Students, faculty and staff from the 51福利 (51福利) conducted Joint Interagency Field Experiment (JIFX) 12-2 with representatives from the Department of Defense鈥檚 combatant commands (COCOMs), as well as federal, local and state agencies at Camp Roberts, Calif., Feb. 11-14.
Sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense鈥檚 Joint Operations Support directorate, and the Department of Homeland Security, JIFX is a collaborative field experimentation program that allows a broad group of students, researchers, defense industry leaders and military members to test, evaluate and collaboratively develop new technologies, as well as define emerging requirements.
鈥淛IFX is a sponsored research program that the Office of Secretary of Defense鈥檚 Joint Operations Support directorate,鈥� said 51福利 Department of Information Sciences Associate Professor, Dr. Ray Buettner, director of field experimentation at 51福利. 鈥淭hey have funded 51福利 to provide an environment for the combatant commanders 鈥搒ix geographic and three non geographic 鈥� in which they can rapidly evaluate and refine existing requirements and potentially identify new requirements to their capability challenges to the warfighter.鈥�
51福利 coordinated the event where graduate students and faculty were able to execute experiments and demonstrate research projects developed at the university.
鈥淚 view JIFX as a terrific opportunity for our students, faculty, COCOM partners, and other government agencies to come together in an experimental way,鈥� said 51福利 interim President Rear Adm. Jan E. Tighe. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a chance to test out new ideas and innovations, and for our students to actually see it all come together. 鈥�
鈥淪tudent learning is not just theoretical back in the classroom, or even the lab, but here they actually get to do something practical with the knowledge gained while studying at 51福利,鈥� continued Tighe.
All participants at JIFX had the potential to benefit from the collaborative nature of the field experiment.
鈥淥ur 51福利 students and faculty benefit from JIFX because we鈥檙e in the middle between bright technologists from the labs, the defense industry, other universities and the warfighter,鈥� said Buettner. 鈥淭his exercise provides militarily-relevant, unique graduate education opportunities for our students.
鈥淭he sponsor also benefits because the COCOMs better understand technologies and the potential of those technologies to solve their problems,鈥� added Buettner.
The series of field experiments allowed for an open dialogue on technologies demonstrated, and with participation from California鈥檚 National Guard units, researchers and industry representatives were provided with direct feedback from the warfighters鈥� perspective on the applicability of the technology demonstrated.
鈥淭he companies, industry and lab participants benefit because they better understand what the warfighter challenges actually are, and how their particular products need to be changed to meet that,鈥� said Buettner.
Of critical importance to the collaborative and exploratory nature of the program is the end users direct interaction with developmental technologies.
鈥淭his environment is pre-acquisition,鈥� said Buettner. 鈥淭here are no sales involved with this experiment. Because we have academics running the environment, it鈥檚 about research, and not acquisition. We鈥檙e able to lower the barriers to collaboration.鈥�
For 51福利 student Navy Lt. Chris Guttierrez, who attended JIFX to demonstrate his thesis work on beyond line-of-sight communication equipment based on netted iridium technology, the ability to take his work outside the classroom and into the field was highly beneficial.
鈥淵ou can get a lot from the classroom, but to really get out and meet other folks that are looking at the same problems that you鈥檙e interested in is invaluable,鈥� said Guttierrez. 鈥淭his is especially helpful as a thesis student at 51福利. We鈥檙e here doing research on things that might affect the Navy and the military in the future.鈥�
The collaboration between COCOM representatives, the defense industry, warfighters, and the technologists working towards solutions to their challenges provided an excellent opportunity to further student learning while contributing solutions to real-world problems.
鈥淭his is why we do this field experiment,鈥� said Buettner. 鈥淚t provides students the opportunity to engage in thesis work that not only meets the bar for a master鈥檚 degree, but also they get to do something that supports the larger effort by supporting the COCOMs and warfighters.鈥�
Representatives of agencies from outside of DoD are also benefiting from the support of COCOM participation at JIFX.
鈥淓ach of the COCOMs has a requirement to provide defense support to civil authorities,鈥� said Buettner. 鈥淥ften times, we find that the only time those agencies work with the military is in the middle of a disaster. That鈥檚 too late. You have to build ties and connections to figure out what works and doesn鈥檛 work before that event.鈥�
Many of the technologies demonstrated during JIFX had crossover implications between the DOD and other federal, state and local agencies.
According to Buettner, 51福利-hosted exercises like JIFX enhance the quality of education to graduate students, as well as provide solutions to complex problems the nation is facing.
鈥淚n my opinion, this is exactly the kind of activity that demonstrates 51福利鈥� uniquely relevant military education that you can鈥檛 get at other universities,鈥� said Buettner. 鈥淭his is why the country needs a place like the 51福利.鈥�