Raytheon demonstrated its Mobile Enhanced Situational Awareness (MESA) system designed to deliver data over the XM Satellite Radio system at the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration ’05 (CWID), a homeland security and homeland defense exercise that began June 13 and runs through June 23.

Raytheon demonstrated how quickly the system can respond to a homeland security situation, said Mike Fleenor, MESA’s program manager. Information would be passed from Raytheon’s MESA Service Center to XM Satellite. The satellite system would then transmit the information, both audio and images, to troops or first responders.

In an attack against a facility, for example, a photograph of the site could be taken and transmitted to a commander away from the scene who has the capability to draw response operations onto the image, Fleenor said, much in the way television football analysts appear to draw on the television screen to describe a play. In the homeland security scenario, the commander could indicate areas that personnel should stay away from or command post locations. That information could then be sent to first responders on the scene, he said.

CWID is an annual event that enables the U.S. combatant commands and international community to investigate command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance solutions for enhancing coalition interoperability. U.S. Northern Command is the host combatant command for CWID 2005.

Besides homeland security uses, MESA can also be used to help keep track of friendly forces, known as blue force tracking, and potentially as a warning system for deployed troops, Fleenor said.

XM Satellite provides coverage to the entire continental United States. Worldspace, the other satellite system Raytheon is working with, covers Africa, Asia and Europe. The higher bandwidth of satellite systems such as XM and World Space provides for faster transmissions, making it ideal for blue force tracking, Fleenor added.

“You can effectively see the position [and status] of vehicles,” Fleenor said. “It’s mind-boggling the amount of flexibility with this bandwidth.”

And there is a just a few seconds delay in the transmission, he added. Additionally, blue force tracking on the move is possible because the terminals are designed to work while the vehicle is moving.

MESA could also be used to provide audio alerts that could be downloaded to specific users instead of being broadcast to a wide audience.

“You can tailor the broadcast to a small group or targeted individuals,” Fleenor said.

–Geoff Fein