NATO STANAG 7023 PDF

NATO STANAG 7023 establishes a standard data format and a standard transport architecture for the transfer of reconnaissance imagery and associated auxiliary data between reconnaissance Collection Systems and Exploitation Systems. NATO STANAG 7023 is not a communications protocol nor is it a document that will solve implementation issues concerning communications. The design of any system for communications robustness must be made in consideration with STANAGs 7024 and 7085.

Figure 1 illustrates where NATO STANAG 7023 fits into the overall reconnaissance architecture.

NATO STANAG 7023 works in conjunction with other NATO STANAGs 7085, 7024, 4575, 4545, 4559 and 3377 to complete the interface between the Collection System and the Exploitation System.

The flow of information begins in the Collection System. The information is formed into the STANAG 7023 format and then it flows to lower levels of the interface where it may be transmitted on a transport medium or saved on a storage medium. When the information arrives at the Exploitation System the reverse process occurs.

The following list of top level design aims for NATO STANAG 7023 establish a basis for the design:

• promote interoperability

• handle primary imagery

• handle mission/intelligence data

• work in real time

• minimise platform processing

• assume exploitation of imagery has no prior knowledge of source

• image format does not handicap sensor performance

• digital and analogue versions

• layered/modular architecture

• end-to-end protocol

• self-describing sensor data format

• addressable data files

• multi-sensor/multispectral

• hardware independent

• expandable

NATO STANAG 7023 is a self-describing format. The auxiliary data defines the format of the image data. This enables NATO STANAG 7023 to handle any image from any type of sensor. Figure 3 illustrates this concept.

The remainder of this document will focus on the following areas:

• Data Structure - section 2 describes the methodology with which the data is formatted.

• Data Content - section 3 identifies and categorises the reconnaissance data to be transported from a Collection System to an Exploitation System. In Annex A, reconnaissance data is divided into two functional categories:

• sensor data - actual imagery collected from a sensor,

• auxiliary data - information required by an image analyst to derive intelligence information from the imagery and the information required by the Exploitation System to process the raw imagery data into a form which is useable by the imagery analyst.

• Logical Data Format Encoding - section 4 defines the general encoding requirements for the data fields within the header and data files.

• Transport Architecture - section 5 defines the data structures required for the movement of imagery and auxiliary data across the transport media. This section of STANAG 7023 establishes a standard data format encoding for the transfer of reconnaissance imagery and associated auxiliary data between Collection Systems and Exploitation Systems.

• Data Packets - section 6 defines the structure of the data packet to be put on the transport medium.