But, as any computer user knows, technology is only great when it works.

“The right answer delivered at the wrong time is the wrong

He and his associates are working on software that will coordinate and leverage the vast diversity of communications technologies to empower pilots and other warfighters and their commanders to communicate with each other accurately, quickly and seamlessly.

The software they are developing will harness the impressive powers of the Global Information Grid and will have long-term applications for business and personal communications, as well.

The Global Information Grid includes all the communications networks, from the Internet and “land lines” to cell phones and satellite communication.

“The Internet has existed for decades, but it only became accessible to most people with the invention of the World Wide Web and software such as Netscape and Internet Explorer,” Schmidt says. “It’s helpful to think of the GIG as presenting a similar, but actually even more complex, challenge in terms of integrating the technologies sufficiently for them to work together.”

An additional challenge is to ensure that these technologies will interface efficiently, reliably, and at the levels of security required by the military, Schmidt says.

Schmidt is lead principal investigator, partnering with Carnegie Mellon University, for a $1.2 million Air Force Research Laboratory grant to tackle the multi-dimensional challenge of developing software that enables U.S. military commanders to use the disparate resources of the GIG in an effective fashion. He is also teaming with the University of California, Berkeley, and Cornell University on a $3 million related AFRL project to coordinate use of the GIG.

“The software we are creating not only will broaden communications capabilities by utilizing the GIG to augment Air Force communications technology, such as warfighters’ radio, landline and satellite communications, but also will ensure that all communications are delivered according to commander priorities and are protected from interception and disruption,” he says.

That’s about as tough as it sounds, but Schmidt is no stranger to world-class challenges.

Author of communication environment software ACE (for Adaptive Communication Environment) and its quality-of-service enforcing sidekick, TAO, Schmidt is a pioneer in the international “open source”
movement. The “open source” community of hundreds of computer scientists collaborate to create software and check, correct and build on each other’s code. He has been an international leader in developing middleware, which is the software that brokers interactions between different layers of software and hardware.
 

Because these systems must interface with the real world, they need to be more adaptable, flexible and tolerant of the hurly-burly conditions one finds out here in reality. “In the last 40 years, the computing world has witnessed an inexorable movement toward abstractions that are closer to the designers’ intent,” Schmidt says. “Despite advances, we still are trying to make complex platforms work in the large. Platform complexity has outstripped programming languages that allow manipulation of these platforms.”

Middleware is designed to streamline interactions among this cacophony of software, making it easier to build systems without getting bogged down in the details.

Schmidt’s focus is on designing runtime middleware that can help make computer platforms smart enough to reconfigure and recover if they run into problems as they communicate across a network.

“There are so many ways to go wrong when there are several parties involved in a network,” Schmidt says. “In military situations, you can have different coalition partners with different measurement systems and plenty of problems with semantics. Unmanned utility vehicles have to be able to figure out which vehicle belongs to allies and which to an enemy. Information must be managed so that commander communication has priority, and that information that affects the timeliness, safety, and security of the mission gets put through the network first.

“If Marines in a small unit want to coordinate activities like rescuing hostages, they need to not only be able to communicate but to have a shared view of the battlespace with their commanders,” Schmidt says.

Schmidt expects that the technology he and his associates are developing will have broad impact in the business and consumer computing communities as well. “The Internet of the future will mix traditional computing resources with smart devices in the office, the home, in public spaces, and in the car. Before that can happen, we have to create ways for this heterogeneous mix of electronic equipment to communicate.”