Using COTS technologies for battlefield applications

Microsoft Office is the most widely used non Program of Record Mission Command system. Warfighters have been somewhat successful in using Commercial Off-The Shelf software (COTS) to meet their needs, but truly integrating COTS software with Army systems can often be problematic. Some COTS products, such as Microsoft Office, and Microsoft´s Office Communications Server (OCS) are designed to be extended. Such extensibility suggests that this type of COTS product can be more tightly integrated with existing Army systems. CERDEC´s Collaborative Battlespace Reasoning and Awareness Army Technology Objective (COBRA ATO) has as a central goal to research and develop ways to enhance collaboration among Warfighters. One of the main methods to achieve this goal is to integrate familiar COTS tools with Army Battle Command System (ABCS) applications. This paper describes several different integration approaches which include integrating Excel-like spread sheet capabilities into the Army Command Post of the Future (CPOF); bringing the Common Operational Picture (COP) into PowerPoint; researching Open Data protocol and its application; integrating OCS with Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), Single Channel Ground & Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) and other commonly used communication end points in the field. This paper presents the technical approaches, lessons learned and path forward for the efforts.