(IVAR) - Final Report - Strategic Environmental Research and ...

Network Connectivity. The US Department of Defense requires that Automated Information
Systems, including hardware, software, and communications equipment, must first pass a
stringent DoD Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP 30 )
before it can be connected to a DoD communications network. DIACAP certification expires
after three years, and intervening hardware or software upgrades may require recertification of
the entire system.
If avian radar technology is to be fully integrated into the operational environment at DoD
facilities, such that a variety of users can access bird target information, the technology will have
to be DIACAP-certified. Ideally this can be done as a “type” certification, which would permit
any systems of that type to be connected to any DoD network 31 . However, given their differences
in hardware and software, each vendor’s avian radar systems would still need to be certified
separately.
The cost of obtaining DIACAP certification is typically borne by the vendor. For this reason,
DIACAP certification was not considered as a cost element Section 6.8, but is considered as an
operational issue in this section.
Given the DoD’s lead in the field of information security, it is highly likely that the same or
similar information assurance standards will be adopted in the future by other federal, and
perhaps private organizations, including civil airports.
None of the avian radars evaluated by the IVAR project have been DIACAP-certified;
consequently, none was connected to the LAN or WAN networks at the military study locations.
In some instances (e.g., NASWI) it was possible to obtain outside WAN connectivity using a
wireless (e.g., cell phone card or WiFi) link. Depending on who and where the users are at a
facility, and who requires access to the radar information, it is possible to construct a LAN using
commercial services and point-to-point links, staying off of defense networks entirely
Other Technical Issues. A number of technical issues related to avian radars have been
mentioned elsewhere in this report that should be considered along with other implementation
issues. For example, array antennas provide very poor altitude resolution of targets, which could
limit their utility for some applications. Dish antennas provide more accurate height
information, but the uncertainty in the computed height increases as a function of range. Likewise,
increased uncertainty in the height of the target increases the error in computing the targets
“ground track” (spatial coordinate of the target’s position projected onto the ground) from the
slant-range measured by the radar. However, now that there appears to be a growing and viable
market for avian radar systems, vendors will no doubt step forward with new products that
address these issues. ARTI, for example, has recently introduced a multi-beam avian radar
antenna that purports to double the vertical beam width (from 4° to 8°) of a single-dish antenna,
while at the same time increasing the accuracy of the height computations 32 . Solid-state radars
have recently come on the market that reduce the mean time before maintenance is require, but
they are more expensive than conventional radars based on magnetrons and have yet to be
objectively evaluated for bird-tracking applications. One of the potential benefits of these solid-
30
Prior to 2006, this certification process was known as the Department of Defense Information Technology
Security Certification and Accreditation Process (DITSCAP).
31
The alternative is a “site” certification, which limits the connection of the system to a specific site (e.g., a specific
military base).
32
http://www.accipiterradar.com/Accipiter%27s3D-360Deg.pdf
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