Achieving Interoperability of Command and Control Systems Using Translation Gateways

Over the last several decades, the military has greatly benefited from the increased knowledge and capabilities provided by using computerized command and control systems. As this use has expanded exponentially, so has the need to integrate these systems. The breadth of computing technology at the component, functional, and mission level has further complicated the issue of interoperability. By their nature, these disparate systems have varying levels of fidelity, granularity, quality and availability. The cost of establishing collaboration between these systems is typically high, and is complicated by differing organizational readiness levels, willingness, and technical ability to affect collaboration. The opportunity to enable interoperability, therefore, has great value, provided it can address these factors and more.