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Advanced Soldier Sensor Information System and Technology (ASSIST)
Program Manager: Dr. Mari Maeda
TIGR (Tactical Ground Reporting) System:
TIGR is a multimedia reporting system for soldiers at the patrol level, allowing users to collect and share information to improve situational awareness and to facilitate collaboration and information analysis among junior officers. With its geo-spatial user interface, TIGR is particularly suited to counterinsurgency operations and enables collection and dissemination of fine-grained intelligence on people, places, and insurgent activity. Being focused on users at Company level and below, TIGR complements existing reporting systems that focus on the needs of users at Battalion or Brigade level and above.
TIGR was developed by DARPA under an extremely aggressive development schedule. The system was first introduced to users during the pre-deployment training exercise at Fort Hood in the spring of 2006. The system is currently in experimental use in Iraq.
TIGR's graphical, map-referenced user interface is highly intuitive, and allows multimedia data such as voice recordings, digital photos, GPS tracks to be easily collected and searched. The system also uses a state-of-the-art data distribution architecture so as to minimize load on the tactical networks, even while allowing digital imagery and other multimedia data to be rapidly exchanged.
TIGR provides the following capabilities:
- TIGR enhances local knowledge - Local knowledge is hard-won and is critical to effective operations. TIGR helps ground soldiers collect information on key infrastructure, landmarks and terrain. Photos of key locations can be captured into TIGR, geo-referenced, and displayed as map overlays. Such data also serve as a navigation aid in the land where there are no street names or numbers. Overlays of routes, critical infrastructure, tribal areas and ethnic maps, recent attacks and recent changes in the terrain are all used to enhance soldier knowledge. TIGR is also used to capture and share information on human terrain. Meetings with religious leaders, encounters with local villagers or business owners can be recorded and shared in TIGR.
- TIGR tracks dynamic changes - The data in TIGR are dynamic and easily updated. While infrastructure is usually viewed as static, the reality is that battlefield terrain and infrastructure is dynamic - new structures appear, bridges are destroyed, new obstacles appear along roads. TIGR manages this dynamic tactical landscape using before/after photos and updated imagery to provide the most up-to-date views of the battlespace.
- TIGR assists the unit rotation process. During the regular RIP-TOA (Relief in Place - Transfer of Authority) process, TIGR can be used to transfer the key historical and contextual information to the new unit rotating into the Area of Operation. Instead of reviewing a stack of Powerpoint or Word files, new units can start the rotation process by reviewing past and ongoing activities in the areas of interest.
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