Modeling the Joint Battlespace Infosphere

Abstract

Abstract : The Air Force is developing a concept known as the Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) in order to achieve information superiority. The JBI builds on the Global Information Grid and will move the state-of-the-art in information management into information-centric warfare. JBI will address more than five million information objects, thousands of users and provide scalability challenges for currently available information management hardware and software systems and drive design requirements to create systems that are more capable. JBI concepts will initially be created working with prototypes and will eventually culminate in fielded implementations. Important issues, such as bandwidth, connectivity, computational requirements and storage, information protection and assurance, must be addressed. Significant efforts will be required to implement JBI resources, such as network technologies and topologies, required to achieve JBI's stated objective to achieve warfare information superiority. Key JBI resources are being modeled and simulated to identify, quantify, and resolve technology and topology issues influencing the prototyping, development, and deployment of an operational JBI. This simulation research will allow JBI developers to identify and mitigate programmatic risk early enough within the JBI seven-year development window to allow successful development and deployment of JBI. This paper will discuss the proof of concept assessment performed and the resulting development.