On the battlefield, the speed at which data can be analysed and delivered to a commander can make the difference between victory and defeat.

In the realm of information warfare, that remains just as true.

The problem with digital information is that there’s so much of it. Identifying what’s relevant and timely, then presenting it in a digestible form, is a challenge.

Researchers at Adelaide University and the Defence Science and Technology Group have developed an on-premises software platform called INSIGHT designed to address these challenges.

Nic Barbotin, INSIGHT’s lead software engineer at Adelaide University, said large volumes of data from online news, social media feeds, operational reports and sensor outputs are continuously ingested.

“This platform finds the most important information from multiple data sources and brings it together into a cohesive view for analysts,” Mr Barbotin said.

For example, an adversary could seize on an incident during a major military exercise or operation and amplify it through a coordinated disinformation campaign targeting the ADF. 

'Previously, you could spend hours putting a presentation together, only to show it to a commander and find it was already out of date or even irrelevant.'

“If they're trying to spread disinformation, the ADF can see the scale and depth and be like, ‘No, we need to correct this’, because it becomes a real problem if people start to believe it,” Mr Barbotin said.

The speed at which a decision-maker can understand a situation and determine a course of action is what makes INSIGHT powerful.

The platform generates a PowerPoint-style presentation that updates in real time as situations evolve, allowing presenters to interact with and delve deeper into the data during a briefing, investigate information gaps and answer questions as they arise.

“Previously, you could spend hours putting a presentation together, only to show it to a commander and find it was already out of date or even irrelevant,” Mr Barbotin said.

The core strength of INSIGHT is its ability to visualise data, revealing how people, places and events all connect.

“It’s a visualisation program, so as long as there's data, we can represent it,” Mr Barbotin said.