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Utilizing online data sources to improve existing military aircraft systems

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Utilizing online data sources to improve existing military aircraft systems

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Utilizing Online Data Sources to Improve Existing Military Aircraft Systems

by

Timothy Boyden Strotkamp

A Thesis Presented to the
Faculty of the USC Graduate School
University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science
(Geographic Information Science and Technology)

August 2018

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Copyright © 2018 by Timothy B. Strotkamp

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For Judi & Charlotte

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Table of Contents
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... vi
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ vii
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. viii
List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. ix
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... x
Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1
1.1. Overview of Project Goal ............................................................................................... 2
1.2. Motivation and Background ........................................................................................... 4
1.3. Further Goals ................................................................................................................. 6
1.4. Project Overview ........................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 2 Related Work.............................................................................................................. 9
2.1. Existing Airborne Mapping Systems .............................................................................. 9
2.2. Geospatial Intelligence ................................................................................................. 11
2.3. Available Street mapping ............................................................................................. 13
2.4. Imagery ........................................................................................................................ 14
2.5. Implementation of Data ................................................................................................ 15
Chapter 3 Methods.................................................................................................................... 16
3.1. Data Requirements ....................................................................................................... 16
3.2. Street Data ................................................................................................................... 17
3.2.1. TIGER/Line ........................................................................................................ 17
3.2.2. OpenStreetMap ................................................................................................... 18
3.3. Imagery Data ............................................................................................................... 18
3.3.1. Satellite Imagery and Aerial Photography ............................................................ 18
3.4. Methods ....................................................................................................................... 19
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3.4.1. Identifying data ................................................................................................... 20
3.4.2. Documenting the process for instruction .............................................................. 20
3.5. Evaluation and Testing ................................................................................................. 21
3.5.1. Census Bureau TIGER/Line ................................................................................ 21
3.5.2. Imagery (CIB 1 and HSIP) .................................................................................. 22
3.5.3. Imagery (CIB 5 & DRG) ..................................................................................... 23
3.5.4. Testing ................................................................................................................ 24
3.6. Required Research Skills .............................................................................................. 25
Chapter 4 Results ...................................................................................................................... 26
4.1. Data Results ................................................................................................................. 26
4.1.1. Street Data ........................................................................................................... 26
4.1.2. Imagery ............................................................................................................... 27
4.2. Instruction Manual ....................................................................................................... 30
4.2.1. Creating the Process ............................................................................................ 30
4.2.2. Instruction Manual Document Creation ............................................................... 30
4.3. Real World Application................................................................................................ 33
Chapter 5 Discussion and Conclusion ....................................................................................... 35
5.1. Discussion .................................................................................................................... 35
5.2. Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................................. 37
References ................................................................................................................................ 41
Appendix A: Instruction Document .......................................................................................... 43

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List of Figures
Figure 1 RC-26 Aircraft .............................................................................................................. 2
Figure 2 Mission System ............................................................................................................ 4
Figure 3 AeroComputers Map Example .................................................................................... 10
Figure 4 Boresight Goliath AR Map ......................................................................................... 10
Figure 5 Churchill Navigation AR System ................................................................................ 13
Figure 6 AeroComputers Ulitchart ............................................................................................ 17
Figure 7 Work Flow ................................................................................................................. 24
Figure 8 Combined HSIP and TIGER/Lines ............................................................................. 27
Figure 9 1 Meter CIB ................................................................................................................ 28
Figure 10 5 Meter CIB .............................................................................................................. 28
Figure 11 Sub 1 Meter HSIP ..................................................................................................... 29
Figure 12 Road Data verify correct location. The green X above is paired with the center of the
red circle, giving the user situational awareness that they are looking at the correct target. ........ 33
Figure 13 Damaged Road in Puerto Rico .................................................................................. 39

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List of Tables
Table 1 Data Types, Sources, and Format ................................................................................. 19

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Acknowledgements
I would first like to mention that I’m grateful to the University and the Spatial Sciences Institute
for giving me a second chance to return from a leave to complete my thesis and obtain my
Degree from the University of Southern California. This accomplishment means a great deal to
me and I will carry the lessons learned in this journey with me for the rest of my life. I’d also
would like to acknowledge, Darren Ruddell, COL (R) Steve Fleming and the rest of my thesis
committee, Dr. Robert Vos and Dr. Andrew Marx, who helped guide me through this process.

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List of Abbreviations
CIB Controlled Image Base
FMV Full Motion Video
FTU Formal Training Unit
DOD Department of Defense
DOQ Digital Orthoimage Quadrangle
DRG Digital Raster Graphics
GIS Geographic Information Systems
GEOINT Geospatial Intelligence
HSIP Homeland Security Infrastructure Program
LEO Law Enforcement Officer
MMS Mission Management System
MrSID Multiresolution Seamless Image Database
MSO Mission Systems Officer
OSS Operations Support Squadron
RC Reconnaissance/Cargo
SOS Special Operations Squadron
TIFF Tag Image File Format
TIGER Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing
USB Universal Serial Bus
USC University of Southern California
RPF Raster Product Format

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Abstract
This thesis aims to improve the quality of tools available to the Air National Guard, more
specifically the RC-26 mission management system (MMS). The RC-26 is an unconventional
aircraft doing an unconventional mission for the military, working directly with law enforcement
agencies to provide an airborne video camera for counter-narcotics activities. This aircraft has
been doing this mission since the late 1990’s and has undergone many hardware and software
upgrades since then. However, these upgrades commonly take many years to accomplish,
resulting in operators using obsolete systems and outdated information stored on the aircraft’s
computer systems. In some cases, operators even lack the knowledge of how to utilize the
systems or update them to better accomplish the mission. The purpose of this thesis is to help
rectify those shortcomings and create a simple and repeatable process for maintaining and
updating those systems with the latest, most up-to-date street maps and aerial imagery from all
sources available on the internet and thus improving the aircrew’s effectiveness. It does so by
sourcing compatible street data and imagery from government sources that is compatible with a
number of government systems. Additionally, since the fleet of aircraft are spread throughout the
country, this work creates an instructional aid so that the process can be fully understood and
replicated. Using the sources and procedures developed in this thesis have been applied to real
world law enforcement support as well as humanitarian mission in support of Hurricane Relief in
Puerto Rico.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
As the common saying goes “a poor craftsman blames his tools,” meaning people will
excuse their poor work on not being adequately equipped. Also, according to Italian General
Giulio Douhet, one the first proponents of strategic airpower after World War I, “Flexibility is
the key to airpower” (Douhet 1942). The U.S. military prides itself on being the best trained and
best equipped military in the world, supporting operations on a worldwide scale. While this has
been true over the decades, this thesis aims to correct a shortfall in a very specific application.
the mapping function of aircraft that are used by the Air National Guard to assist law
enforcement. “As authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act and directed by the
governor and The Adjutant General, the Counterdrug Aviation Mission is to safeguard our
communities by providing state of the art Aviation reconnaissance and observation support to
federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies' counterdrug operations, including the
disruption and dismantling of Transnational Criminal Organizations.” (National Counterdrug
Office n.d.)
The newest model of the RC-26B, also called the block 25R, uses a gimble mounted
electro-optical and infrared camera on the bottom of the aircraft that can geolocate where on the
earth it is looking and displays the images and an indicator of that location on a map while
airborne. While airborne, the crew communicates with law enforcement agents on the ground,
giving a location for sightings of suspicious activities relative to intersections and other
recognizable landmarks that are visible from a vehicle. The latest version of the RC-26B is
lacking this street map information, thus inhibiting the aircrew from passing this vital
information and negatively affecting the mission.
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Figure 1 RC-26 Aircraft

This chapter introduces the goal of the project, the motivation behind the project, and
finally, an overview of the project development.
1.1. Overview of Project Goal
The goal of this research project is to instruct and enable Missions System Officers
(MSO) of the RC-26B Air National Guard to access and download shapefiles containing road
and imagery information that can then be transferred to the mission management system (MMS)
to better accomplish its primary mission of assisting law enforcement agencies investigating
illegal narcotic activities. Due to developmental problems with the software integration phase of
the MMS on the RC-26B, there is no street data and very little usable imagery. The aircraft uses
a mounted camera that can view cars and people from great distances, bringing powerful tools to
law enforcement officers when investigating narcotic activities.
Street data is needed to enable communication with law enforcement officers on the
ground and convey exactly where the aircraft is looking on the ground to track suspected drug
traffickers. Verbally transmitting location by latitude and longitude alone would be too laborious
and slow to keep up with a fast-moving vehicle. As an example of why this reference material is
needed to be displayed on the MMS, during a flight over Kansas City, Missouri with local law
enforcement during an investigation, there was no street data loaded onto the MMS of the
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aircraft. While the MSO kept the camera of the aircraft fixed to the target, ground units were told
to keep their distance as to reduce the chance the target suspected he was being followed. While
following the target with the aircraft, street information was passed to ground agents so they
could follow without keeping visual contact, however that street data was from local knowledge
of the Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) on board the aircraft and also a second crew member
referencing an electronic street map, feeding information to the LEO, who then passed that
information to the ground. In the process of tracking this vehicle and due to aircraft placement,
the MSO lost sight of the target and experienced difficulty reacquiring the target. Remarkably, a
ground unit had made visual contact with the target and passed the intersection of the target back
to the aircraft. Only having the local knowledge of the LEO and a street reference map available,
was the MSO able to find the target again and continue to track. Additionally, part of the
research is searching for various sources of street data that can be utilized by the system. The
target data consists of up-to-date street, highway, and county line information, essentially all the
political information that can be imported for maps. Other targeted data consists of the latest
aerial imagery of varying degrees of resolution while balancing data sizes, given that all data will
need to be passed via an USB device to a standalone aircraft computer. A document will be
created that provides step-by-step instructions for completing the entire process of locating the
desired data, downloading the data, transferring and then implementing the data. Another goal is
to form the shapefiles into manageable sizes, which in turn will reduce each MSO’s workload
and enable them to quickly integrate the data needed to better do their job.
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1.2. Motivation and Background

The purpose of this research project is to remedy a shortfall in the design of the computer
system that is currently aboard the RC-26B aircraft, an aircraft used by ten different states in the
Air National Guard. There are currently eleven aircraft in the inventory that are operated by the
Air National Guard to assist law enforcement and a multitude of different agencies that require a
remote viewing aircraft. The latest iteration of the mission management system (MMS), called
the Block 25R, is incredibly capable and has been installed on six of the eleven aircraft but falls
short in one critical area for the RC-26B’s unique mission set (FAS 1999). It is lacking street
imagery and information. The system was adapted from an existing platform, the U-28, which is
primarily used overseas in military operations. Its primary mission is mainly tactical, so the
integration of street information is not needed, as much location information is passed in
coordinates, not street addresses or intersections. This lack of information makes it very difficult
to work with law enforcement, as much of the information they pass to the ground units is streets
the target is on and intersections they are passing through. Unless the agent on board working
Figure 2 Mission System

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with the Air National Guard asset is intimately familiar with the location where they are
operating, it is very challenging to pass useful information in a timely manner.
In the military, it is usually the function of a formal training unit (FTU) to address such
an obstacle as the one proposed in the paper. But as much of the RC-26B community is non-
standard, so is its training and development. For example, if an Air Force pilot were to become a
C-130 pilot, they would go Little Rock Air Force Base for that specific training and there is an
entire base that is dedicated to training aircrew for that aircraft. Similarly, for the RC-26B, the
745
th
Special Operations Squadron (SOS) schoolhouse was located at Hulbert Field, Florida, and
was responsible for training and development of tactics for the RC-26B.
However, due to a shift in the priority of the aircraft and it no longer being used overseas
operations, the schoolhouse was shut down in 2013 (Holochwost 2013) and all training became
the responsibility of each state individually. In spreading that responsibility to each state in
addition to all operation scheduling requirements, further development of tactics and training did
not advance or keep up with aircraft development. The latest version of the mission management
system was built by a third-party company fulfilling the contract requirements laid out by the
special program office out of Tinker Air Force Base. Originally, they did create a well-conceived
system that was built to serve both overseas missions as well as the RC-26’s stateside mission
working with law enforcement. However, there was one shortfall that was discovered during the
testing of the software integration—the road mapping software that was used by the contracting
company did not work well, was never deemed operational, and was removed from the system
until a more compete and well-developed program was created. The latest version of the MMS
was delivered about two years behind schedule. Given that it is unacceptable to not be able to use
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the aircraft for its primary mission, the best alternative is to find a work-around as it could
conceivably be another two years before a solution is offered.
In the last year, an Operation Support Squadron (OSS) was formed at Key Field in
Meridian Mississippi with the 186 Air Refueling Wing whose primary mission is to update the
forms, publication, syllabus and training for the RC-26 to ease the burden on each state for
training and staying current on publications and Air Force Manuals. Eventually, the “school
house” may embrace solutions to the problems that this project resolves, yet it is low on the list
of requirements. The RC-26 publications are very out of date and that is where the focus of the
OSS is at for the foreseeable future.
1.3. Further Goals
One of the great challenges that organizations of any size have is managing the
knowledge that its members have and preserving that knowledge when members leave or are
separated from each other. According to Thomas Davenport, “many firms have come to
understand that they require more than a casual (and even unconscious) approach to corporate
knowledge if they are to succeed in today’s and tomorrow’s economies” (Davenport 1998), This
is true of military organizations as well. While there are many manuals instructing the use of
military systems, many techniques and shortcuts are not committed to paper and are primarily
taught person-to-person. Occasionally, in the case of the RC-26B community, geographic
separations and the lack of cross-training of units means that knowledge may only stay with a
few people and is lost once that person moves on or retires.
A desired by-product of this project is to correct another problem in the community, the
loss of knowledge. As an instructor/evaluator, this position involves not just teaching the various
systems of the aircraft and the basic functionality of the equipment on-board, but also includes
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passing on lessons learned, times things have gone wrong or right, and ensuring that when the
next MSO is on a mission, they are ready to do the job and do it well. Creating this project
allows the work to affect all in the community in a positive manner and hopefully inspire others
to do the same and to put knowledge to paper and spread it to all to be a more effective flying
unit. And beyond just the RC-26, other aircraft also using this, or similar computer systems may
find this process adaptable to other stateside missions, increasing the value of our military to
benefit people on the home front.
The U.S. military is requiring all new technology procured to be open and compatible
across many different pieces of equipment, enabling quick retrofitting of systems to when
equipment changes missions. Labeled “Sensor Open System Architecture” (DOD 2017), the goal
is to create common mission system architectures among all aviation platforms so different
sensors and equipment packages may be interchangeable. The result will benefit the operators by
rapidly acquiring the equipment that they need and being able to customize that equipment to
better fit the mission. The benefits of this is future mission systems will not be proprietary and
closed but able to accept user sourced data like the data used in this thesis. It seems clear that
future systems will keep the customizable data that the system on the Block 25 has, so the need
for this information for the users is imperative.
1.4. Project Overview
This project will have four different steps which result in a product that will remedy the
problems listed above. First is to determine the desired datasets by studying what has been used
on previous versions of the RC-26 and also to research other airborne systems that perform
similar functions. This will be reported in the related work chapter. From those data sets, then
determine what is available to the users for this project, validate the available data is compatible
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with the targeted MMS, and finally document the procuring and installing and use of that data
into the targeted system via an instruction manual so the users may implement these data sets
independently and at will.
The street data and imagery are evaluated for optimal operational use by different criteria.
Street data criteria is level of detail, comprehensive coverage of the United States, the main
operating area of the RC-26, its availability to the user and finally its compatibility with the
MMS. Imagery has a few of the same criteria as street data, compatibility, availability and area
of coverage. The other criteria for imagery are more subjective to the user’s needs, that is
imagery resolution. While imagery isn’t vital to solve the problem this thesis presents, it has
been noted to enhance the observers ability to determine the relative location of a person in a
scene with significantly high accuracy compared to individual image modalities (Toet Ijspeert
Dorresteijn 1996) . A certain level of resolution is needed to make the imagery useable, finding a
balance between resolution and file size is part of the evaluation process., but is also left to the
user to determine their needs. Additional criteria beyond operational applications are ease of
implementation for the user, is there any pre or post processing required, and finally cost. All
monies spent on government products need to be justified, getting that justification approved can
sometimes take time, longer than this project aims to rectify the situation. While some sources of
data are free on their own, the software to process that data into an acceptable form may require
funding. A completely free source of data would be ideal and one that requires minimal
processing by the users.
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Chapter 2 Related Work
This chapter researches existing systems that are already in use for similar mission sets of the
RC-26B, their roles and how this aircraft and thesis relate to geospatial intelligence (GEOINT)
as well as available street mapping and imagery products that are available to both the public or
to military personnel that could access that data for the output of the project.
2.1. Existing Airborne Mapping Systems
Ultichart, created by AeroComputers Inc., is the mission management system that is
installed on the remaining five RC-26Bs, dubbed the Block 20, that complete the inventory. This
is a robust system that has been used on countless missions and by many different aircraft. The
design of the Block 25R upgrade did not utilize the Aerocomputer (Aerocomputer n.d.) system.
This system utilizes a proprietary mapping program that in older systems has a side-by-side
viewing system, so the video output is shown next to a map with the centroid of the camera
denoted on the map allowing information to be passed to ground law enforcement units. The map
has different scales and is designed to always include the name of the streets in the viewable
image, so the information was always readily available This system is very effective and is ideal
for the domestic mission of the RC-26B. The current versions of the Ultichart program can be
seen at Aerocomputers website. Ultichart map data is called Aerostreet and is owned and
maintained by Aerocomputers. This mapping system has many desirable features including many
different levels of zoom, and is searchable by coordinates, address, points of interest and
intersections.
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Goliath AR (Augmented Reality) is a street mapping program that was to be the street
overlay on this aircraft with the upgraded equipment of the Block 25R. Installed by Boresight,
the selected contractor, this program utilized its own street map that could be overlaid on the
video image for easy navigation. Due to developmental difficulties and testing that deemed the
program non-functional, it was abandoned and uninstalled from the MMS aboard the RC-26B,
and created the shortfall which this project aims to correct. (L3 2016)

Figure 4 Boresight Goliath AR Map

Figure 3 AeroComputers Map Example

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The previous version of the MMS that was installed on six of the RC-26B (USAF 2008)
was developed by Boresight also and called the Situation Awareness Display System (SADS). It
had a proprietary map system that had only one version but could be zoomed into for more
detail. This system was still functional when it was decommissioned and upgraded to the Block
25R system that exists now, but due to age and lack of spare parts as well as no longer being
supported by the original contractor, it was dubbed not mission effective and is no longer
installed on any aircraft.
Another system that is successfully being employed on many aircraft across the country
that also has a very similar mission set to the RC-26 is the Pilatus PC-12 Spectre (Pilatus n.d.)
used by Texas Department of Public Safety (Texas DPS 2017). It is also equipped with a gimble
mounted electro optical infrared camera and a mission management system. The mission
management system was created by Churchill Navigation (Churchil Navigation n.d.) and uses an
augmented reality overlay with its camera feed. This is the ultimate for situational awareness
when conducting real time remote sensing as it allows the user not to look away from the target
when getting reference information for ground units. And like many other systems, it’s mapping
data is proprietary. Therefore, the users are dependent upon the company providing updates.
2.2. Geospatial Intelligence
The role of the RC-26 since its inception has been that of a full motion video (FMV)
platform that has been used domestically to provide law enforcement with standoff for observing
and tracking illegal narcotic activity while communicating with ground-based agents. (National
Counterdrug Office n.d.) and by law the imagery collected and temporarily stored on the aircraft
is not retained for law enforcement purposes (National Guard Bureau 2008) leading its
involvement with geospatial intelligence to be rather limited. GEOINT is defined as “the
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exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, asses and visually
depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the earth.” (Armed Forces
Definitions, US Code 10 (2006), § 467) and does seem to encompass the activities of the RC-26
in its broad definition, but GEOINT activities usually involve more collection, analyzing and
dissemination of imagery and is more often associated with satellite collected imagery, thus
limiting the RC-26 contribution to the GEOINT community as a whole. Nor has the RC-26
traditionally not sought imagery or data from the GEOINT community and has relied on
commercial mapping products, such as Aerocomputers™ or Boresight™ for their data needs.
Expanding the interaction between the operators of the RC-26 and GEOINT providers,
namely the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency is a goal of this thesis. Giving the MSO’s
aboard the RC-26 the ability to access and use the best data available and increasing their
interactions with the system should enable them to complete the mission more effectively and
not be hampered by missing, incomplete or low-quality imagery or street data. Ideally this will
also facilitate the MSO’s ability to contribute to GEOINT by if they understand the inputs of the
system, they may deepen their understanding of the possible outputs of the system and strive to
adapt the system to the needs of the users. Another benefit of using current and high quality
imagery and street is when providing imagery for law enforcement agencies to use for evidence,
to have a quality reference image with street names natively displayed side by side with the FMV
screenshot will enhance the usefulness of the product, eliminating post processing work for
different agencies.
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Figure 5 Churchill Navigation AR System
2.3. Available Street mapping
TIGER/Line by the U.S. Census Bureau is a very complete and detailed database that
includes all the street data of each county in the United States. This will be a main source of
street data for the aircraft as it is already downloadable in shapefiles. A drawback is that there are
thousands of files that need to be downloaded to get a complete database of all counties and
street maps of the U.S. Depending on the users to manage that many files could easily lead to
missing needed counties. Another drawback is that the file’s do not have an easily recognizable
naming convention. For example, “tl_2017_19035_roads.zip” is the name of the street shapefile
for Cherokee County Iowa from 2017. While it is easy to validate the year and the data type,
where it is from is not clear by file name alone. These errors could easily impact a mission if that
street data was unexpectedly missing. TIGER/Line has new data every year available at no cost.
Openstreetmap is also an ideal data source for this project. It is free and has extractable
data into shapefiles by selecting the target area. The advantage of this website is that the user can
define the size of the shapefile that is created and decrease the number of files that need to be
downloaded. Openstreetmaps is user-created so the updates are continual. However, since it is
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not a government agency creating the data, incorporating this data into a government system may
be met with some scrutiny from the community.
2.4. Imagery
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has a wide variety of imagery available for
download through an encrypted web portal. It contains Controlled Image Based imagery from 10
to 1 meters in resolution and are available for download via government systems. Also available
for download via this site are numerous US Geological Survey Images, Digital Raster Graphics,
Topographic Maps and Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle Imagery (DOQ). This site has vast
amount of data and can allow the user to refine the data by selecting areas of land by region,
country, state or several user defined shapes. The data is easy to download, but depending on the
imagery resolution, can vary in download size from a few megabytes to well over a terabyte of
data, much too large to download and move on portable media. This site will be the main source
of data but with the challenge of determining what imagery is most useful, which will be defined
by the users, while still be portable in terms of data file size.
The University of Maryland also maintains a public repository of Multiresolution
Seamless Image Database (MrSID) which was collected by the LandSat 10 from 1990 to 2000
and is available to download from their file transfer protocol (ftp) website. Some of this imagery
has already been loaded on to the aircrafts MMS and this site contains the mission patches of
imagery. The data is accessible through a graphical user interface called the Earth Science Data
Interface, which enables the user to simply check boxes for desired data, pan to desired location,
and display available data for download.
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An additional source of CIB 10m data collected from the SPOT satellite is available for
download via the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Explorer Website, using a similar interface to the
University of Maryland website.
2.5. Implementation of Data
In the article “The 2012 free and open source GIS software map – A guide to facilitate
research, development and adoption” (Steiniger 2013) gives good guidance on map selection and
scrutiny when implementing data for map use. A good example is attempting to use and well
known commercial map service, such as Google Maps™. For base map data as it appears to be
free for use, but as pointed out in this article, use of their data must only be used for certain
applications and limit “free” use to non-commercial, limited personal use. Using the advice and
guidance in this article, it can be inferred that using open source, free data should be used for this
project so that licensing does not need to be considered, especially since this is a not profit
project to enhance an existing system. Also, it would be difficult to obtain funding to purchase
map data for use of the aircraft, again delaying the mission readiness of the aircraft for its current
mission.

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Chapter 3 Methods
This chapter discusses the data that is targeted in this thesis and the methods for
identifying, acquiring and implementing that data into the mission management system. The
initial method for identifying data required refers to what has been used in the past and compares
that to what is easily accessible to persons that utilize the MMS. It is a requirement that the data
be easy to access and implement as one of the goals of this project was to create a repeatable
process that someone could do with only internet access and a set of instructions.
3.1. Data Requirements
There is one ubiquitous data set that is required, a reference map that an MSO airborne
who is above any location in the United States can easily communicate the location on the
ground they are looking at so that a person there can locate that position quickly. Similar to if a
person was driving in a car in an unknown city and had to let someone know where they were,
having a map to reference their location through streets and intersections is the fastest way to
communicate a position. Past systems that were used on the RC-26 such as the AeroComputer
Ultichart, similar to Figure 1 below, had their own base map that was zoomable and held enough
data that would integrate easily into operational missions. However, with the Block 25R system,
this type of map is not available, so a combination of data must be used to have the same effect,
combining street data with imagery and thus creating the two unique data sets that must be
identified and acquired. When conducting airborne observation, the oblique viewing angle the
aircraft has causes distortion and does make it difficult to verify what you are looking at through
a camera is in fact the intended target. It is helpful to have imagery for reference.
17

T
Figure 6 AeroComputers Ulitchart
3.2. Street Data
Street data is the most vital part of the target data as it is what is needed for this thesis
because it contains the information that is referenced and passed to counterparts on the ground.
The requirements of the street data is that it contains all primary, secondary and surface level
streets to include even unpaved roads. Also required is that all streets have their names listed
clearly and printed often enough so when panning along the street, the name is present most of
the time for quick reference.
3.2.1. TIGER/Line
The most complete and readily available data for street information is the Census
Bureau’s TIGER/Line shapefile database that includes every county in the country and are
available for download from the Census Bureau’s website via an ftp site. These shapefiles are
listed in the directory of the MMS and seem to be the most suitable. A sample test of loading the
data was performed for a real-world operation supporting Hurricane Maria disaster response over
Puerto Rico. It was vital to have street information as part of the mission in an effort to identify
18

roads that had been washed out and, in turn, pass their location to ground personnel, so they may
find routes to provide aid to people. TIGER/Line shapefiles were downloaded to the aircraft
from the U.S. Census Bureau’s website and successfully loaded and used on the aircraft,
validating one of the desired outcomes of this project.
3.2.2. OpenStreetMap
Another dataset targeted for street map use is OpenStreetMap because it has a similar
appearance to Google Maps and the AeroComputers Ultichart. It also has the utility that a
polygon can be created around the desired area anywhere in the U.S. and only that data will be
downloaded. The files are downloaded in *.shp format and appear to be compatible with the
MMS, and testing will occur in Chapter 4.
3.3. Imagery Data
There are two types of imagery that were used in this project: (1) satellite imagery or
aerial photography; and (2) political type maps that contain drawn maps, (e.g., USGS
Quadrangles).
3.3.1. Satellite Imagery and Aerial Photography
There have been numerous satellite and aerial imagery compilations of the United States
over the years dating from the early 1970s to the present day. All of these vary in spatial
resolutions and panchromatic to color. The general requirement for imagery data is that it is of
high enough spatial resolution to easily discern roads and buildings by the user so that if a road
or building is obscured in real life from the air, it can still be determined what objects are along
the route of travel and where the streets are located. When getting this type of data, it is
important to note that it is not entirely necessary to include this imagery as long as the street
19

imagery is present. It may be easier to have a backdrop to the street data as it is what most people
are used to looking at and easy to compare the actual camera footage to the map to verify
location. Below is a table listing targeted data used in this work.
Table 1: Data Types, Sources, and Format
Data Set Spatial
Resolution
Temporal
Resolution
Source Data Format Data Set
Obtained
Street Data
(TIGER/Line)
United
States
Most
current
available
Census Bureau
TIGER/Line
Shapefile
(*.shp)
Sample set
(Puerto
Rico)
Imagery
(Controlled
Image Base)
United
States (10
Meter)
1986-1993 USGS GeoTIFF Sample Set
(Greater
Des Moines,
IA)
Imagery
(Controlled
Image Base)
United
States (5 and
1 Meter)
Unk National
Geospatial
Intelligence
Agency
Zip file (I22
files)
Sample of 5
Meter/None
of 1 Meter
Digital Raster
Graphics
United
States 24K
2001 National
Geospatial
Intelligence
Agency
GeoTIFF Sample set
(Greater
Des Moines,
IA)
Imagery
Mulitresolution
Seamless
Image
Database
United
States
1990 &
2000
University of
Maryland
Zip file (I22
files)
Sample set
(Greater
Des Moines,
IA)

All of the imagery targeted in this table was verified to be compatible with the MMS and
is free to the targeted users if they have internet access.
3.4. Methods
To reiterate the goal of this paper, it was to allow the users of this aircraft access and
instructions to the best data available to fix the shortfall with the latest integration of the mission
management system. The method for doing so will be covered in the remainder of Chapter 3.
20

3.4.1. Identifying data
Referencing what has been used in the past and also what is available to the user is how
the data is targeted. The Block 20 and 25 had a simple street map that was scalable so that
different zoom levels of the map showed more detail the closer a user zoomed into the map,
allowing them to optimize the display as needed. It is not an option to retrieve those same maps
that were used, as they were proprietary to the programs that were loaded on the aircraft. Trying
to emulate that set up is the best that can be done as all users of the aircraft are familiar with this
layout and can easily adapt and optimize the use of such a map. With that in mind and
referencing the target with what is compatible with the computer system and is listed in Table 1,
this paper describes the testing done with these sets to find which have to the optimized display
for the MMS.
3.4.2. Documenting the process for instruction
A very important segment of this project is to create an instructional aid that will guide
each user through the process of locating the data they need, downloading that data, transferring
it to the aircraft and successfully integrating it with the system for use in flight. Creating this
document was done by recording each step and taking screen shots with the Windows “Print
Screen” function or with simply taking a picture of the screen. Instructions were broken down to
the level that anyone with no GIS background could replicate the process and get basic data sets
for street data and imagery onto the aircraft. The resulting product also details gaining access to
the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency imagery and map downloads. This site is protected,
and users must have proper credentials for access, while the products from this website are
unclassified, they are for licensed users and limited distribution. The documentation process ran
21

concurrent with research and testing of the data, but data that was found to be incompatible or
too complex to be useful to the common user were omitted from the final product.
3.5. Evaluation and Testing
3.5.1. Census Bureau TIGER/Line
Street data from the Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line website was the first item to be tested.
All counties were included from Puerto Rico in that the RC-26 was deployed to Puerto Rico in
support of the search and rescue operations in response to Hurricane Maria and the previous
Hurricane Irma damage. It was imperative that street data was included for the search and rescue
operations, given that many roads were destroyed and needed to be surveyed by the aircraft.
There was a slight variation from Puerto Rico in comparison to all of states in the U.S. in that
Puerto Rico does not have listed counties but rather uses “municipios,” which is the Spanish
translation for county meaning approximately the same thing. All “municipios” from Puerto Rico
were downloaded and successfully transferred onto a USB drive and uploaded and integrated
into the mission management system on the aircraft. While road damage could be discerned
simply by observation, street information was key to communicating which roads were damaged
as access to the interior of the island was key to deliver aid where needed.
To successfully load the road shapefiles into the mission system, the correct directory
was located in the Windows operating system. There was a Maps and TIGER/Line subfolder
created so shapefiles could be loaded and then subsequently accessed by the mission
management system. It was also found that a reboot of the system was needed to correctly load
the new shapefiles.
22

This data was found to be available, covered the entire United States to include its
territories, compatible with the MMS, required no processing aside from downloading from the
internet and moving to the correct subdirectory, and is free for all users.
3.5.2. Imagery (CIB 1 and HSIP)
The highest resolution imagery that could be found that is readily available and free to
users was 1-meter control image base (CIB) and also home and security infrastructure program
imagery (HSIP) which is 1 meter or greater from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency’s
protected website. This proved to be the ideal source of data, as it provided high-resolution
imagery and was available for no cost to authorized users. The user interface on the National
Geospatial Intelligence Agency’s website was very user-friendly and the directions were simple
to create for any new user to get the imagery they need. The only limiting factor was that in
instances where large areas of data were needed, the data can only be downloaded in extremely
large files which, in turn, take tremendous amounts of time to download. All other areas can be
covered by the 5-meter resolution imagery, and while it does not create a high-level detail, it
does allow for large areas to be downloaded in a single file. Again, the process for downloading,
transferring and uploading these images are documented in the instruction file. It is also
suggested that only one area be loaded into the subdirectories at a time, it was observed if too
many areas were uploaded at a single time, the system will slow reference data files are too large
and could create problems for the software’s ability to run smoothly while airborne.
Both data sets met all required evaluation criteria, available, compatible, wide spread
coverage, requires minimum processing which is sorting of the individual files into the correct
subdirectories and finally is free for permitted users.
23

3.5.3. Imagery (CIB 5 & DRG)
Imagery was found on multiple websites including the USGS and most notably the
National Geospatial Intelligence Agency’s websites. While the USGS is open for anybody to
download and products are in GeoTIFF format, the imagery is also available from the National
Geospatial Intelligence Agency if a user has permission and a need to download the information.
To simplify the process of downloading imagery, a single source was selected to cover 90% of
user’s needs. The two data sets that were loaded were CIB imagery 5 m in 1 m including
homemade security imagery which is greater than 1 m imagery and also DRG digital raster
graphics or quadrangles in GeoTIFF format. GeoTIFF were found to be the easiest to load
because they were downloaded as zip files and once extracted on the desktop were into format
and were already geocoded. It was a simple process to load the GeoTIFF; the only complex part
is each GeoTIFF must be loaded separately and will need to be loaded in each attempt to run the
mission management software. This instruction will implement, not improve a method for
getting this data on the aircraft. There is currently no established method for this as part of the
aim of this project is to document this process, so it is easily repeatable by all targeted. On the
previous models of this aircraft, the block 20 and 25, the mapping system was loaded by the
manufacturer and as has already been stated, the 25R does not have native mapping systems. The
software used will be a webpage builder, ArcGIS or ArcGIS online and Adobe Acrobat will be
used to create an instructional aid with this project so that the entire process can be replicated by
anyone as is one of the goals of this project. A synopsis of the workflow process is listed in
Figure 7.
Similar to the previous imagery, these imagery sources met all criteria for evaluation,
availability, compatibility, coverage, processing requirements and cost. All products have the
ability to be implemented into the RC-26 MMS by the common crew person.
24

Figure 7 Work Flow
3.5.4. Testing
Once the data was identified, samples of Census Bureau’s TIGER/Lines, NGA imagery
including CIB 1, 5, 10 and HSIP sub 1-meter imagery for Polk County and the greater Des
Moines Iowa Metro area were all loaded onto the aircraft and placed into the proper
subdirectories. The system was restarted, and once the system was back up and running, all
layers displayed properly with and without the street data overlay. The 5- and 10-meter imagery
did require use of the zoom function in the MMS system to be able to view the street data
legibly. Further iterations of this testing were completed on subsequent mission over different
states. Street data was loaded onto the aircraft for surrounding states as well as 1-meter imagery
for high use areas such as Kansas City Missouri. All loaded data displayed properly and worked
as desired. All testing was completed by the author with the exception of testing of street data for
Puerto Rico, which was loaded by the author but tested/used by a colleague of the author during
Hurricane Relief work for Hurricane Maria in 2017. Operational use of the products was
completed by colleagues of the author during real world operations over Kansas City, Missouri
and continue to do so.
Determine Targets
Query target
users to
determine
desiresd
data sets
Locate Data Sets
From query,
locate data
sets from
available
online
sources
Test Data Validity
Validate
data is
compatable
with
targeted
system
Create Manual
Instructional
Manual that
walks users
through
data
acquisition
and loading
25

3.6. Required Research Skills

The required research skill for this project was be combining shapefiles (*.shp) in
ArcGIS or ArcGIS online to produce fewer shapefiles for the user to work with. Knowledge of
the mission management software that is on board the RC-26B, which was created by ForceX, a
division of L3, is also required. There is literature to assist in this last step as well as formal
training offered by the developer. This last step is also needed to ensure that the targeted data
sets can be easily integrated and used in the current mission management system on board the
aircraft. The process for integrating the data into the MMS are to locate the root directory where
the data is stored and accessed from the software when it is loaded each flight. The items the user
needs to keep track of are what type of imagery they are loading, its resolution and the area of
interest the data covers.

26

Chapter 4 Results
This chapter details the results of the testing completed and display the finished product
and discuss the results of testing completed by users with this product.
4.1. Data Results
There were some successful and unsuccessful data sets when testing the different sources
and types. The successful data sets included the TIGER/Line shapefiles from the Census Bureau
and all imagery and maps including GeoTIFFs from the National Geospatial Intelligence
Agency’s website. The unsuccessful imagery and street data were from the open street map
website and included attempts to extract to GeoTIFF’s using ESRI’s ArcGIS ArcMap to create a
custom GeoTIFF. While the two unsuccessful methods were not totally unsuccessful in that they
would work on board the aircraft, it was the method to make the data compatible and usable with
the aircraft that disqualified them from the final product. The method for creating them involved
multiple steps using ESRI ArcGIS ArcMap software and a good understanding of Geotagging
and the differences from a regular tiff image. The need for the specialized knowledge and
software proved too complicated for the regular user of the software to complete on their own.
4.1.1. Street Data
The street data that worked best with the mission management system was from the
Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line website. The provided data focuses down to highway secondary
and tertiary road levels as shown in Figure 8, which garners enough detail for our operators to be
useful for operations. The benefits of this data are it is updated every year and specific counties
can be selected allowing users to select as little or as much data as the required or needed. The
only disadvantage is once the files are downloaded the nomenclature for the file names is coded
27

and does not give the user any clues as to what county or state the files belong. It requires the
users to be very organized when downloading and transferring the data from the computer to the
aircraft’s mission management system. There is additional information in the instruction manual
for keeping these files organized by state and only having the state it is in use in the active
register on the aircraft.

Figure 8 Combined HSIP and TIGER/Lines
4.1.2. Imagery
There were several websites that contained imagery that could be downloaded for free
and was current to provide situational awareness for the mission system operator. However most
free data was limited to 10-meter resolution and was more than a few years old. This low
resolution and “old” imagery was not helpful with situational awareness and sometimes such low
resolution that it actually obscured from the street data overlaid from the TIGER/Line files from
Census Bureau. The most fitting imagery came from the National Geospatial Intelligence
Agency’s own website, and it was not only free, but the graphical interface for download made it
very easy to target the area for which a user needed to get imagery. It is a protected site in that a
user must have proper credentials and permission to access this website, ensuring that the data is
available to everybody in the community and free for all users.
28

Figure 9 1 Meter CIB

Figure 10 5 Meter CIB

29

Figure 11 Sub 1 Meter HSIP

Imagery from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency’s website came in several formats,
but the two targeted in this project are the digital raster graphics (DRG) and the raster product
format (RPF), which is used by the RC-26 mission management system. There is no conversion
or editing necessary to transfer those files from the computer to the mission management system.
Eliminating complex steps from the entire process is very important, as that will eliminate
sources of error when transferring data from the Internet to the aircraft successfully. As seen in
Figure 9 and Figure 10, there is a large difference in image detail from 1 meter and 5 meter
imagery and it would be ideal to maintain imagery for all locations, the file size of 1 meter
imagery would be time consuming to maintain, as an example, the imagery to cover the greater
metro area for Des Moines Iowa at 5 meter was 315 megabytes, at 1 meter it was 1.5 gigabytes
and sub 1 meter imagery HSIP (Figure 11) was 3.5 gigabytes. Interpolating that data to cover
larger areas, it can be seen that large amounts of data will need to be downloaded and stored to
have high quality imagery for entire states. It is noted in the instruction manual that it is
advisable to limit high quality images to areas that are used often.
30

4.2. Instruction Manual
4.2.1. Creating the Process
Determining a comparable imagery and street data was the initial focus of this project,
but the goal initially set forth was to create a repeatable process. To create a repeatable process,
the entire process must be properly documented, recorded and include a comprehensive
instructional manual created so that users will be able to replicate the process. It must be kept in
mind that the intended users will not be familiar properties of the imagery and shapefiles which
they are importing but have enough understanding of computer system to comfortably move data
and files from one computer system to another. Once the data and sources were identified in the
processes of downloading, transferring, uploading and finally implementing the data was
determined and the instructional manual was created to allow users to replicate the entire
process. That manual is found in Appendix A and is written for people familiar with the mission
management system on board the RC-26 but not necessarily familiar with Geographic
Information Systems. Omitted in these instructions is a glossary of key terms that people familiar
with GIS may know.
4.2.2. Instruction Manual Document Creation
The instruction manual created by this project is in appendix A and is split into two
sections with each section containing two subsections, one section for acquiring the data and the
following how to integrate the different data sets. The first steps covered are the acquisition of
the street data from the census bureau’s TIGER/Line street data web site directing the user to the
latest and most detailed shapefiles available. The 2017 data with the corresponding county level
data sets gives the highest level of detail, highways, primary and secondary streets while also
being small in file size (less than 1 megabyte). Special instruction is given to the user to pay
31

particular attention to organizing these data by state for ease of access and transfer as noted
earlier, the file names give no indicator as to what state or county these files represent.
The second section details loading the data onto the MMS of the aircraft and best
practices for doing so. There is a directory created in the file structure for theses file types and
the software can natively interpret and display them. It is just a matter or placing the desired files
in this drive and not a subdirectory. The small file size insures there is plenty of available hard
disk space on the computer, but it was observed that loading many states simultaneous,
performance of the system slowed while accesses, what could be depending on the state,
hundreds of different shapefiles at a time. It is instructed to load one state at a time into the active
directory and store other states while they are not in use, elsewhere on the computer. Once the
files are moved to the proper location. A system reboot is required and selection of the street data
option once the system is up and running again.
The third section is the more complicated process of downloading imagery, mainly from
the National Geospatial Intelligence agency. This website requires an account and a need to
access the information and data contained within. The process of acquiring access is included
and direction through the website to the highest quality imagery that is available. As stated
previously, it is noted that while 1 meter or better imagery is available for download, it is up to
the user to decide where they would like to have this high-quality imagery for as it will be large
in file size (greater than 1 Gigabyte) for a large city. While there are several terabytes of storage
space available on the mission management computers, it can become difficult and time-
consuming to download that much data and transfer that on portable media.
The fourth section of the instruction manual details loading imagery onto the MMS, the
example being loading either Controlled Image Base 1 meter or 5 meter as the process is similar
32

for both, the subdirectory on the computer being the only difference. Once the imagery is
transferred into the proper directory, it must be loaded for use into the system with an
accompanying map data manager that is already installed on the computer. Like the street data, it
is suggested to the users to only load data for the areas needed to accomplish the mission at hand.
Loading large amounts of data into the computer notably degraded performance and stability of
the mission program, which could severely affect operational mission if the program being used
crashed mid-flight. During testing over Iowa, 5-meter imagery for the state was loaded into the
MMS and the system was stable, however imagery was loaded for Missouri for a mission the
following day while leaving imagery for Iowa in the active directory. Doing so affected the
performance of the system with the Shield software program freezing and requiring a restart.
Once the active directory was emptied and the Kansas Imagery was replaced, the system
performed normally. A threshold of data size that the system can process and still function was
not established, but testing did illicit the need to limit the amount of data loaded in the active
directory to the state being used. Larger states such as Texas or California may need to be
divided into regions to limit the amount of data. The directions also instruct loading HSIP data
and MrSID data sets, as they are similar in process to CIB data.
The last section details loading GeoTIFF’s into the program, they do not take as much
time loading into directories and rebooting systems as the other file types but do need to be
reloaded every time the system is cycled. It notes the particular advantage of GeoTIFF’s that
they can be loaded while the system is in use. This is a huge advantage over the other data sets as
they allow the most flexibility while the system is operating, allowing for dynamic re-tasking of
the asset.
33

4.3. Real World Application
This method has been used by multiple states and they have reported the most positive
results from street data aiding situational awareness when tracking targets from the air. As
quoted by Major Nate, a RC-26 MSO, “the street info loaded gives us back the ability to easily
track targets from the air and communicate back and forth with agents on the ground”. He goes
on to say, “a lot of the times with tall trees near roads, a street map is vital to make sure your
looking at the right place on the ground.” He also provided figure 12 as an example.

Figure 12 Road Data verify correct location. The green X above is paired with the center of the
red circle, giving the user situational awareness that they are looking at the correct target.

34

Another instance of this process being used has been over Kansas City Missouri, where
cited earlier, there had been difficulties encountered not having the data loaded into the system.
Captain Mike Gryzcka, another RC-26 MSO reported loading street data TIGER/Lines and 1
Meter CIB Imagery for Kansas City Metro area. Remarking, “It did take a long time to download
the imagery, now that it’s on the aircraft, it’s much easier to keep track of the target and tell the
guys on the ground where to look.” He went on to remark, “they keep the street data organized
by state and use one state at a time” however, “we only get imagery for places we go to a lot
since it takes a long time to download the satellite imagery.”

35

Chapter 5 Discussion and Conclusion
This chapter discusses if and how the final project met the initial goals and how it may be
used to aid other users in the community. It further discusses the future applications outside the
small RC-26 community and in other applications this project may hold in the future.
5.1. Discussion
There are many places that this project was successful and a few that fell short. Some
successes that were found were sources of data that are free to users can be download easily,
transferred and loaded into the aircraft with minimal trouble or in-depth knowledge of aircraft
systems. One of the original goals was to make a simple process for each user to be able to
replicate and upload the data that is needed. This goal was met, and while it is still somewhat
cumbersome to download all the data needed, transfer and move in and out of directories on the
aircraft to optimize use, it is not beyond the scope of abilities of the common RC-26 mission
system officer.
It was one goal of this project to create a single file that could be loaded for all maps that
was similar to a Google map street map appearance and would be easy for the user to get their
data from; however, the amount of data and imagery and processing that would need to be
required of a user was too much to make that possible. It was attempted to create a GeoTIFF file
from Openstreet maps using an ArcGIS ArcMap tool and a street map was created; however,
once exported it did not retain its geo-referenced material data and would need to be manually
and geo-referenced. While not an impossible task, it is beyond the scope of ability of the
common RC-26 mission system officer and would also require access and acquisition of ArcGIS
software. Ultimately, it was decided it is best that too complex of data thoughts would be omitted
from the final product.
36

While imagery is not vital in conducting a mission, street data remains the most
important data needed to pass information on targets on the ground to other ground units.
Imagery as a base layer has a good cross-queuing reference when looking at a map and then back
to the live video stream. When looking for the data that was very high-resolution date available,
very high resolution has the problem of being very large in file size for the entire US or even
states or counties and was determined that in the instructions to noted that in the highest
resolution imagery only be downloaded for areas that are used often as the amount of time and
hard drive space needed to store the data is very large.
The intended output of this thesis was to create a functional map that is simple to
reference spatially between the live video stream and the stored map to verbally transmit
locations to people on the ground. There was also the goal to produce a map similar to
commercially created maps and exist on systems like AeroComputer and Churchill navigations
products; however, it did create a process that is repeatable, customizable, will use current data
and is free for all users. This process can be rapidly deployed and every user in the country can
replicate this process as soon as they have the instructions in hand and access to a computer. That
was ultimately the goal to make these mission systems effective for their primary mission as the
way they were delivered severely hampered operations. The main two goals of this project were
successfully accomplished in that the proper data was identified and successfully implemented
on all the aircraft, and also the process was documented and instruction manual was completed
and now any user in the entire program can repeat the process so every aircraft that has the
system can fly with up-to-date information on board.
Another facet of this process enables each user to get to know the software more
intimately and have a better understanding of the architecture of the software, assuming they
37

know what kind of data is loaded, where it is loaded, and how they can get up-to-date
information loaded in that place. This will create a more effective mission system officer for the
RC-26 and in turn create a better product for our law enforcement officers.
It also appears that this project will in fact be used to instruct all current and new RC-26
crew members because the syllabus that has been created for the RC-26 mission management
system will include this instructional manual either in whole or in part for importing street data
and imagery into the mission management software. While there is other specialized training that
crewmembers can receive directly from the manufacturer, that training does require time and
money to complete for each crewmember. This method will enable current and future RC-26
mission system officers to incorporate the new data and because this method does allow for the
creation of GeoTIFF’s to be included in the mission management software, there are many new
facets for which this method could be adapted.
5.2. Conclusions and Recommendations
The intended vision was to create a similar product to those that are available be
commercial vendors and their proprietary map layer, style similar to Google maps or any other
number online map products would have been the most user-friendly map system for operators
that are already familiar with that format and it would have been possible to create maps like
that, for example TIFF imagery where able to be processed from ArcGIS and then could be
Geocoded by a number of different methods, however it must be kept in mind who the users are
and what their capabilities and understanding of map creation and geocoding are. If any process
required above average knowledge or mapping systems or computer program access above what
is free and readily available, it is unlikely that many would be able or willing to complete those
38

processes. It was most important to find current products that were also free of charge to these
users.
Another factor is the missions for these aircraft are very dynamic, a single aircraft could
be operating anywhere in the county inside of a day, that it would be very difficult to produce a
premade product with enough resolution and detail and quality control of that product to insure
no errors were produced in a timely manner. With the process detailed in the instructions, a user
could have at the very least street information for the area they are going to downloaded and
transferred to the aircraft inside of an hour, if imagery was need, not much longer than that, as
long as they have internet access and a method to transfer data to the aircraft.
The main point learned from this project was to keep it simple, adding additional
complex steps to any process will insure that they are not going to be followed if an easier,
almost as complete process exists. This process has already been tested and implemented in real
world search and rescue operations in response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. It was vital to
have street information on board the aircraft as they would be finding routes for land-based
teams to access the inland areas of the island, as seen in Figure 8. Many times, roads were so
damaged, it was difficult to discern visually where the roads were originally, the street map data
was needed to scan their original location or report which roads were still intact to find access to
the interior of the island to aid survivors. The deployment for this mission was short notice and
being able to quickly download the needed data and get onto the mission computer before
departure was vital. Once the aircraft was in the operating area, there was no access to internet
that would have facilitated processing and sending of data after the aircraft had departed home
station. Such rapid departure and response to an incident like that is rare for this aircraft and its
usual mission set, but still having that ability is highly desired.
39

Figure 13 Damaged Road in Puerto Rico

Recommendations for future work include sourcing a better base map that would
resemble something like that created in Aerocomputer, as it has been tested by RC-26 aircrews
already, that would be a logical map display to use. If a fix from the original manufacturer is not
produced and installed into the system, it may be necessary to find another vendor and locate
funding to create a more useful map. It was a common theme that all the best map products
found in the related work section were proprietary. A custom-made map layer that is current and
scalable while being relatively small in file size would be desirable as noted earlier in this project
that large file sizes have an undesirable effect on the performance of the system.
To reduce the work load of each unit, downloading all street data for the United
States and transferring to a thumb drive with enough space to hold that much data and also have
all the data already organized and in a read only format so it cannot be accidently erased. Having
40

this fall back of data for the crew would insure that the data is protected and is readily available
at all times. One drive could be created for each aircraft and distributed from a single source.
An interesting aspect of this project that was not expected was the use of GeoTIFF’s.
There are few products available that can be downloaded and transferred easily with enough
detail to be useful for the RC-26 mission sets. For example, the USGS digital raster graphics, the
potential for creating and using GeoTIFF’s for certain missions and creating a method for geo-
referencing and creating GeoTIFF’s for use aboard the aircraft could create a better product
when often printed charts or maps are used for reference on operational mission sets.
Another data set that was not explored in this project that has a lot of potential as well is
the Keyhole Markup Language or KML’s that are used by Google Earth primarilyd. These data
sets are easy to create and small in file size, so they can be transferred quickly. Law enforcement
agencies as well as any use that the aircraft can be made available for could produce these KML
files, transfer them to the aircraft crew and then insure that those crew have definite location
information. It can be difficult to find a location from the air with latitude and longitude alone,
which is usual the best method available for the aircraft. Having a common file type can reduce
errors in communication insuring that the aircraft gets on target when needed.
An imagery resource that was not explored in this thesis was National Agriculture
Imagery Program (NAIP) that offers 1-meter color imagery of the entire United States and offers
that higher resolution but is about one quarter the file size compared to the CIB 1 meter imagery.
It is in MrSID format, so it appears that it would be compatible with the aircraft system and is
offered in GeoTIFF format as well.

41

References

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enforcement/.

Davenport, Thomas H., and Laurence Prusak. 2000. Working Knowledge: How Organizations
Manage What They Know. Brighton, MA: Harvard Business Press.

Douhet, Giulio. 1942. Il dominio dell’aria. New York, NY: Coward-McCann. Translated by
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Holochwost, Melanie. 2013 “745th SOS Deactivates” Accessed August 8, 2017
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L3 Technologies, Inc. 2016. ForceX Shield Software User Manual (SUM) Version 1.2.

National Counterdrug Office. n.d. “Aviation” Accessed May 24, 2017
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National Guard Bureau. 2008. “National Guard Regulation 500-2: National Guard Counterdrug
Support” http://www.ngbpdc.ngb.army.mil/pubs/500/500_2_10-801.pdf.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2018. “NGA.mil National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency” Accessed October 5, 2017 https://www.nga.mil/Pages/Default.aspx.

Open Group, The. 2018. “Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA)” Accessed Mar 13, 2018
http://www.opengroup.org/face/consortium/sosa.

42

Open Geospatial Group 2018. “KML OGC” Accessed March 30, 2018
http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/kml/.

Pike, John.1999. “C-26 Metroliner - Military Aircraft” Accessed August 7, 2017
https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/c-26.htm.

Rose M. Lust Staff Sgt. 2017. “Flying above the flames” Accessed February 4, 2018
http://www.141arw.ang.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1363375/flying-above-the-
flames/.

Steiniger, S., and Andrew J. S. Hunter. 2012. “The 2012 Free and Open Source GIS Software
Map – A Guide to Facilitate Research, Development and Adoption.” Computers,
Environment and Urban Systems 39, (May): 136-50.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvursbsys.2012.10.003.

Teot, Alexander, Jan Kees IJspeert, and M. J. van Dorresteijn. Image Fusion Improves
Situational Awareness (Soesterberg, The Netherlands: TNO Human Factors Research
Institute, 1996).

Texas Department of Public Safety 2017. “New DPS Airplane Named in Honor of Fallen
Trooper.” Accessed March 14, 2018
http://www.dps.texas.gov/director_staff/media_and_communications/pr/2017/0627a.

US Department of the Air Force. 2008. Flight Manual Mission Systems Officer’s Procedures
USAF Series RC-26B Block 20/25 Aircraft, prepared by HEBco Inc., February 2008.

United States Geological Survey 2018. “National Map Viewer” Accessed September 28, 2017
https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/?basemap=b1&category=histtopo,ustopo&title=M
ap%20View.

43

Appendix A: Instruction Document
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract This thesis aims to improve the quality of tools available to the Air National Guard, more specifically the RC-26 mission management system (MMS). The RC-26 is an unconventional aircraft doing an unconventional mission for the military, working directly with law enforcement agencies to provide an airborne video camera for counter-narcotics activities. This aircraft has been doing this mission since the late 1990’s and has undergone many hardware and software upgrades since then. However, these upgrades commonly take many years to accomplish, resulting in operators using obsolete systems and outdated information stored on the aircraft’s computer systems. In some cases, operators even lack the knowledge of how to utilize the systems or update them to better accomplish the mission. The purpose of this thesis is to help rectify those shortcomings and create a simple and repeatable process for maintaining and updating those systems with the latest, most up-to-date street maps and aerial imagery from all sources available on the internet and thus improving the aircrew’s effectiveness. It does so by sourcing compatible street data and imagery from government sources that is compatible with a number of government systems. Additionally, since the fleet of aircraft are spread throughout the country, this work creates an instructional aid so that the process can be fully understood and replicated. Using the sources and procedures developed in this thesis have been applied to real world law enforcement support as well as humanitarian mission in support of Hurricane Relief in Puerto Rico.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Strotkamp, Timothy Boyden (author)

Core Title Utilizing online data sources to improve existing military aircraft systems

School College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Degree Master of Science

Degree Program Geographic Information Science and Technology

Publication Date 07/25/2018

Defense Date 05/03/2018

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag aircraft,GIS, remote sensing,Maps,Military,OAI-PMH Harvest

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Fleming, Steven Douglas (committee chair), Marx, Andrew (committee member), Vos, Robert (committee member)

Creator Email strotkam@usc.edu,tstrotkamp@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-30461

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