NATO ANEP-51 VOL 2

NATO Naval Combat System Information Catalogue Volume 2 Generic Message Catalogue NATO Industrial Advisory Group NIAG/SG-52 Naval Combat System (NCS) Architecture Design Principles Standardization - ED 2

Year: 1998

Abstract: General Introduction
The goal of inter-ship Combat System compatibility and interoperability will be enhanced significantly by establishing standards for common definitions of the information processed by the Combat System. The compatibility of the application functions of a Combat System depends critically on common understanding and definition of the information passed between them.
Use of this NATO Naval Combat System Information Catalogue for intra-ship Combat System design will offer substantial benefits; i.e.,:
• Improved combat function compatibility and interoperability, streamlined system integration, and transportability of function implementations between Combat Systems.
• Simplification of Combat System specification, design, and integration, without placing unacceptable constraints on individual ship projects.
• A reduction in system integration risk, substantially reducing the cost of this activity by ensuring the compatibility of information held within and transmitted across the complete Naval Combat System
• Equipment change-out with little or no change to the rest of the system
The full benefits of these standards will not be realized, however, unless suitable specifications are developed and in place prior to introducing the improved technology into NATO and National ship system projects.
For this revision, a NATO Industrial Advisory Group Sub Groups 52 (NIAG/SG-52) was tasked, under the guidance of AC/141(NG/5), to conduct a set of prefeasibility studies on:
• The preparation and definition of a NATO catalogue of operational data that is communicated between equipment, sub-systems, and systems installed in Naval platforms. The catalogue considered all transfer of digital, analogue, and voice communications and the data rates between such systems. The NATO catalogue is defined in this document, Volume 2 (Generic Message Catalogue) and in Volume 3 (Data Structure Catalogue).
• The preparation of guidelines and standards for the specification of the above operational data, which are presented in Volume 1 (User Guide) and in Volume 4 (Message Construction Standard).
• Extend the NATO Information Catalogue with respect to performance indicators (e.g., accuracy, timeing, etc.). Determination of DTS performance indicators is described in Volume 5 (Combat System Architecture and Key Performance Indicators).
The NATO Catalogue study utilised the results concluded in ANEPs-32, -33, and -38, and embellished these findings with data message information provided from current NATO warship programmes. In this way, a realisation of what is currently being implemented across a number of NATO platforms has been rationalised to provide the NATO Naval Combat System Generic Message Catalogue.
Sources of Information
The initial task in the development of the Information Catalogue was to gain access to a number of identified NATO warship Combat System message catalogues. The Combat System data messages that were accessed included the following:
- All Data Exchange Specifications for Type 42 Frigate Combat System Highway
- All Data Exchange Specifications for Type 23 Frigate Combat System Highway
- IRST, Meteorological, Alignment, and Electronic Warfare data messages based upon those similar to the Canadian Patrol Frigate Programme.
- Data messages from the French Charles de Gaulle Aircraft Carrier
- Data messages from the US (IC)2 Naval programme
- Data messages from programmes which implemented IFF, Surveillance, Radars, CIWS, Data Link, and Above Water Data Fusion.
- Interface Design Specifications for the US LHD-1.
- Analysis of aircraft carrier, frigate, submarine, minehunter, and amphibious assault ship Command Management Systems
Information from the Vanguard class and the Upholder class tactical weapons system was used to augment the surface ship Combat System message data so that the Generic Message Catalogue could also be used for submarines.
For reasons of national security, the full message catalogues for the Canadian Patrol Frigate (CPF), the Dutch M Frigate, Project Horizon Common New Generation Frigate (CNGF), and the Tri-lateral Frigate Consortium (TFC) could not be made available. Knowledge from these programmes was made available and was used in the development of the generic messages.
Organization of Volume 2
Section 2 of Volume 2 describes the approach and processes used for the analysis of the various message sets obtained from the message data resources.
Section 3 of Volume 2 describes the Levelled Combat System Architecture, which was defined as a tool for the purpose of defining message originators (senders) within an open architecture.
Section 4 describes each of the 23 catalogue groups, and lists the generic messages assigned to each of the groups. The message lists in Section 4 include the Message Control Number (MCN) and a definition of the message.
Annex A contains the formal definition of the generic messages. Both an alphabetic (by message name) and numeric (by MCN) list of all messages is provided in order to assist the user in locating a specific generic message. Each Appendix in Annex A presents the formal definition of the generic messages within a catalogue group.
Annex B contains abbreviations and definitions pertinent to ANEP-51. Appendix 1 contains a list of abbreviations and acronyms. Appendix 2 contains the catalogue group definitions. Appendix 3 presents textual definitions of the generic messages. Appendix 4 presents textual definitions of the data elements comprising the generic messages.
Annex C presents a list of documents relevant to the studies conducted to generate the Information Catalogue.
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