An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 23 from the pistol range down to the central registry where CIS staff could quickly add the pistol scores to a master score spread- sheet. The principle was sound but as the complex- ity of the spread- sheet increased and more and more macro functions were added the Harris began to struggle with the file size. It looked as though we would have to revert to a more basic format of sending voice over the Motorolas. This was until a fortuitous conversa- tion with Lt Shane Dunne, who is currently serving in J6 (CIS) DFHQ but in civilian life is a systems engineer with Cisco Systems. Lt Dunne suggested a 3G/4G solution involving file transfer. CIS staff in the pistol range would enter the scores into the spreadsheet and then save it to a shared folder. The CIS detachment in the central registry would simply open the pistol scores spreadsheet and drop them into the central registry spreadsheet. Lt Dunne started parading with 2 CIS and working with some of our more technical reservists. There followed a period of developing, training and, indeed, adding more and more ideas to what might be achieved. At the conclusion of each parade Lt Dunne would inevitably say: "you know, I was just thinking..." After a period of development and training we carried out a site survey in Finner Camp which proved that our concept was workable. This proved the concept of file transfer over a 3G/4G network using a Cisco router. We also proved that we could live stream video from a camera located on the pistol range to the central registry. On Thursday 14th May 2015 we assembled in Cathal Brugha Bks at 18:00hrs and after loading stores we set off on the long journey to Finner Camp. The following morning we had an early start to set up all our kit for the first competition of the 2 Bde shoot, which was the GPMG. We were quickly operational and this gave us some time to deploy the camera on the GPMG range as a trial run for the pistol competition the following day. With everything running smoothly we then set about publishing provisional scores over a public network. This gave both competitors and spectators alike the ability to check the scores on their smartphones anywhere on the range. Saturday saw the USP competition taking place on the pistol range 1km away. While the distance was short, the pistol range was 30m above sea level (ASL) and the registry 5m ASL. With Finner Camp in between at an elevation of 40m ASL, this would prove a serious problem for any line- of-sight (LoS) system. However, our 3G/4G solution per- formed admirably and the scores flowed seamlessly, while the live video streaming had our viewers enthralled! The penultimate competition was the Falling Plates, which took place on the Sunday. This is a very exciting, spectator-friendly competition and was ideal for showcas- ing the ability of our live-feed, remote camera. The camera was set up approximately 50m forward of the firing point, which gave a great view of the teams as they sprinted to the firing point and loaded their weapons. Once a pre- set was activated, the camera immediately panned and zoomed to a tight shot of all the plates so that viewers got a close-up view of the plates as they fell. This made for some very exciting viewing! The following week we again set off for Finner Camp to repeat the process for the All-Army Shoot. Once again all systems worked perfectly, with scores arriving seam- lessly via file transfer and live video streaming keeping the spectators entertained. We also had scores available via smartphone and the additional facility of video footage of the previous weekend's Falling Plates competition, again available on smartphone. The lead-in to these competitions involved many hours of hard work and organising but was well worth the effort, as we achieved an excellent showcase for CIS capability and exceptional training for the CIS RDF element in relevant skillsets for data networking. It also strengthened the single-force concept and demonstrated some extremely valuable skillsets available to the Defence Forces in the guise of reservists and their civilian employments. It should also be noted that both the Brigade and All- Army competitions were organised, for the first time, as a combined PDF/RDF shoot in keeping with the single-force concept. This further increased the pressure to ensure that all systems worked flawlessly and credit must go to Comdt Mick Roche, OC 2 Bde CIS, who entrust- ed his reserve platoon with such a high- profile tasking. An interior view of the central registry showing the video monitors. The left monitor is displaying the scores as available on the public network. Lt Mairghead Kelly uploading results for the Falling Plates competition. A screen shot of the scores page as available on the public network. Sgmn David Young installing the remote camera on the range.

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