Spatial Analysis of Military Vehicle Maneuver in Tactical Situation on ArcView

Dooil Kim and Kyung Ho Park

Identification of spatial pattern is one of key issues in GIS application to geographic research. This study aims to identify spatial patterns of maneuvering tanks in tactical operation and operationalize them on ArcView environment. Six patterns of attack formation are analyzed and algorithms for the patterns are made using ArcView Avenue. In the process, the maneuvering direction of a platoon is calculated first and the location of each tank, that is, the direction and distance of each tank relative to the leading one, is calculated. The 6 patterns are identified by direction and distance of the two tanks in a platoon. The spatial pattern algorithm is used as a part of the maneuver control system.

1. Introduction

The purpose of this study is to identify spatial patterns of maneuvering platoon in offensive operations and operationalize them on GIS environment. Spatial pattern is one of key issues in command and control at offensive or defensive operations. The situation is same too at lower level of such as tank platoon. Maneuver of military units in offensive operation usually follows a certain pattern described in field manuel. The identification of the formation becomes the basis of command and control for maneuvering troops. Although pattern recognition in this study is applied to platoon level the model can be extended to company or battalion levels easily. The system is programmed in ArcView Avenue. Because the size of the system is not large it can be operated in PC-based small systems available at company or battalion levels. Analysis of the distribution of features or activities on space is one of continuing topics in geography. Many theories or models deal this topic. Christaller's hexagonal pattern in central place theory is a good example and leap-frogging pattern in urban sprawl is another typical example (Morill and Dormitzer, 1979). In this sense geographic analysis is very close and will be effective to the understanding of military operations. Most of tactical operations of military units are basically geographical problems. Their operations can be presented on maps because they are basically geographical. Defensive or offensive formations and maneuvering patterns for attack can be geographically interpreted.

2. Spatial Analysis of Formations of Maneuvering Tank Platoon

Appropriate formation of a platoon is one of key factors for winning in combat. Commanders in higher echelon want to know the formations of their troops in real-time and automatically in order to command or control them. If the formation is recognized automatically through computer system, then, it will be very efficient and effective to command.

A platoon or company takes a specific formation when it is maneuvering for attack. In a typical tank battalion in Korean Army, there are three tanks in a platoon and three platoons in a company and three companies in a battalion. There are 6 formations in attacking of tank platoon in tactical maneuver. They are wedge, column, line, vee, left flank, and right flank formations (Fig. 1). Tactical situations where one of these formations can be adopted are described in detail in Field Manual.

In order to operate the 6 formations on GIS environment two processes are necessary. First a coordinate system for a tank is defined and, second, spatial formation of a platoon is identified with mathematical terms in order to convert the concepts into operational terms.

The basic tool for the identification of spatial pattern is a coordinate system. A coordinate system is necessary in order to posit the location of a tank on it. A rectangular coordinate system, such as UTM coordinate system which is popular as a military coordinate system, is adopted because of its convenience in the calculation of distance and azimuth. The origin of the coordinate system is the location of platoon leader's former position, where the values are given as (0,0) for (x,y). The present position of each tank is represented as (x,y) on this coordinate system (Fig. 2).

Identification of geometric patterns of tanks is processed in two steps. In the first step, the 'absolute' location of each tank is calculated as azimuth from the North and distance from the leader's tank. They are ¥á1, ¥á2 and d1, d2, respectively in Fig.2. In the second step, the 'relative' location of each tank is calculated as azimuth from the direction of platoon's heading and distance from the leader's tank. They are ¥è1, ¥è2 and d1, d2, respectively in Fig.2. The location is named as 'relative' because the azimuth of each tank is calculated from the line of platoon's heading not from the North. Heading of the platoon is decided as the line which is connecting the former and the present locations of the platoon leader's tank. The heading line is important because whether a tank is on the right or left side of the leader's tank is classified by this line.

Then, from the above two steps, the location of each tank can be represented as azimuth and distance relative to the line of heading and to the present location of platoon leader's tank, respectively. The location of Tank #2, for example, is represented as (¥è2, d2) as shown in Fig.3 although its coordinate is (X2,Y2) as in Fig.2.

In order to calculate the azimuth of a tank in terms of 360 degree base it is necessary to classify their locations by quadrant. The calculation of the azimuth is processed in two steps. First, the location is classified by the lines of X' and Y' axis originating from the present location of leader's tank. In this case, there are 4 sub-quadrants for each quadrant made by (X0,Y0). Second, the location is classified into two sides, right and left, by the line of the heading. By the combination of these two steps there can be 6 cases of the location of a tank for a quadrant as shown in Fig.4.

For the right-side quadrant in Fig.4 three locations with prefix 1 ¡ª 1-A, 1-B and 1-C ¡ª are those on the right side of the heading line. With these processes there could be totally 24 locations because there are 4 quadrants and 6 locations in each quadrant. However, only half of them, for the locations where the value of y is greater than zero, are analyzed in this study. The next process is to identify formations from the pattern of locations. In order to calculate the formation mainly by azimuth the azimuth of a tank is converted to an angle on 360 degree base starting from the heading line. Then for each quadrant, the azimuth (¥è) are classified into 16 sectors with 22.50 for each sector. The direction of heading becomes the primary line where azimuth is equal to 0 or 360.

Table 1. Sectors and Formations
 

Formations: C=Column, L=Line, W=Wedge, V=Vee, F=Left Flank, G=Right Flank

These 16 sectors are paired so that the formation can be identified (Table 1). For example, when the #2 tank is in the sector of 4 and the #3 tank is 9, then, the formation will be left flank formation. Identification of spatial formation of a maneuvering platoon is made by comparing the spatial distribution of the platoon's three tanks with the 6 types of maneuvering formation. There are special cases where this rule may not be applied clearly. If the road is not linear but tanks are maneuvering along the road it should be column formation as shown in Fig.5. However the pattern may be identified as right flank formation because of the sinuosity of the road. In this case the system will send incorrect information.

3. Operational Model

We have made a vehicle monitoring system which can control the maneuver of tanks of a platoon. The system consists of three parts: data input part, processing part, and monitoring part. In data input part data are acquired from field in real-time or from existing databases. For example, the position data of tanks are acquired at field using GPS. Another data set such as the number of ammunition within a tank can be read from existing database. At the processing part, acquired data are calculated or analyzed. The identification of spatial pattern is one of key modules in this part. Position of tanks are compared to or overlayed with many tactical control conditions such as object or line of attack. At the monitoring part tactical situations are presented in graphics or text forms on a map. Commanders may watch the screen and decide to do what at the next stage.

The main GUI consists of 4 parts: main, supplementary, dialogue and message windows. Main window shows the overall tactical situation of the platoon. The range of the map covers the whole area where the platoon is in operation. Supplementary window shows a special area selected by the commander or operator. The area included in it is smaller usually but the scale is larger, so you can see situations in detail. Dialogue window shows the text-type information such as the number of ammunitions left in tank or the amount of fuel. Message window shows reports of tactical situations when tanks or the platoon are encountering special situations or designated control features under tactical maneuver.

The study area is a small region near Yeoncheon which is located in the northern part of South Korea. The area is a training site for armored vehicles. The program is made with ArcView Avenue.

4. Summary and Conclusion

This study examines spatial formations of a tank platoon in offensive operation. Six formations are analysed in order to be operationalized on ArcView environment. A coordinate system is constructed and azimuth and distance of each tank on the coordinate system are calculated in order to compare with maneuvering formations. The identification algorithm is adopted as a part of a vehicle monitoring system.

Various types of large monitoring systems are adopted as decision-making support systems in military operation. Strategic C4I system is one of many typical examples of large systems. However, there is still a demand for small systems. Large systems are convenient because they have various functions within the system, however they require higher level of hardware systems and trained and special operators which may not be available in the units at lower levels such as company or battalion. In this regard small systems are competitive. This system can be applied in company or battalion level and extended to include other simple functions without lowering much the efficiency of the system.

References

Morill, R.L. and Dormitzer, J.M., 1979, The Spatial Order, Duxbury Press, North Scituate, MA., U.S.A.

Park, K.H., 2000, A Study on the Vehicle Monitoring System of Armor Battalion for Maneuver Control Using GIS, Advanced Institute of Military Science and Technology, MS Thesis.

Dooil Kim Department of Environmental Sciences Korea Military Academy Nowon, Gongneung, P.O. Box 77-2 Seoul, 139-799, KOREA e-mail: dooilk@kma.ac.kr

Kyung Ho Park Department of Earth Engineering Advanced Institute of Military Science and Technology Nowon, Gongneung, P.O. Box 77-2 Seoul, 139-799, KOREA