ATCCIS/MIP

02-08-01 THE BACKGROUND, PURPOSE AND CONTEXT OF THE ATCCIS/MIP PROGRAMMES Background 1.	NATO operations require deployed forces to form part of combined and joint coalition formations. Earlier operations focused on general war requirements. Recently NATO forces are increasingly employed in Crisis Response Operations. Both such operations require all participating national units to operate in cooperation with each other. To operate effectively force commanders require a common view of the operational area that is both timely and accurate, and supporting command and control (C2) systems need to pass information within and across national and language boundaries. Moreover, C2 information must be provided to the strategic levels of command including national organisations. Additionally, NATO forces must interact with non-NATO nations, non-governmental bodies, and international and national aid organisations. 2.	The Military Committee approved MC 245 on 18 June 1976, and the North Atlantic Council later noted this on 6 August 1976 (PO/76/87). MC 245 was a statement of the military requirement for interoperability between automated data systems. This visionary statement remains valid today. It led to the start of the ATCCIS programme in 1980. 3.	The objective was (and still remains) to see if interoperability can be obtained at reduced cost and developed according to technical standards agreed by Nations and prescribed by NATO. The aim given to the programme was to identify the minimum set of specifications, to be included within C2 systems, to allow interoperability between national C2 systems. The programme has gone through the stages of: operational analysis, technical concepts, proof of concept, transition to operational use, demonstration, and maturing of the specification. The ATCCIS programme is not a formal NATO programme. Rather it is a voluntary and independent activity by the participating nations and is sponsored by SHAPE. The nations and HQs that are active in the ATCCIS programme are: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Regional Headquarters Allied Forces North Europe (RHQ AFNORTH) and Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). 4.	A complimentary and parallel programme, the Multilateral Interoperability Programme (MIP), was established by the Project Managers of the Army Command and Control Information Systems (C2IS) of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States of America in April 1998 in Calgary, Canada, to replace and enhance two previous programmes: BIP (Battlefield Interoperability Programme) and QIP (Quadrilateral Interoperability Programme). The MIP has two objectives: a.	MEM (Message Exchange Mechanism): to have improved structured message (ADatP-3) capabilities supporting vertical and horizontal interoperability of C2IS at all levels from corps to battalion, or lowest appropriate echelon, its fieldability will be confirmed in 2003, b.	DEM (Data Exchange Mechanism): to have a (push) data capability that supports vertical and horizontal interoperability of C2IS at all levels from corps to battalion, or lowest appropriate level and is backward compatible to the agreed common message capability, its fieldability will be assessed by 2003. 5.	Both objectives are based on the ATCCIS Land C2 Information Exchange Data Model (LC2IEDM). 6.	In October 2001, the ATCCIS and MIP nations decided to merge in order to prevent divergence, to save resources, and to foster interoperability in a broader arena. The ATCCIS ethos was passed to the enlarged MIP and MIP has taken the responsibility of keeping and further developing the ATCCIS specifications. Purpose 7.	The ATCCIS specification is a managed interface between C2 information systems. When incorporated into a system it enables interoperability of information between any other system that also incorporates the specification. Battlespace data is transferred as information. The meaning and context of the information is preserved across national and system boundaries precisely and without any ambiguity. 8.	The information exchange requirements, upon which ATCCIS is founded, encompass the spectrum of Joint and Combined Land Operations. Thus ATCCIS meets the requirements of the Land Component Commander of Allied Joint and Combined Operations (including Article 5 and Crisis Response Operations). Systems may be wholly different from each other and need not necessarily conform to any hardware or software standard. Typically systems will be acquired through national or NATO acquisition programmes and their architecture will conform to the national or NATO policy prevailing at the time. 9.	In a community of ATCCIS-enabled C2 systems nations, command levels and organisations can share: a.	Situational awareness b.	Orders, plans and intentions c.	Capabilities and status of friendly and enemy forces. Concept 10.	The ATCCIS specifications consist of two main components: a data model and a replication mechanism. The Land C2 Information Exchange Data Model, LC2IEDM, is the fundamental product. It is a product of the analysis of a wide spectrum of allied information exchange requirements by 16 nations. It models the information that allied land component commanders need to exchange (both vertically and horizontally). It serves as the common interface specification for the exchange of essential battlespace information. The function, implementation and the display of the host C2 application is not the concern of ATCCIS. System developers incorporate the ATCCIS specification and include a single interface to it. Thereafter no further interfaces are required to interoperate with any other ATCCIS enabled system. The LC2IEDM is in its 5th generation (version 5). The previous version, LC2IEDM v2, is the core of the NATO Reference Model and is also a view model of NATO Corporate Data Model (STANAG 5523 / AdatP-32). The LC2IEDM v5 is offered to the NATO Data Administration Group as a revision to the view model. 11.	The ATCCIS Replication Mechanism, the ARM, is complementary to the LC2IEDM data model. When a C2 application changes the state of information that it holds, and which is recognised by the ATCCIS specification, this information is automatically replicated to all other co-operating systems that have agreed to  exchange this information. The meaning and context of the information is preserved and requires no additional processing on receipt to make it useful. System managers are able to decide to whom information flows, when and over what communications medium. It should be noted that communication protocols and communication systems are not part of ATCCIS, since the transfer facility employs agreed international standards. Currently, X.400, X.25, and TCP/IP are included within the specification. 12.	The ATCCIS specifications enable interoperability at Degree 3 and functions at  NATO Level 5 of System Interconnection. ATCCIS Programme 13.	The ATCCIS work has been conducted in programmed "Phases," each with a specific aim: ?	Phase I (1980-1983) was an initial "Feasibility Study" into the ATCCIS concept. ?	Phase II (1985-1990) identified the military and technical concepts required to achieve C2 interoperability by the automatic exchange of data. ?	Phase III (1992-1997) was the "proof of concept" phase. Phase III concluded with a successful demonstration of multinational C2 interoperability between national prototypes for ATCCIS-compliant systems. Interoperability by controlled, automatic data exchange, free of the need for common hardware, software, operating system, or database management system (DBMS) was demonstrated. ?	Phase IV (1997-1999) concentrated on the refinement of the specifications and transition to operational use. CA, DA, FR, IT, GE, NL, NO, PO, SP, UK, and US were participants in the supporting programme of work. Phase IV included a Command Post Exercise involving nine national ATCCIS-compliant systems. Results from the Command Post Exercise concluded that ATCCIS was a workable solution for C2 interoperability that was achievable using the ATCCIS specifications. ?	Phase V (2000-2002), known as "ATCCIS 2000," had the aim of completing and maturing the ATCCIS specifications, suitable for building fieldable systems. The programme concentrated on extending the ATCCIS specifications to support "combined joint task forces" and "crisis response operations." Further, the work included developing the necessary procedures to adopt and maintain all ATCCIS components as NATO standards. Implementation, Adoption and Stability 14.	The LC2IEDM data model is in its 5th generation (version 5). The previous version, LC2IEDM v2, is the core of the NATO Reference Model and is also a view model of NATO Corporate Data Model (STANAG 5523 / AdatP-32). 15.	Implementation of ATCCIS/MIP is a NATO Force Goal (EL2880) 16.	NATO Standardisation Agreement SO 01-11 calls for the implementation of ATCCIS specifications. 17.	The ATCCIS specification is well regarded in the NC3A. It is the core capability of the NC3A Integrated Data Environment, a capability to integrate legacy systems. The current IDE capability will integrate ADAMS, ICC, JOIIS, & MCCIS. 18.	The ATCCIS specification is included in the NATO C3 Technical Architecture. 19.	The NATO Military Criteria for High Readiness Forces (Land) Headquarters requires the use of an ATCCIS conformant land information system. 20.	Many national C2 information systems implement ATCCIS/MIP specifications. Future 21.	In 18th March 02, ATCCIS approved and released its ATCCIS Baseline 2.0 which includes the Data Model LC2IEDM v.5 and the Replication Mechanism ARM v.5 amongst others. This Baseline will ground the future enlarged MIP interoperability solutions. The LC2IEDM v5 is also offered to the NDAG as a revision to view model of the NATO Corporate Data Model. 22.	The ATCCIS programme merged with the Multilateral Interoperability Programme (MIP) in early 2002. The ATCCIS ethos was passed to the enlarged MIP and MIP has taken the responsibility of keeping and further developing the ATCCIS specifications. The nations and HQs that are active in the enlarged MIP programme are: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, SHAPE, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States. In addition Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and RHQ AFNORTH are expected to join; and Switzerland, Finland, Lithuania, Sweden, NATO Consultation, Command, and Control Agency (NC3A), NATO HQ Consultation, Command, and Control (C3) Staff and NATO Data Administration Organisation Staff have expressed interest. 23.	These nations wish to achieve international interoperability of Command and Control Information Systems (C2IS) at all levels from corps to battalion, or lowest appropriate level, in order to support multinational (including NATO), combined and joint operations and the advancement of digitization in the international arena. The enlarged MIP will build, in an evolutionary way, on the baseline of interoperability already provided by the MIP and ATCCIS products. 24.	To do so they recognise the following objectives: a.	Operational. To specify the detailed Information Exchange Requirements (IERs) to support military operations in war and crisis response operations (CRO), and provide operational interfaces in fieldable form to enable the C2IS of the nations involved to interoperate at and between specified levels of command. b.	Procedural. i.	To specify the procedural aspects of the MIP Information Exchange Requirements (IERs) supporting the above operational goals, ensuring maximum commonality at formation and unit command levels. ii. To support those IERs in each and every interoperability solution devised under this programme. iii. To provide feedback to the appropriate NATO Panel on the implications of implementing those IERs on automated systems. iv. To continue development and maintenance of the Land C2 Information Exchange Data Model (LC2IEDM) and associated data management activities from ATCCIS. c.	Technical. i.	To refine and maintain the current MIP MEM message exchange capability. ii. To define, develop, test and demonstrate a MIP DEM data exchange capability based on developed ATCCIS specifications that supports vertical and horizontal interoperability requirements. iii. To examine communications solutions identified by other interoperability groups for exchanging data at all agreed levels. Contact 25.	For contact with the ATCCIS programme contact SHAPE: The ATCCIS Office Pol/Req Div (PRC) SHAPE Chausse de Bruxelles 128 7061 Casteau Mons Belgium Tel: +32 65 44 3006 E-mail: rafael.desolis@shape.nato.int The NATO Policy for C3 Interoperability (NC3B sub-committee AC/322-SC/2-WP/72 (revised) version 4.3). "Seamless sharing of data that involves the automated sharing of data amongst systems based on a common exchange model." STANAG 5048 - The Minimum Scale of Connectivity for Communications and Information Systems for NATO Land Forces (Edition 5. Promulgated 16 February 2000 by NHQC3S committee AC/322  SC/1). "Two systems which are open to each other, and which conform to minimum standards for information definition and transfer such that there are no fixed constraints on the extent of access by  users of one system to the other, but dynamic constraints are applied to each system, in accordance  with the current operational situation, such that only a user-defined subset of the total information base  of one system is available to the other." NATO UNCLASSIFIED-RELESEABLE TO INTERNET 		Enclosure 1 3 NATO UNCLASSIFIED-RELEASABLE TO INTERNET 1