XML-BASED TACTICAL CHAT (XTC):
           REQUIREMENTS, CAPABILITIES AND PRELIMINARY PROGRESS

     Don Brutzman, Don McGregor, Daniel A. DeVos and Chin Siong Lee
   with Saundra Amsden, Curtis Blais, Duane Davis, Dimitrios Filiagos
                             and Brian Hittner

                              28 January 2004
                    Technical Report NPS-MV-2004-001
http://www.MovesInstitute.org/xmsf/projects/XTC/XmlTacticalChat2004January28.pdf


	The motivation for pursuing XML-based tactical chat includes the
great potential of this technology and fixing limitations of current chat
programs.  XTC capabilities have the potential to completely upgrade and
restructure all tactical military communications.  The current tools for
military chat include IRC, Yahoo, MSN, AIM, ICQ, and NKO.  None of these
provides the full functionality or interoperability needed in a joint
environment.  Moreover, if a nonproprietary chat protocol is developed,
it can lead to a decision-support environment in which data, text, audio,
and video can be logged, evaluated and managed, all in a Web environment
where no additional specialized software or hardware is needed.

	Chat technology challenges for the military fit into three areas:
tactical, technical, and administrative.  Tactically, there are many ways
chat can be used, but effective practices are not yet defined in procedures
or doctrine.  Joint forces use a myriad of chat programs that don't
interoperate and are usually proprietary.  Technically, many chat programs
are barred by firewalls and lack a robust interface to allow logging and
searching past chats.  From an administrative prospective, plain-text chat
has no structure.  Scheduling and controlling who attends or converses
remains undefined.  Within DoD there is no standard for how, when, and
by whom chats ought to be conducted.

	Possible approaches to these problems include adopting a proprietary
chat system or customizing an open-source implementation.  Proprietary
solutions are costly, do not interoperate well, and are too inflexible
for a technology that is evolving rapidly.  Open-source software can
provide a solution that is adaptable, extensible, quick to implement,
straightforward to maintain, and relatively inexpensive. 

	This report provides a preliminary assessment of XML-based
tactical chat (XTC) using an open-source, open-standards solution.
Promising initial results demonstrate that an XML document can be sent
from a XHTML page in a Web browser to an off-the-shelf Jabber client
via a Web server.  Further, available server and client implementations
can enable a research and development plan for rapid development.
Further work on XTC as part of the Extensible Modeling and Simulation
Framework (XMSF) is justified and needed.