A GIS Assisted Knowledge

8/7/2019 A GIS Assisted Knowledge

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A GIS Assisted Knowledge-Based Approach for Military Operations

Maj. R. Baijal*, M. K. Arora and S. K. Ghosh**Geomatics Engineering Section, Department of Civil Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247 667*[email protected], **[email protected]

AbstractMilitary history is full of incidents wherein a smaller army having a good knowledge of the terrainhas defeated a much larger well-equipped and organised army. Nearly, all military activities areterrain sensitive and need careful planning and reconnaissance to ensure success. However,planning of military operations is a complex process and is guided by the experience andcapability of the commander and his staff who provide the necessary inputs to him. This decisionmaking process can be made intelligent by developing Knowledge Based (KB) expert systems. Inthis paper, a knowledge-based approach has been used to produce a number of thematic mapsuseful for various military operations. The approach developed is capable of taking inputs in theform of data layers that may be generated from satellite images, aerial photographs,topographical maps or other ancillary data. Some common military operations such as selectionof sites for bridges, ferries and helipads, identification of tactically important roads and vehiclemobility movement are considered. The development of such knowledge-based approached shalltremendously assist the military commander to provide efficient and real-time information in anorganized way for any military task.

IntroductionWith the present cold war situation between India and its adjoining neighbour, the defence forceshave to be on alert at all times. Any emergent situations means that the army has to movetowards the border at a very short notice. The modern battlefield is highly mechanized with heavyarms and ammunitions to shift around. The mobility of any armoured column depends upon theterrain conditions over which it has to move. Ground conditions have always played an importantrole in all conflicts over the ages. The parameters like topography, soil type and land use landcover have a direct bearing to key activities like mobility of both men and machines, methods of

crossing obstacles, selection of tactically important areas etc. Logistics also play an equallyimportant role as weapons in a war. Replenishment of ammunition, fuel and other supplies arerequired to reach the fighting troops in time. These require careful planning in terms of routes tobe taken and movement of various types of vehicles to ensure success. Thus, in todays modernbattlefield, speed of planning and execution of operations is of prime importance.

Fortunately, we are living in an Information Technology (IT) era where the dissemination ofinformation from one place to another has virtually become real time. The IT tools can besufficiently exploited for any challenging task such as planning of wars. Remote sensing,Geographical Information System (GIS) and artificial intelligence technologies are sitting on thetop of these IT tools that can together be effectively utilised to develop intelligent systems for warplanning. Command, Control, Communication, Coordination and Information (C4I) is one suchsystem where these technologies can be effectively used. For example, satellite remote sensing

data can be used to generate a wide range of products such as land use land cover maps,obstacle maps, slope maps, road mobility maps, line of sight plots etc. A GIS can receive,process, create, store, retrieve, update, manipulate and compress digital terrain data to generatea number of products. Knowledge of experts is a key input for any C4I system. Knowledge Based(KB) systems are being developed for war planning that can process inputs from remotely sensedand GIS derived products and use the knowledge gained to aid the decision making process,thereby allowing the military commanders make better battle plans. GIS embedded C4I systemsaim to give this KB to field commanders and their staff who despite having little knowledge ofGIS, can work on such systems. Currently only a few C4I systems are in use with embedded GIS,but their numbers are likely to rise substantially soon as more and more systems are developed
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around the world.

This paper presents a study on the use of a GIS assisted knowledge-based approach for somemilitary operations such as selection of sites for bridges and helipads, identification of tacticallyimportant roads and preparation of vehicle mobility maps.

Some common military operationsThe commanders have to carry out careful planning of a range of activities required during anymilitary operation in war. Some of them are:

Selection of Sites for Launching BridgesTo provide mobility to ground forces across water bodies, two types of bridges are generallyemployed by the military. Wet bridges are built across the rivers and large water bodies wherethese can float. For small water bodies such as canals and drain, dry bridges clear of the watersurface are provided. However, these bridges have fixed specifications of span, launching slopeand bank conditions. Therefore, a suitable site has to be selected to meet these requirementswith some site preparations. Selection of Ferry Sites

For crossing the canals and rivers, suitable ferry sites are needed till bridges are constructed overthem. The terrain requirement is somewhat similar to bridges except that some form of road or

track on the banks of the water bodies to provide access to the ferry site is required.

Selection of Sites for HelipadsDuring the movement of the troops and equipment, sufficient air cover essential in todayswarfare, as these are easy targets from air by the enemy. Keeping the capabilities of a helicopterin mind, it is being increasingly used in combat role and other tasks like reconnaissance,evacuation of casualties etc. The dimensions of the helipad required for the landing of ahelicopter varies from place to place but the ground conditions may nearly be the same as forbridge and ferry sites. For example, the location of a helipad depends upon the tree cover, soilconditions and slope of the ground.

Identification of Tactically Important RoadsIn order to provide fast and safe movement of troops and equipment, identification of tactically

important roads is essential. Roads and tracks that lead up to the likely bridge or ferry site aretactically important and need to be identified and suitably constructed so that these may be usedas the axis of maintenance. Ideally these roads should not pass through any obstacles like theminefields.

Preparation of Vehicle Mobility MapsMilitary vehicles are generally classified into two broad categories, tracked and wheeled. Vehicleslike tanks have excellent cross country mobility due to presence of tracks over its wheels.However vehicles having wheels but without tracks do need careful route planning before cross-country movement can be attempted. Vehicles carrying essential war stores like ammunition; fueland other supplies are all wheeled vehicles.

The need for a knoowledge based approach

The activities mentioned above are just a few undertaken by the defence forces while planning fora military operation. Most of these require good interpretation skills to understand the terrain.These skills may vary from person to person and hence the interpretation is also likely to vary.This may adversely affect the battle plan therefore, there is a need to standardize procedures andincorporate systems, which use the existing knowledge acquired by experts, intelligence agenciesand other means. This knowledge base (KB) can be effectively used to make accurate decisionmaking tools which can easily be used by military commanders at all levels.

KB expert systems can be developed, which can take into account the experience and knowledgeof terrain analysts and other experts to convert them into a set of rules, which can then be applied


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to digital data to derive a number of thematic maps that can in turn be used in war planning.

A typical KB system comprises of a set of interrelated and interconnected components such asknowledge base, inference mechanism (IM), user-interface, mechanism to update KB, and theexplanation of the rules applied (Nikolopoulos, 1997). The KB is a systematic collection ofinformation from various sources and experts in the area of application (e.g., war planning here).It is organizes the information into rules, which are generally written in the form of IF-THEN-ELSEstatements. The IM is the work center as it provides the deductions or solution to a particularproblem based upon the rules framed. The user interface is the link between the user and the KBsuch that a non-expert can also use it comfortably. With passage of time, the KB has to beupdated in terms of informations and rules, thus Mechanism to update KB is an essential facilityto upgrade and check the validity of KB. Generally, a KB system shell is built that houses the IM,the user interface, an explanation system and a knowledge base editor. There are numerouscommercial KB system shells, each one appropriate for a slightly different range of problems.Using shells to prepare a KB system generally reduces the cost and time of development.

In this paper, the knowledge based classifier in the well known Image Processing and raster GISsoftware namely ERDAS Imagine has been used as a shell to develop a knowledge-basedapproach for the military operations mentioned above.

Study areaThe KB presented here has been designed keeping in mind its effective use in the westernborders of our country. In the western region, the general terrain conditions are plain with the soiltype varying from desert sands of Rajasthan to the marshy areas of Gujarat. The landscape inthis region is interspersed with rivers and canals.

However, due to the security restrictions in use of topographical sheets of the border areas, anarea having somewhat similar ground conditions has been selected here to test the knowledge-based approach developed. The area lies south of Saharanpur city, UP, between Latitude 2945to 2950 and Longitude 7730 to 7735. Survey of India (SOI) map sheet 53 G/9 having a scaleof 1:50,000 has been used. The area covered is approximately 8 Km by 8 Km. This area has onemajor river Hindan flowing from north to south and few canal systems as shown in Fig 1.


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Fig. 1Topographical map of study area selected

GIS Data LayersThe rules to be formed are based upon the spatial information about the terrain as desired by aparticular military operation. A number of spatial raster data layers are prepared. The data for thestudy area has primarily been collected from the topographical map as above. However, due tonon-availability of certain information, some hypothetical data has also used for the preparation oflayers. Following data layers have been prepared by on-screen digitizing the scannedtopographic map in ERDAS Imagine,

i. Water Bodies

In the study area one major river, River Hindan, is flowing from north to south with anetwork of canals, to the north west of the area and some small lakes around villages.Thus, three categories of water bodies are considered as rivers, canals and lakes withtheir raster values assigned as 1, 2 and 3 respectively (Fig. 2).


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Fig. 2Thematic layer of water bodies

ii. Road network

Existing roads and tracks are an important aspect as it ensures the smooth movement ofboth fighting columns and logistical supplies. The area has a good network of roads andtracks both along the river and perpendicular to it. The roads and tracks are therefore theautomatic choice for the categories in roads layer and are assigned a raster value of 1and 2 respectively (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3Thematic layer of road network


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iii. Power Lines

Existence of power lines is an important factor while deciding the location of helipads.Hence, power lines have also been digitised and assigned a raster value as 1 and rest ofthe area as 0 where no power lines exist (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4Thematic layer of power lines

iv. Slope Map

The area is in general flat with heights varying from 252 m to 267 m. Only one contour at20 m interval passes in the vicinity of the area. Therefore, spot heights and benchmarksavailable on the topographical sheet have also been digitized to generate a Digital

Elevation Model DEM. 3D surfacing tool of ERDAS Imagine has been used to generate araster DEM from the digitized contour and the spot heights (Fig. 5). From this DEM, aslope map has been prepared showing four categories as, no slope (0% slope), plain(slopes less than 5 percent), moderate (slopes between 5 to 10 percent) and steep(slopes greater than 10 percent) (Fig. 6).


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Fig. 5Raster DEM of study area

Fig. 6Thematic layer of slopes

v.

vi. Land use land cover map

IRS-LISS III data has been used for classification of various land use and land cover ofthe area. Five land use land cover categories namely built-up areas, forests, rivers,canals and cultivated areas have been selected and given raster values as 1, 2, 3, 4, and5 respectively (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7Thematic layer of land use


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In addition to the above data layers, two more data layers have been prepared based upon thehypothetical data,

i. Soil map

Soil conditions play an important part in the process of site selection for various militarytasks like bridging, helipad location etc. The factors like bearing capacity and the soil

moisture are critical for operations like bridging. Approach to site and area near a bridgemust be able to take on heavy vehicular traffic. Due to lack of authentic soil map of thearea, a hypothetical soil data has been generated and is classified into three categoriesnamely sand, silt and clay with their raster values as 1, 2 and 3 respectively (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8Thematic layer of soil types

ii. Water depth

Wet Bridges are built using pontoons having decked girders, which float on water. Hencethere is need for minimum water depth, which is generally kept as 1m. In absence ofauthentic data, hypothetical water depth data for the river in the study area has beengenerated and divided into two broad categories as adequate or inadequate with rastervalues assigned as 1 and 2 respectively (Fig. 9).


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Fig. 9Thematic layer of water depth

Generation of rules for the KBKnowledge acquired in the form of GIS data layers converted into rules that are transformed intoa knowledge base using the Knowledge Engineer (KE) shell of ERDAS Imagine. Each data layerprovides a parameter or condition, which can be used for the formation of rules to get the finalhypothesis. Separate knowledge base has been prepared for each military operation selected inthis paper. For brevity, the KB for the selection of wet bridging site has been described here.However, all the graphical representations of each KB are shown in Fig. 10 to Fig. 15.

Fig. 10KB for Selection of Wet Bridging Sites


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Fig. 11Knowledge Base for Selection of Dry Bridging Sites

Fig. 12Knowledge Base for Selection of Ferry Sites

Fig. 13Knowledge Base for Selection of Helipad Sites


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Fig. 14Knowledge Base for Identification of Tactically Important Roads

Fig. 15Knowledge Base for Preparation of Vehicle Mobility Maps

For launching a wet bridge, the parameters that are likely to be considered are type of waterbody, ground slope, type of soil, land use and availability of adequate water depth. The KB for theselection of wet bridge site consists of the following rule written in the text form as:

IF WATER BODY == RIVER (1)AND SLOPE < = PLAIN (5)AND SOIL TYPE > = SAND (1)AND LAND USE >= CULTIVATED AREA OR RIVER OR CANAL (3)AND WATER DEPTH == ADEQUATE (1)THEN SUITABLE SITE FOR WET BRIDGING

The numbers in the bracket show the respective raster values. On executing this KB, thehypothesis gives the output class (colour coded as red) as the possible site locations for the wetbridge (Fig. 16).


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Similarly, once the KB for each military operation is executed, outputs are a set of thematic maps,which are shown in Fig. 17 to Fig. 20. These thematic maps have been visually analysed with theinput images in relation to the rules applied. The broad areas as identified by each KB have beenchecked using topographical map and military data regarding parameters for the various military

uses, and have been found to be correct. Thus, the KB approach can be effectively used formilitary operations. The thematic maps thus produced can be also used as overlays to carry outan accurate planning for various military tasks.


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ConclusionsAccurate and timely terrain analysis is the key for todays fast paced mobile battlefield.Conventional techniques need to be updated due to availability of data products like maps indigital form and high-resolution satellite imagery. The knowledge base approach for the

interpretation of terrain features will prove to be very useful for modern day war planning. Thisapproach combines the experience and knowledge of experts and delivers this to the soldier inthe battlefield.

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