Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
GIF 2009 Volume: 7 Issue: 5 (October)
After its first deployment to an engineering battalion this spring, ENFIRE, the Army’s new digital engineering tool kit, was scheduled for 30 fieldings by the end of September, on the way to widespread deployment down to the platoon level by 2015.
Formally known as the Instrument Set, Reconnaissance and Surveying, ENFIRE is a modern digital engineering tool kit that replaces the Surveying Set, Military Field Sketching set, which has been in use for decades. ENFIRE is designed to supersede the information collection capabilities of its predecessor by supplying the soldier with assets that include software and hardware tools to gather reconnaissance and reporting information; project management tools; terrain modeling software tools; and tools to disseminate information to Army battle command.
These capabilities allow soldiers using ENFIRE to rapidly collect and disseminate accurate, current information that can be used almost immediately by the commander in the decision-making process, enabling the Army’s “every soldier as a sensor” concept.
Surveying and sketching sets have been around since the early 1920s. The current surveying and sketching set was fielded during the 1950s and was most recently updated in the 1970s with the addition of a digital calculator. The set comprises rulers, a compass, pencils, paper, erasers, a sketching board, an inclinometer, and a calculator.
Each of those tools leaves much room for error. Recent technological innovations allowed for the replacement of every component in the current surveying and sketching set with more accurate and precise computer-based components. ENFIRE consists of COTS hardware components, along with government off-the-shelf and customized software applications designed to assist the soldier in the information gathering process.
The current ENFIRE design enables the soldier to quickly capture and store digital information on road, bridge and route reconnaissance, in addition to minefield and IED reports. Soldiers collect information by filling in fields in a graphical user interface designed to ensure all relevant information is gathered.
Distance, height, width, area, and slope are quickly and precisely measured using a laser range finder. Current location can be captured at an accuracy approaching 1 meter using the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR). Actual images and video are captured using a digital camcorder. Data is automatically transferred to the proper fields in a route, road, bridge, or minefield report through connections between the devices and the Tablet PC.
In addition to assisting the soldier in capturing reconnaissance data, ENFIRE contains tools to assist soldiers with construction engineering, damage assessment and other tasks.
As a modularized hardware and software solution, ENFIRE enables easy replacement of individual components to maintain low development costs while adapting to the most recent digital innovations. That strategy has already proven effective, for example when the initial commercial GPS system was superseded by DAGR to satisfy a directive by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense requiring a selective availability/ anti-spoofing module in GPS receivers when used in a combat or combat support role.
Future plans envision ENFIRE leveraging the capabilities of the Global Information Grid to transmit data up the chain of command to the Joint Tactical Common Operational Picture Workstation. ♦
