards, configurations, component implementation and other information will be available to developers and potential users. It is also vital that ConSERT be a fully instrumented system, in that it will be possible to extract quantitative information about system components, their properties, their states and their configurations.

To achieve this aim, the ConSERT development project is addressing a number of key technical areas:

Components

The ConSERT concept requires that a range of individual components and platforms can be integrated and interoperate within the chosen operational scenario. These might include air vehicles, ground-based platforms, computing resources, static and dynamic sensor systems and human agency. It is desirable that provision be made to incorporate both new and legacy components, together with components designed specifically for ConSERT use and COTS elements. Currently, ConSERT assets include a fleet of six Koala ground robots equipped with stereo vision, an airship with INS and monocular vision and a multi-camera photogrammetry system.

Operational Scenarios

In line with BAE Systems Strategic Intent, it is intended that ConSERT focus on operation within representative Urban ISTAR scenarios involving tasks such as target acquisition, reconnaissance and search and rescue. Within these scenarios, it is possible to draw up well-defined vignettes for system operation and assessment.

Infrastructure

In order to enable future enhancements to ConSERT, it is desirable that ConSERT be architecture neutral. By this, we mean that the configuration and interconnection - topology - of components is not specified. However, defining a standard means of interconnection and communication to yield a very high degree of flexibility is of paramount importance. ConSERT puts in place a common object model and facilitates flexibility through CORBA and web technologies.

Synthetic Environments

An increasingly important area of research in the current defence research and procurement environment is the use of synthetic environments for systems assessment, right through from initial concept to deployment and beyond. ConSERT will provide the requisite interfaces to synthetic environment resources as a means of amplifying its own capabilities, and provide a complete model of ConSERT for inclusion in a synthetic environment framework.

Instrumentation

ConSERT will be capable of generating tangible, quantitative results via numerical output, data logging and diagnostics. A vital element of the instrumentation strategy will be to make available information concerning the internal state of system components, together with numerical information on system configuration, communications and timings. This will allow users not only to assess system performance against overall operational requirements, but also to allow the derivation of relevant system and architectural metrics.

Tools

ConSERT will provide the necessary tools to support selection and allocation of system resources, system build and deployment, choice and operation of instrumentation (see below) and “run-time” system operation. In effect, it is intended that ConSERT will act as a rapid “systems development kit”.

Standards.

To provide the flexibility demanded by the ConSERT operational concept, selection and use of standards is vital. The choice of widely used, easily understood and well-established standards in the construction of the ConSERT infrastructure results in the adoption of the appropriate COTS technologies for software and hardware development, for component abstraction, for communication and for interoperability.