Visible Battle Rhythm

Abstract : Battle rhythms are ubiquitous in military operations, but current methods for implementing them have not kept pace with the changes affecting military organizations. Visual Battle Rhythm (VBR) is a software prototype which updates the battle rhythm process with modern technology and careful information design to improve the synchronization, situational awareness and decision making ability of commanders. Key improvements over current methods include faster coordination across commands crucial for joint and coalition operations, easy distributed editing capabilities, instantaneous updates and saved time. VBR was demonstrated at Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (JWID) 2004 and exercised by the Canadian Joint Operations Group (JOG). Training required less than one hour and in both cases it received excellent evaluations. This paper describes the context and use of VBR and its potential as a deployed operational system.