Howling winds and bone-shattering waves crash against the moonlit shore. Trees bend and uproot from the earth. Power lines snap, and the city plunges into darkness. This narrative is a reality for those who have lived through a hurricane or a similar natural disaster where devastating storms wipe out entire sections of the power grid. With critical infrastructure such as cell towers and internet service provider nodes gone, how can first responders or prepared citizens stay connected to assist rescue operations and inform others about what’s happening in the area?
Enter the Tactical Assault/Awareness Kit (TAK). Over the past decade, you've probably seen photos online of Samsung Galaxy phones used by our military. Usually, you'll see them encased and mounted on their body armor. The app loaded on those devices is known as ATAK, short for Android Tactical Assault Kit.
ATAK allows a military member to view and share geospatial information, such as friendly and enemy positions, danger areas, and casualty reports. The Cursor on Target (CoT) protocol is at the center of TAK, and this feature is used to share information between users. This can include specific target information such as team member locations, route information, sensor data (video feeds from a drone), text messages, or medevac information. The TAK ecosystem includes ATAK for Android, iTAK for Apple iOS, and WinTAK for Microsoft Windows; the latter two systems are oriented primarily toward civilian first responders and may lack some of the features of the original ATAK. In addition, the TAK ecosystem has an extensive list of
