Coordinating Security Operations
While most Singaporeans were enjoying the cheery atmosphere of National Day Parade (NDP) 2021, our technologists were busy delivering an integrated Command & Control (C2) system for the event’s security operations.
Meant to help the NDP Committee’s Command and Control Group manage incidents on the ground, the C2 system leveraged an array of latest technologies such as cloud, mobile cellular communications, and video analytics. The team also integrated a C2 system developed in-house with multiple other systems to provide enhanced situational awareness and sense-making capabilities. This enabled rapid incident management and response, as well as interoperability with Home Team agencies.
With the C2 system, the users were able to view video feeds from multiple sources and monitor the location of ground forces. It also enabled them to issue commands to and receive updates from ground forces. On the ground, mobile troops were equipped with handsets and a mobile C2 application, which could be used to send visuals back to the command post to provide their commanders with enhanced situational awareness. A comprehensive suite of network and cybersecurity monitoring tools was also deployed to facilitate timely response to disruptions or incidents.
With such a wide scope of work, our team saw a golden opportunity to make the system even better. Senior Programme Manager Programme Office (Land Systems) Tan Puay Siang said: “We decided to trial video analytics capabilities by leveraging cameras deployed on-site for NDP21. This allowed the C2 system to flag out incidents such as overcrowding automatically, which helped reduce the cognitive load on operators. At the same time, we used a 3D gaming engine to produce a coverage diagram of the premises. This enabled us to determine the ideal locations for additional cameras.”
Following the deployment, Head Capability Development (Tactical C4I) Brendan Tan said: “The journey was challenging but fulfilling. We look forward to enhancing the system in future for other applications, as we incorporate and operationalise other technologies.”