Now its the “Internet of Battlefield Things”…
While all the publicity with wireless technology advances centers around the so-called Internet of Things (IoT) where all our devices, even the humble toothbrush, can wirelessly communicate with each other, giving rise to the smart home, little has been publicised about the military applications of the IoT concept. Known as the “Internet of Battlefield Things” (IoBT) it is but the latest version of the old military-industrial complex, which Eisenhower warned us about in 1961, taking advantage of new technology to create and sell, at great profit, new killing technology thereby ensuring an endless state of war which is essential for their very profitable business. Behind the IoBT enterprise you will find companies such as Lockheed Martin making the most of it. Essential reading here is: “Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex”.
Don
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Military Continues to Design War Matrix with “Internet of Battlefield Things”
Published on the Activist Post
Excerpt
July 20, 2017
The military continues to hone its vision to build a full-scale matrix of (smart) war that is being branded the Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT).
The ability of the Army to understand, predict, adapt, and exploit the vast array of internetworked things that will be present of the future battlefield is critical to maintaining and increasing its competitive advantage. The explosive growth of technologies in the commercial sector that exploits the convergence of cloud computing, ubiquitous mobile communications, networks of data-gathering sensors, and artificial intelligence presents an imposing challenge for the Army. These Internet of Things (IoT) technologies will give our enemies ever increasing capabilities that must be countered, but commercial developments do not address the unique challenges that the Army will face in using them.
Thus begins the synopsis of the U.S. Army”s solicitation for participants in a collaborative effort to upgrade U.S. war capability, citing the familiar narrative of the problem-reaction-solution Third Offset Strategy which sees the U.S. playing catch-up with superpowers like Russia and China in the ever-evolving global arms race.
Virginia Tech”s ECE explains the mission further:
The project, entitled “Optimal Placement of Things in an Adversarial Internet of Battlefield Things,” will focus how, when, and where to strategically deploy and operate a number of different smart devices in an integrated IoBT.
“This research will marry notions from data analytics, information theory, game theory, and distributed learning, “ said Saad. “But in order to craft a strong deployment strategy, we have to juggle a number of complex variables.”
These variables include heterogeneous sets of data sources, the rapidly shifting makeup of the battlefield environment, the wide-ranging capabilities of smart items, the need to account for human behavior on the battlefield, and the adversarial nature of the IoBT due to the possibility of malicious attacks.
To overcome these challenges, the team will develop the first comprehensive data-driven framework for optimizing the placement of “things” within a large-scale battlefield environment. The proposed framework will expedite the deployment of the IoBT by providing precise guidelines on how, when, and where to place the various smart devices in relation to enemy forces.
“This research will enable military strategists to leverage massive battlefield data sets and lay the foundations of tomorrow”s IoBT,” said Saad.
SNIP