Turning Sensor Chaos into Decision Dominance: Data Fusion at the Tactical Edge

The Battlespace Is Now Data-Driven

Hypersonic missiles, uncrewed swarms, electronic-warfare fog; decision-making in modern combat must unfold at machine speed. Every platform, from dismounted soldier kits to space-based ISR constellations, is a sensor continuously streaming gigabits of data. The Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) vision makes one thing clear: victory will belong to the force that can connect, fuse, and act on that data first.

Yet most of the information never leaves the silo it was born in. The result is latency, cognitive overload, and exploitable gaps, exactly what we’ve witnessed in Ukraine, where dense Russian jamming has blinded single-sensor systems and even triggered EW “friendly fire,” and in recent INDOPACOM wargames such as Project Convergence, where joint forces moved data at record volume and quickly hit integration limits.

U.S. service members conduct battle-management operations at a Tactical Operations Center-Light during Project Convergence 22. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brenda Salgado)

The Problem: More Sensors, Less Clarity

Legacy C2 architectures treat each sensor feed in isolation. Operators bounce between radar scopes, EO/IR video, EW geolocation, Blue-Force trackers, plus a multitude of other data sources, each a time-skewed slice of reality. Add spoofing or GPS jamming and single-source trust collapses.

Outcome: When operators are forced to juggle isolated sensor feeds, the kill chain drags while they piece together a coherent picture. The confusion heightens friendly fire risk because friend-or-foe checks take longer or break down entirely under jamming pressure. Most critically, forces that can’t correlate multi-sensor data and act inside a highly compressed time window (measured in seconds not minutes) after contact surrender the initiative and become reactive to enemy actions.

The Solution: Real-Time Data Fusion

Data fusion ingests multi-modal inputs (RF, EO/IR, acoustic, cyber, HUMINT), correlates them at the edge with AI/ML, and presents a single, confidence-scored operating picture. Operators see threats ranked by probability, not a fire hose of raw feeds. Decisions compress from minutes to milliseconds.

Why Now? Four Converging Drivers

Enabling Technology: Rugged Edge Compute Built for Mission-Success

Data fusion only works if compute survives the environment it fights in. Systel’s Strike small-form-factor (SFF) edge AI and edge compute solutions bring AI acceleration to the tactical edge while meeting rigorous SWaP and MIL-STD-810/461/1275 requirements:

• Flexible AI horsepower integrates the latest COTS GPUs or AI accelerators, sized to the mission.
• Modular I/O for sensor ingest with the ability to mix-and-match HD-SDI, H.264/H.265, GigE Vision, CANbus, or other interfaces.
• MIL-SPEC environmental ruggedization including advanced thermal design, wide operating temperature range (up to -46C to +65C), high shock/vibration resistance, EMI, vehicle power, sealed against dust and water.
• DevSecOps-ready software stack: container-oriented so new AI models deploy in hours, not depot cycles.

Need more horsepower for aircraft racks or shipboard nodes? Systel’s Wolf rugged rackmount servers scale the same open-architecture building blocks to multi-GPU configurations while maintaining MOSA design principles.

Open by Design

Systel uses a standards-based approach to engineering computing solutions, aligned with DoD MOSA directives. We utilize non-proprietary, widely adopted architectures such as ATX, PCI Express, and COM Express, and industry standard IO protocols and connectors to ensure seamless integration with current and future sensors, radios, and C2 software. You avoid costly NRE, reduce program risk, and keep pace with evolving mission demands.

Practical Payoffs

From fog to overmatch, data fusion produces measurable gains. It merges passive RF with electro-optical feeds to preserve target custody even in GPS-denied fights, correlates acoustic, radar, and optical cues so counter-UAS systems classify drones up to 70 percent faster, and stitches AIS, EO/IR, and SIGINT streams to deliver real-time maritime-domain awareness against gray-zone threats.

Data fusion turns overwhelming sensor noise into actionable insight, transforming seconds into superiority. Systel’s rugged edge-AI computers are fielded today with U.S. and allied forces, helping enable mission success and deliver decision dominance.