Imaging tools assume vital defense role

MOUNTAIN VIEW — IN A DARKENED theater, a visitor
sits in a deeply padded chair before a wide screen. She
is watching an aerial view of the Bay Area from imagery
arriving in real time by satellite.

By Francine Brevetti Oakland Tribune Business Writer

(There are several GIS companies developing cutting edge technology in Montana. Is this a possible "cluster economy"
development that we should emphasize?- Russ)

Suddenly a cursor on the screen focuses on a single
point. The image spins and zooms in until she can
identify the very roofs, stairwells and intersections on the
streets.

This is more than a neat optical trick. It’s the bedrock of the technology that SGI, formerly Silicon Graphics,
sells to the Department of Defense and the intelligence community. SGI’s powerful Onyx series of
supercomputers produce visualization and imagery tools for use in warfare training, bombing missions and
homeland security. They support a variety of applications, including weather forecasting and flight simulators,
and they act as conduits for data from satellite ground stations.

Denver-based Space Imaging collects this information via satellite. With its application called space-to-face,
the visitor was watching objects as small as a meter in height.

"The defense and intelligence communities have a whole series of low earth-orbiting satellites they can use to
make imagery of various locations for targeting, for bomb damage assessment and to decide whether they
need to revisit the targets," John Burwell, SGI’s senior director for government industry, said.

The data that satellites collect are sent to earth and captured, and processed before they are turned into
usable information. Burwell said SGI’s technology allows a commander to locate a target by satellite, receive
the data, turn it into an image and review it — all in good time to decide whether to address the target. And
once addressed, to revisit it.

A map of North and South Korea showed the technology’s capacity for overlays. Blue markers spinning over
the terrain indicated South Korean aircraft, the red for North Korea. A variety of other information such as
weather and topography can add detail to this panorama all in real time.

"A commander can look at the entire battlefield and make decisions" with this tool, he said. With a click, he
can drop in a map of Korean cities over the moving image of aircraft activity from his vessel. Now he can see
which aircraft are flying over which cities and under what weather conditions.

General Dynamics recently selected this SGI capability to power a battlespace management system for the
U.S. Navy. General Dynamics has chosen a 32-processor SGI server, four SGI Onyx 3000 graphics systems,
eight SGI visualization workstations and a graphic workstation.

These units already have been installed on the USS Mount Whitney, a command and control vessel, and the
USS Shiloh, an Aegis cruiser. The Navy has selected the Mountain View company’s technology for 17 other
installations as well. SGI would not reveal the size of its contract with GD.

As expected, real-time information can be captured and archived for future reference. Suddenly, the display
on the screen changed its focus to Afghanistan. The cursor zeroed in on Kabul’s airport and dove to the
runway where several aircraft sat idle. Today, this shot would be impossible since the aircraft and the runway
have been demolished.

Since the Department of Defense bought all commercially available aerial material of Afghanistan since
Sept. 11, SGI could not demonstrate material after that date.

This year is SGI’s 20th anniversary.

"Our first customer was the Department of Defense. Our second was Disney," Burwell said.

The company with its far-flung international bases and $1.9 billion in revenue, is well known for its
entertainment customers. Its technology underpins the special effects of many movies, including "Jurassic
Park" and "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring."

But a quarter of the company’s business is defense related. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, this part of its business
has picked up a few percentage points. It’s not so much that new programs are being initiated as that ones
already proposed and underfunded are now drawing the DOD’s attention.

"Everything across the board was being underfunded in the DOD and the intelligence community," Burwell
said, because under the Clinton and the current administrations there had been no political will to follow
through.

"That changed with 9-11," he said.

Skills and tools developed for warfare also are being shaped for civilian security purposes. The Harris Corp.
uses SGI Onyx supercomputers to develop textured mapping and modelling.

Harris fashioned a three-dimensional map of Quebec City to prepare that city’s security forces for expected
disruptions during last year’s World Trade Organization meeting. The imagery is so lifelike and complex that
one can visualize the sightlines from any point. One can "virtually" fly through and around the buildings. This
combination of SGI computing and Harris software was also employed to prepare for the recent Winter
Olympics.

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