By Brian Farmer on behalf of the DSO E3 Program Review Team
After a five-year hiatus, the 2017 Department of Defense (DoD) Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) Program Review was held April 3 – 7 at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, TX. Over 60 technical presentations were delivered throughout the week, three working groups were convened, 12 exhibitors displayed their products and services, and three E3 training seminars conducted addressing electromagnetic radiation hazards, EMP, and MIL-STD-461. These activities, coupled with the many sidebar meetings and peer-to-peer networking, combined to make this year’s Program Review a great success.
The Program Review provided a valuable information exchange and networking forum for the DoD E3 engineering and spectrum management communities. The theme for this year’s program review was “Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (JEMSO).” Participants representing DoD and Federal Government agencies, academia, and foreign governments, shared and collaborated on issues impacting Joint Service operations and learned about the latest innovations in EMS requirements, capabilities, and technology. Many participants heralded this as the premier conference for their profession, and as one of the only opportunities to network with colleagues and other E3 engineering and spectrum management professionals, they were very happy to see it come to fruition.
The program review was hosted by Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Defense Spectrum Organization (DSO), and Joint Spectrum Center (JSC), on behalf of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer (DoD-CIO), Spectrum Policy and International Engagements. Over 200 registered attendees and sponsors, plus 12 exhibitors, participated in the program review including representatives from DoD Services and agencies, federal government agencies, NATO, defense contractors, academia, and foreign nationals from Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Monday, April 3, is traditionally reserved for service specific meetings so leaders from the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy each held their respective Service Day E3 meetings where they highlighted recent accomplishments, discussed program status, and outlined future objectives. Additionally, the Canadian CP140 Aurora E3 Working Group (E3WG) met in a closed-door meeting.
Tuesday, April 4, marked the first day of the General Session. Mr. Matthew Grenis, E3 Spectrum and Applied Engineering Division of DSO, acknowledged the leadership and pioneering contributions of Mr. Stephen Caine to the DoD E3 Program. Mr. Caine, who organized the first of these conferences back in the late 1980s, passed away in February of this year. Colonel Jeff “Roofer” Aldridge, Director of the Joint Electronic Warfare Center (JEWC), gave the Keynote Address. Col Aldridge’s presentation focused on the paradigm shift in DoD policy represented by JEMSO. He spoke about traditional spectrum policy, illustrated with the 1974 National Spectrum Allocation Chart, and how this model cannot keep pace with technology. He presented the Operational View 1 (OV-1) for JEMSO and talked about the need for automated tools to address the dynamic spectrum management concerns of an integrated Electromagnetic Battle Management (EMBM) system. Noting that the USAF alone employs dozens of electronic warfare systems, a JEMSO cell with an EMBM system strategy provides the only efficient way forward for integrated Joint and coalition operations.
Other high level agency perspectives were provided, including:
- DoD CIO by Mr. Jim Campion
- Defense Spectrum Organization by Mr. Alan Lewis
- Joint Staff J6 Spectrum Branch by MSG Cedric Maybank
- NTIA by Ms. Paige Atkins
- Army Spectrum Management Office (ASMO) by Mr. John Gardner
- OPNAV N2N6 by Mr. David “Mark” Johnson
- Joint Spectrum Center Operations Branch by Mr. Dan Brock
The highlight of Tuesday afternoon was a session dedicated to the main theme of the Program Review, JEMSO. Consisting of presentations by JEWC representatives, the goal of the session was to build on Col Aldridge’s keynote address and provide a complete picture of the current plan to implement Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO).
The remainder of the program review included a wide variety of technical presentations grouped in sessions to include: Spectrum/E3 Tools, E3 Standards, E3/RF Modeling, EM Testing and Interference Mitigation. There were also several side meetings and short training courses presented.
Additional information is available at https://acc.dau.mil/e3, including a link to be included on future notifications for the conference.
