Applications of the Internet of Things in Military Systems

IoT applications spread from sea to space. Increasingly reliant on Internet connections, Military and Aero designers are integrating connectivity for communications, logistics, command, control and and war-fighting. The remarkable advance in communications alone is enough to make one marvel at the applications, increased data rates and connectivity. My father was a comm guy and he once remarked to me that the spread spectrum technologies that appeared in the 1990s and advanced into the new millennia were “burn before reading” classification. Now, head to a big box store and connect around the globe. The MIL and AERO applications are turning this functionality into increasing precise munitions, battlefield vision and control and near-instanenous global communications: Waging War at a Distance. IoT applications are a degree of force-multiplier technology that make the US DoD a formidable presence in conflict areas. Integrating these device requires a level of EMC that was not a requirement 20 years ago. The wireless/spectrum considerations make systems integration and platform qualification a complex task. This presentation will review a number of these applications and how IoT issues should be dealt with at the box and system level.