Center For Land Warfare Studies Logo

Home Articles A ‘Big’ Deal – Big Data Analytics

ArticlesCLAWS Focus

A ‘Big’ Deal – Big Data Analytics

By Kanchana RamanujamJanuary 27, 20200941

Changing Security Environment

Actionable intelligence is at the core of success of operations. With the digitisation of the world, not only
have the sources of such intelligence increased, the volume of information has increased too. Without
analysis, this data remains purely information and not intelligence. The changing nature and character of
war have also necessitated understanding of the cultural, technical, and technological landscape of the
area of interest, such as network vulnerabilities, societal taboos and sensitivities, legal loopholes, etc.,
further adding to the demand for data. All this has to done in a timely manner, i.e., time is of utmost
essence.

The myriad sources of data in the Digital Age are social media, mobile handsets, drones, surveillance
systems, transactional applications, etc. In addition, due to multiplicity of sensors, there is a problem of
the same data being recorded multiple times. This has created an information overload. Facebook’s data
warehouse – Hive – contained 300 petabytes of data and generated 4 new petabytes of data every day
even way back in 2014.[1] Hence, there’s a mammoth task of sifting the relevant data from the deluge
of data, as also, making sense of it – something not humanly possible given the time constraints.

Big Data

Given the various sources of data and the rate at which data is being generated, it far surpasses not just
human abilities, but also the capabilities of traditional data processing software to manage/analyse the
data. These voluminous sets of data are called Big Data. It is basically data that is ‘big’!

Big Data is characterised by 4 Vs – Volume, Velocity, Variety, and Veracity. There is a lot of data (volume)
which is ever-increasing and needs to analysed with time-constraints (velocity). The data is in different
formats from different sources (variety) and its authenticity is not established (veracity).
Specifically from the military point-of-view, three sources of big data have been mentioned by Haridas.
[2] These are –

Machine-generated data

This includes data collected by, inter alia, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Battle-Field Surveillance Radars,
satellites, and sensors.

Human-generated data

This includes the data from the social media accounts of people/populations of interest and from the
bio-sensors attached to soldiers.

Business- and third-party-generated data

This includes data from online, electronic transactions, and data related to demography, finance, and
meteorology.

Big Data can be examined to uncover hidden patterns, correlations, trends, and other insights – a
complex process called Big Data Analytics. Analytics is of the following three kinds –

Descriptive Analytics

This involves the analysis of past data from multiple sources and condensing it into useful insight and
information. It explains what has happened and can be used to establish trends.

Predictive Analytics

This involves analysis of data to predict future trends. Predictive analytics is probabilistic in nature and
only presents the likelihood of an event occurring.

Prescriptive Analytics

As the name suggests, Predictive Analytics is concerned with ‘prescribing’ the courses of action and the
probable impact of choosing a particular course of action on future trends. The course of action
suggested could be to eliminate a future problem or to capitalise on a favourable trend.
Going ‘Big’ in the Military

Big Data Analytics has immense applicability in the military, especially in the fields of decision-making
and providing (actionable) intelligence. Some of them are mentioned below –

Given the information overload, Big Data Analytics will help in providing the security personnel with
timely and relevant information from various sources.

As ‘target-designation and entanglement’ gets increasingly automated, there is a need for data to be
transmitted and analysed in near real-time – something possible with Big Data Analytics.

Timely updation and analysis of data will also greatly improve situational awareness by providing a
precise Common Operational Picture, thereby aiding in decision-making.

Big Data Analytics could also be exploited in fields such as fuel and ammunition supply, monitoring vital
statistics of troops in terms of heart-rate, oxygen saturation, etc.

Experts have suggested creating a C4ISR system using techniques of Big Data Analytics, containing
codified knowledge of experts, which could help the troops on the battlefield.[3]

In the field of military cybersecurity, inconsistencies in active networks can be detected and steps can be
taken to address the same with the help of descriptive and predictive analytics. Experts have also
suggested the possibility of creating ‘autonomous defensive positions’ within cyberspace using Big Data
Analytics, coupled with other techniques such as Machine Learning.[4]

In the field of energy conservation, experts have suggested employing data analytics to study the energy
consumption patterns of the military. This could then used for improving energy efficiency through, for
e.g., micro-grid design.[5]

The Way Ahead for India

Project Insight, use of geo-tagging to identify shell companies, etc. are examples which prove that India
has successfully been using data mining techniques. The challenge, however, is digitisation of data in all
fields. The same holds for the Armed Forces too where there is scope for extensive digitisation. Even in
areas where data has been digitised, the extent of digitisation is below desired levels. In MH and ECHS
services, for e.g., though the record of the date of previous visit and the type of medical aid sought is
recorded, a detailed long-time history of the patient and the medical condition is not available.

Given the applications Big Data Analytics has in various fields such as defence, telecommunications,
healthcare, IT, etc. this field has to be encouraged as a national priority. We required data that is
digitised and able to ‘speak’ to each other.
Some of the ways in which Big Data and Data Analytics could be used in the Armed Forces are –

The Indian Armed Forces need to have a digital repository of the health statistics of its personnel
containing information such as past medical conditions and specific vulnerabilities. Needless to say, a
robust data-protection mechanism should be in force for guarding such sensitive data.

In addition, the Indian Armed Forces, especially the Indian Army, need to have a specific health record
for the personnel deployed in extreme weather conditions. Soldiers posted in desert areas, both hot and
cold, need to undergo a detailed medical examination when they return from their deployments as well,
thus giving a clear picture of the effect of such deployments on the heath of troops. This data could be
used to better look after the troops.

A deployment-area-wise and/or season-wise break-up of general troop health could be used to create a
‘medical map’ which would be helpful in taking adequate precautions.

Data Analytics has immense utility in the Ordnance Corps where having an integrated, real-time picture
of active equipment-/vehicle-holdings at all levels is required. Additionally, RFID-tagging of imported
vehicles and equipment at the point of offloading will give information regarding its location when the
need arises.

Using Big Data Analytics, the security forces can carry out ‘sentiment analysis’ on social media platforms
to study the probability of mass mobilisation of people during volatile security situations. In addition,
such sentiment analysis could give useful insight for psychological operations in the cyber-space, if the
security apparatus of the country so desires to do.

References:

[1] Wiener, J. and Bronson, N. (2014). Facebook’s Top Open Data Problems. [online] Facebook Research.
Available at: https://research.fb.com/blog/2014/10/facebook-s-top-open-data-problems/ [Accessed 3
Jan. 2020].

[2] Brunet, J., & Claudon, N. (2015). Military and Big Data Revolution. Application of Big Data for
National Security, 81–107. Doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-801967-2.00007-0

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.

TAGSTechnology

Previous article

Blockchain & China’s Quest for Financial Dominance

Next article

Pakistan’s Nuclear Sabre-rattling: Tactical Nuclear Weapons are Unusable during War

Kanchana Ramanujam

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Articles

Stabilising Afghanistan: Iran Factor

Articles

Extrapolating Pegasus attacks into Cyberwarfare domain: Offense-Defence Equalized?

Articles

Karbi Anglong Peace Accord: Cordoning Security to Enhancing Connectivity

WEB UPDATES

[NEW] Field Marshal Manekshaw Essay Competition 2021-2022

[VACANCY] Post for Director CLAWS

STAY CONNECTED

3,908FansLIKE

410FollowersFOLLOW

8,498FollowersFOLLOW

1,090SubscribersSUBSCRIBE

LATEST ARTICLE
China’s Military Diplomacy in New Era and Implications for India

Lt Gen D S Rana AVSM, YSM, SM – October 14, 20210

Spring 2021

Centre for Land Warfare Studies – October 12, 20210

Field Marshal Manekshaw Essay Competition on the theme National Security & Strategic Studies 2021-
22

Essay Centre for Land Warfare Studies – October 7, 20210

Center For Land Warfare Studies Logo

ABOUT US

The Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, India is an independent think tank on strategic
studies and land warfare. The mandate of CLAWS covers national security issues, conventional military
operations and sub-conventional warfare.

Disclaimer: The views expressed and suggestions made in the article are solely of the author(s) /
editor(s) in their personal capacity and do not have any official endorsement of CLAWS, Indian Army or
the Government of India. Attributability of content lies purely with the author(s) / editor(s).

FOLLOW US

Site MapTendersAdvertise With UsTerms of UsePrivacy PolicyOther Think Tanks

© 2008-2020 Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS).