A-to-Z reference of acronyms and terms across electromagnetic spectrum operations, counter-UAS, sensor fusion, space situational awareness, JADC2, counter threat finance, entity resolution, multi-domain command and control, wargaming, and defense operations. Each entry links to the relevant technical reference or capability page on this site.
A
AAR - Android Archive. A library package format used to distribute the ATAK plugin SDK and build plugins against it. Plugins are version-locked to the ATAK build they target. See What is ATAK?.
ABMS - Advanced Battle Management System. The U.S. Air Force's contribution to JADC2. ABMS is a family of systems - not a single platform - designed to connect sensors, shooters, and C2 nodes across all domains via a shared data fabric.
ADS-B - Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast. A cooperative surveillance technology in which aircraft broadcast their GPS-derived position, altitude, velocity, and identification. ADS-B is mandated for most controlled airspace but trivially spoofed on non-cooperative threats. See What is Counter-UAS?.
AFDP 3-85 - Air Force Doctrine Publication 3-85, Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (December 2023). The USAF's doctrinal publication for EMSO, replacing AFDP 3-51. See EMSO FAQ.
AFRL - Air Force Research Laboratory. The origin of ATAK before it moved to the TAK Product Center. See What is ATAK?.
Air Defense - The coordinated employment of sensors, weapons, and C2 to detect, track, identify, and defeat airborne threats including manned aircraft, missiles, and unmanned aerial systems. See What is Counter-UAS?.
AIS - Automatic Identification System. A cooperative maritime tracking system required by international law on vessels over 300 gross tonnage. Broadcasts position, heading, speed, MMSI, and voyage data on VHF frequencies. Useful for maritime domain awareness but can be spoofed, disabled, or simply turned off by non-cooperative vessels. See COP capabilities.
AML - Anti-Money Laundering. The body of law, regulation, and practice aimed at preventing the disguising of illicit proceeds as legitimate funds. The U.S. foundation is the Bank Secrecy Act, modernized by the AML Act of 2020. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
Anti-Radiation Missile - A missile designed to home on the electromagnetic emissions of a radiating target, typically a radar. ARM employment is a form of Electronic Attack (EA). See What is EMSO?.
ASAT - Anti-Satellite Weapon. A weapon system designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites, including direct-ascent kinetic kill vehicles, co-orbital interceptors, directed energy weapons, and cyber/electronic attack against satellite ground segments. See What is SSA?.
ASTM F3411 - The standard defining Remote ID broadcast message formats for UAS. Published by ASTM International and referenced by FAA Part 89. See What is Counter-UAS?.
ATAK - Android Team Awareness Kit (civilian) / Android Tactical Assault Kit (military). A geospatial situational awareness application for Android devices used by military, law enforcement, and first responders. The most capable client in the TAK ecosystem with the widest plugin support. Empyrean integrates with TAK/ATAK via CoT feeds. See What is ATAK? and Integrations.
ATAK-CIV - ATAK Civilian Build. The civilian release of ATAK, export-classified EAR99 and broadly available after a free TAK.gov registration. The starting point for most commercial and first-responder work at the unclassified tier. See What is ATAK?.
ATAK-MIL - ATAK Military Build. The military release of ATAK, requiring a verified government or defense-contractor account. See What is ATAK?.
B
BDA - Battle Damage Assessment. The evaluation of effects achieved against a target by offensive actions. In wargaming, BDA resolves per-subsystem damage accumulation across typed subsystems. See Simulation & Wargaming.
Beneficial Owner - The natural person who ultimately owns or controls an entity, as distinct from a nominee, agent, or registered front. Resolving beneficial ownership is how you see through shell companies to the actual controlling person. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
BFT - Blue Force Tracking. The tracking and display of friendly force positions. BFT provides the blue side of the COP. See What is a COP? and What is ATAK?.
BLOS - Beyond Line of Sight. Communications reach extending past direct line of sight, often via HF radio or SATCOM. In the TAK ecosystem, BLOS links connect remote ATAK clients to their server over long distances. See What is ATAK?.
Blocking - In entity resolution, the technique of grouping plausibly related records before comparison so that expensive matching runs only within groups, making resolution computationally tractable at scale. See What is Entity Resolution?.
Blast-Fragmentation - A warhead kill mechanism that combines explosive blast overpressure with high-velocity metal fragments. SM-6 uses a blast-fragmentation warhead with a proximity fuze. Contrasts with hit-to-kill mechanisms. See Simulation & Wargaming.
C
C2 - Command and Control. The exercise of authority and direction by a commander over assigned and attached forces. In JADC2, C2 extends across all domains with sensor-to-shooter connectivity.
C4ISR - Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance. The umbrella term for the systems and processes that enable military decision-making.
CAC - Common Access Card. A DoD smart card for identity verification and PKI authentication. WebTAK is the only TAK client that supports CAC-based login. See What is ATAK?.
CAGE Code - Commercial and Government Entity Code. A five-character identifier assigned by the Defense Logistics Agency to entities doing business with the federal government. Empyrean's CAGE code is 1AL3N.
CBRN - Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear. A hazard category addressed by specialized ATAK plugins and sensor integration. See What is ATAK?.
CEC - Cooperative Engagement Capability. A U.S. Navy system that enables distributed fire control by sharing radar data between ships and aircraft, enabling engage-on-remote operations. See Simulation & Wargaming.
CEMA - Cyber Electromagnetic Activities. The integration and synchronization of cyberspace operations and electronic warfare in support of operations. CEMA recognizes that cyberspace and the EMS are physically coupled. See What is EMSO?.
CFT - Countering the Financing of Terrorism. Measures to detect and prevent funds reaching terrorist actors. Part of the AML/CFT compliance framework governed by FATF. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
CivTAK - Civilian TAK. Common name for the civilian ATAK build (ATAK-CIV) and its community. Export-classified EAR99 and broadly available. See What is ATAK?.
CME - Coronal Mass Ejection. A large-scale expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the solar corona. CMEs can degrade GPS signals, induce satellite electronics errors, and expand the upper atmosphere enough to change LEO drag profiles. See What is SSA?.
CONEMP - Concept of Employment. How a capability is employed in an operation; used interchangeably with CONUSE. See What is ATAK?.
CONOPS - Concept of Operations. How a force intends to accomplish a mission overall: the scheme, phases, roles, and desired end state. See What is ATAK?.
CONUSE - Concept of Use. How a specific capability or kit is used within an operation: who carries it, on what device, over what comms, configured how. A serious ATAK rollout writes a CONUSE. See What is ATAK?.
Conjunction Assessment - The process of predicting close approaches between space objects using orbital data, assessing collision probability, and recommending avoidance maneuvers. See What is SSA?.
COP - Common Operational Picture. A single, fused display of relevant operational information shared by multiple commands and agencies. A real COP correlates multi-sensor data into unified tracks with identity provenance. See What is a COP?.
CoT - Cursor on Target. An XML-based messaging protocol for sharing geospatial information between military systems. Originally developed by MITRE, CoT is the lingua franca of the TAK ecosystem. Empyrean's CoT parser ships atoms, bits, routes, shapes, remote resources, and file/URL ingest. See Integrations.
CTA - Corporate Transparency Act. 2021 U.S. law creating a beneficial-ownership reporting regime administered by FinCEN. The requirement was narrowed to foreign reporting companies in March 2025. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
CTF - Counter Threat Finance. The discipline of detecting, mapping, and disrupting the money that lets adversaries operate. Codified in DoDD 5205.14 and executed under JP 3-25, Countering Threat Networks. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
CTN - Countering Threat Networks. Joint doctrine (JP 3-25) for identifying, neutralizing, disrupting, or destroying threat networks, treating finance as one critical function that sustains them. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
CTP - Common Tactical Picture. A subset of the COP focused on the tactical level, showing tracks, engagement status, and weapon-target pairing within a specific area of operations. See What is a COP?.
C-UAS - Counter-UAS. The doctrine, technology, and tradecraft of detecting, tracking, identifying, and neutralizing hostile or unauthorized unmanned aerial systems. Operates across the Sense - Make Sense - Act continuum. See What is Counter-UAS?.
D
Data Association - The process of determining which sensor detections correspond to which tracked objects. Optimal global assignment outperforms greedy matching in dense, multi-sensor environments. See What is Sensor Fusion?.
DDIL - Denied, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited. Communications environments where connectivity is unreliable. Systems designed for DDIL must operate with full capability at the edge without persistent cloud access. See What is JADC2?.
Debarment - A federal determination barring an entity from government contracts and assistance. The procurement-world cousin of sanctions; an actor barred from federal money is often the same actor a network is trying to route money through. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
DEM - Digital Elevation Model. A 3D representation of terrain surface. Used for terrain masking, line-of-sight analysis, and RF propagation modeling. Empyrean supports SRTM and custom DEM sources with 2.5D Z-axis visualization. See COP capabilities.
DEW - Directed Energy Weapon. A weapon system using focused electromagnetic energy - high-energy lasers (HEL) or high-power microwave (HPM) - to damage or destroy targets. Offers effectively infinite magazine depth and cost-per-shot measured in cents to single-digit dollars. See What is Counter-UAS?.
DF - Direction Finding. The process of determining the bearing to a radio frequency emitter. Multi-sensor DF networks (such as KrakenSDR arrays) enable geolocation through triangulation. See What is EMSO?.
DSP - Digital Signal Processing. The mathematical manipulation of digitized signals to extract information. In the EMSO context, DSP enables automated emitter classification, modulation recognition, and signal characterization. See EMSO capabilities.
DTED - Digital Terrain Elevation Data. Elevation data used for terrain analysis, line-of-sight calculations, and viewshed work in ATAK and other geospatial systems. See What is ATAK?.
E
EA - Electronic Attack. The use of electromagnetic energy, directed energy, or anti-radiation weapons to degrade, neutralize, or destroy adversary combat capability. Includes jamming, spoofing, meaconing, and DEW employment. EA is considered a form of fires. See What is EMSO?.
EAR99 - Export Administration Regulations, classification 99. An export category for broadly exportable items, covering ATAK-CIV. Items classified EAR99 are available to most people and countries except those under specific sanctions. See What is ATAK?.
ECEF - Earth-Centered, Earth-Fixed. A Cartesian coordinate system with its origin at the Earth's center of mass, rotating with the Earth. Used as an intermediate reference frame when converting satellite positions from TEME to geodetic coordinates for ground-track plotting. See What is SSA?.
Egmont Group - The international body through which national Financial Intelligence Units exchange financial intelligence. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
EKF - Extended Kalman Filter. A nonlinear extension of the Kalman filter that linearizes the system dynamics around the current state estimate. Commonly used in target tracking for maneuvering objects. See What is Sensor Fusion?.
EMBM - Electromagnetic Battle Management. The dynamic monitoring, assessing, planning, and directing of electromagnetic spectrum operations in support of the commander's scheme of maneuver. The C2 layer of EMSO. See What is EMSO?.
EMBM-J - Electromagnetic Battle Management - Joint. A DISA-managed program providing common EMSO situational awareness and C2 to combatant commands and JTF JEMSO cells. Initial capability released December 2023. See EMSO FAQ.
EMCON - Emissions Control. The selective control of electromagnetic emissions to minimize the probability of detection by adversary sensors. EMCON planning starts with understanding what your own systems radiate. See What is EMSO?.
EMI - Electromagnetic Interference. Any electromagnetic disturbance that degrades, obstructs, or interrupts the performance of electronic equipment. EMI can be intentional (jamming) or unintentional (friendly system interference). See What is EMSO?.
EMOE - Electromagnetic Operational Environment. The composite of all electromagnetic activity - friendly, adversary, neutral, and natural - within an operational area. See What is EMSO?.
EMS Superiority - The degree of control over the electromagnetic spectrum that permits operations without prohibitive interference from adversary EMS activity. See EMSO FAQ.
EMSO - Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations. The military discipline of exploiting, attacking, protecting, and managing the electromagnetic spectrum across every domain. Encompasses EW, spectrum management, CEMA, and EMBM. See What is EMSO?.
EMSO CFT - EMSO Cross-Functional Team. The DoD body established under the 2018 NDS to accelerate the transition from legacy EW to a unified EMSO enterprise. See EMSO FAQ.
Entity Resolution - The process of determining whether different records refer to the same real-world entity (person, company, vessel, aircraft). The load-bearing capability for sanctions screening, beneficial-ownership resolution, and network discovery. See What is Entity Resolution?.
EO/IR - Electro-Optical / Infrared. Sensor modalities that detect visible light and thermal radiation respectively. EO/IR sensors provide visual identification, classification, and tracking. Empyrean integrates EO/IR camera feeds with edge-based object and person detection. See Integrations.
EOB - Electronic Order of Battle. The assessed inventory of electromagnetic emitters in an operational area: what is radiating, on what frequencies, with what waveform characteristics, from what location, and associated with what platform or unit. See What is EMSO?.
EP - Electronic Protection. Actions taken to protect personnel, facilities, and equipment from the effects of friendly or enemy electronic warfare. Includes frequency agility, spread-spectrum, EMCON, hardening, and shielding. See What is EMSO?.
ES - Electronic Support. The subdivision of EW involving actions to search for, intercept, identify, and locate sources of electromagnetic energy for immediate operational use. See What is EMSO?.
EUD - End User Device. The phone, tablet, or laptop running a TAK client. In TAK programs the EUDs are usually the largest line item, making device selection a real planning decision. See What is ATAK?.
EW - Electronic Warfare. Military action involving the use of electromagnetic and directed energy to control the EMS or to attack the enemy. Comprises EA, ES, and EP. See What is EMSO?.
EWPMT - Electronic Warfare Planning and Management Tool. The U.S. Army's software for EW mission planning, spectrum management, and EMS situational awareness. Being modernized to EWPMT-X on the TAK framework. See EMSO FAQ.
F
F3EAD - Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze, Disseminate. The targeting cycle applied to network and financial exploitation in counter-threat-finance operations. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
FAAD-C2 - Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control. The U.S. Army's air defense C2 system, selected as the interim C2 system for counter-small-UAS operations. See What is Counter-UAS?.
FAA Part 89 - The Federal Aviation Administration rule establishing Remote Identification requirements for UAS operating in U.S. airspace. Requires broadcast of drone position, operator location, and airframe type per ASTM F3411. See What is Counter-UAS?.
FATF - Financial Action Task Force. The intergovernmental standard-setter for AML/CFT whose 40 Recommendations define the global anti-money-laundering framework. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
Fellegi-Sunter Model - The foundational 1969 probabilistic framework for record linkage, treating matching as evidence-weighted classification under uncertainty with interpretable scores and explicit decision thresholds. See What is Entity Resolution?.
FinCEN - Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The U.S. Financial Intelligence Unit within the Treasury Department, receiving and analyzing Bank Secrecy Act reporting and disseminating to law enforcement. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
Force Protection - Preventive measures taken to mitigate hostile actions against personnel, resources, facilities, and critical information. See CUAS & Force Protection.
FPV - First Person View. A UAS piloting technique where the operator flies via a live video feed from an onboard camera. FPV drones modified for munition delivery are a primary threat class in modern C-UAS. See What is Counter-UAS?.
FtM - FollowTheMoney. An open ontology for persons, organizations, and their relationships used across the open investigative-data ecosystem. Enables interoperable exchange between OpenSanctions, ICIJ, Aleph, and operational platforms. See What is Entity Resolution?.
Fusion Zone - A geographically defined area within which sensor data is correlated and fused into unified tracks. Zone-scoping prevents cross-contamination of track state between operationally distinct areas. See Fusion & Decision Engine.
G
GaN - Gallium Nitride. A semiconductor material used in high-power microwave systems including the Leonidas HPM. GaN enables high power density at relatively low operating temperatures without vacuum tubes or coolants.
GeoChat - Geospatial Chat. ATAK's map-aware text chat system, carried as CoT messages. Allows location-contextual communication between TAK clients. See What is ATAK?.
GeoPDF - Georeferenced PDF. A PDF with embedded geographic coordinates, usable as an overlay in ATAK and other GIS applications. See What is ATAK?.
GIS - Geographic Information System. A framework for capturing, managing, and analyzing geospatial data. Empyrean's COP is built on a GIS foundation with support for multiple tile providers and overlay types. See COP capabilities.
GLEIF - Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation. The body that maintains the ISO 17442 Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) system - 3.3 million legal entities and 474,000 ownership relationships used for corporate ownership resolution. See Threat Finance & Entity Resolution.
GPS - Global Positioning System. The U.S.-operated satellite navigation system. GPS is a spectrum-dependent system vulnerable to jamming and spoofing - a critical EMS dependency across every domain. See What is EMSO?.
GRG - Gridded Reference Graphic. A labeled grid overlay for buildings and objectives, used in ATAK for tactical planning and coordination. See What is ATAK?.
Greedy Matching - A data association approach that assigns detections to tracks in order of proximity, committing each assignment before evaluating the global optimum. Inferior to optimal global assignment in dense multi-sensor environments. See What is Sensor Fusion?.
H
HAE - Height Above Ellipsoid. The vertical reference used in a CoT point's position data. See What is ATAK?.
HEL - High-Energy Laser. A directed energy weapon using a focused laser beam to damage or destroy targets. HELs engage at the speed of light, eliminating closing velocity and guidance bandwidth constraints that limit kinetic interceptors. See What is Counter-UAS?.
HF - High Frequency. A radio band (3-30 MHz) used for beyond-line-of-sight links, often over STANAG 5066 between TAK servers or between a remote client and its server. See What is ATAK?.
HGV - Hypersonic Glide Vehicle. A maneuverable reentry vehicle that travels at Mach 5+ on a depressed trajectory within the atmosphere. HGVs compress engagement timelines and challenge terminal kinetic defense. See Simulation & Wargaming.
Hit-to-Kill - A warhead mechanism requiring direct body-to-body impact between interceptor and target. Effective against subsonic and supersonic threats but challenged by hypersonic closing velocities where guidance bandwidth limits miss distance reduction. See Simulation & Wargaming.
HPM - High-Power Microwave. A directed energy weapon using focused microwave radiation to disrupt or destroy electronic systems. HPM is effective against drone swarms because it attacks the flight controller electronics regardless of command link type - including fiber-optic guided UAS. See What is Counter-UAS?.
I
IADS - Integrated Air Defense System. A networked system of radars, SAMs, C2 nodes, and fighter aircraft coordinated to provide layered air defense. See What is Counter-UAS?.
Identity Provenance - The tracked lineage of how a fused entity's identity was established - which sensors contributed, whether identity was claimed, observed, or inferred, and how confidence has evolved. See What is Sensor Fusion?.
IFPC - Indirect Fire Protection Capability. The U.S. Army's umbrella program for short-range air defense, encompassing kinetic interceptors, high-energy lasers, and HPM (IFPC-HPM via Leonidas). See What is Counter-UAS?.
ISA - International Standard Atmosphere. A reference model of atmospheric properties (temperature, pressure, density) as a function of altitude. Used in flight dynamics, RF propagation modeling, and engagement simulation. See Simulation & Wargaming.
ITU - International Telecommunication Union. The UN agency responsible for global radio frequency allocation and coordination. ITU frequency filings are used in SSA/SDA to characterize satellite payloads. See What is SSA?.
J
JADC2 - Joint All-Domain Command and Control. The DoD concept for connecting sensors, shooters, and C2 nodes across all domains into a unified decision architecture. See What is JADC2?.
JEMSO - Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations. The joint-level planning and execution framework for EMSO, integrating component-level plans into a unified JEMSO plan. See What is EMSO?.
JEMSOC - Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Cell. The staff element within a JFC headquarters responsible for JEMSO planning, coordination, and execution oversight. See EMSO FAQ.
JIATF - Joint Interagency Task Force. Interagency constructs (e.g., JIATF-South, JIATF-West) that fuse military, law-enforcement, intelligence, and partner-nation effort against transnational threats. The template for CTF interagency fusion. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
JP 3-14 - Joint Publication 3-14, Joint Space Operations. The joint-level doctrinal publication for space operations. Defines SSA and SDA as foundational space mission areas. See What is SSA?.
JP 3-25 - Joint Publication 3-25, Countering Threat Networks. Joint doctrine for identifying, neutralizing, disrupting, or destroying threat networks. The doctrinal anchor for counter threat finance operations. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
JP 3-85 - Joint Publication 3-85, Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (May 2020). The joint-level doctrinal foundation for EMSO. See EMSO FAQ.
JRFL - Joint Restricted Frequency List. The list of protected frequencies that must not be jammed or interfered with during operations. A critical spectrum management coordination product. See What is EMSO?.
JWT - JSON Web Token. A token-based authentication option for TAK federation, enabling token-based trust between federated servers. See What is ATAK?.
K
Kalman Filter - A recursive state estimation algorithm that predicts an object's future state from noisy sensor measurements. The EKF and UKF handle nonlinear dynamics common in tracking. See What is Sensor Fusion?.
Kessler Syndrome - A theoretical cascade in which collisions between space objects generate debris that causes further collisions, progressively rendering orbital regimes unusable. See What is SSA?.
Kingery-Bulmash - Empirical polynomial model for predicting blast overpressure from explosive detonations as a function of scaled distance. Used in wargaming engagement resolution for warhead damage assessment. See Simulation & Wargaming.
KML / KMZ - Keyhole Markup Language / zipped KML. A vector and ground-overlay format for geospatial data, usable as overlays in ATAK and other mapping systems. See What is ATAK?.
KYC - Know Your Customer. The practice of verifying customer identity as part of financial due diligence. A foundation of AML compliance that CTF practitioners both draw on and look past. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
L
LEI - Legal Entity Identifier. The ISO 17442 standard global identifier for legal entities, maintained by GLEIF. A 20-character alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies entities participating in financial transactions. See What is Entity Resolution?.
LEO - Low Earth Orbit. Orbital regime from approximately 200 km to 2,000 km altitude. Most commercial imaging, communications constellation, and ISR satellites operate in LEO. Objects in LEO experience atmospheric drag and eventually reenter. See What is SSA?.
Link 16 - A military tactical data link using the J-series message standard. Provides jam-resistant, encrypted, high-capacity communications among military platforms. Empyrean supports Link 16 / J-series message ingest. See Integrations.
LoRa - Long Range. A low-power radio modulation underpinning Meshtastic mesh networks. LoRa radios provide low-cost off-grid connectivity for ATAK via the Meshtastic plugin. See What is ATAK?.
LOS - Line of Sight. An unobstructed path between two points. LOS analysis - using terrain data (DEM) and atmospheric models - determines sensor coverage, communications reach, and weapon engagement envelopes. See COP capabilities.
M
MANET - Mobile Ad-hoc Network. A self-configuring wireless mesh network where nodes can move freely. MANET radios (such as Meshtastic, goTenna, Silvus, and Persistent Systems Wave Relay) enable communications in DDIL environments without fixed infrastructure. See Integrations and What is ATAK?.
Marti - The TAK Server API that handles device profiles, mission management, and data-package distribution. Named components include certificate enrollment and WebTAK serving. See What is ATAK?.
MBTiles - Map Tiles Container. A tiled map storage format used for offline and cached imagery in ATAK and other mapping systems. The backbone of air-gapped and field operations. See What is ATAK?.
Meaconing - The interception and rebroadcast of navigation signals - typically GPS - to deceive receivers about their position. A form of Electronic Attack. See What is EMSO?.
Meshtastic - An open-source, long-range mesh networking protocol using LoRa radio. Empyrean integrates Meshtastic as a tactical network transport. See Integrations.
MHT - Multi-Hypothesis Tracking. A tracking algorithm that maintains multiple competing association hypotheses simultaneously rather than committing to a single best match. See What is Sensor Fusion?.
MIL-STD-2525 - The U.S. military standard for common warfighting symbology. Defines the symbol identification codes (SIDCs) used to represent entities on operational displays. Empyrean supports MIL-STD-2525C and 2525D with dynamic SIDC generation from fused identity. See What is a COP?.
MMSI - Maritime Mobile Service Identity. A nine-digit number used to identify a ship, coast station, or group of stations in maritime radio communications and AIS. See COP capabilities.
Monte Carlo Simulation - A computational method that uses repeated random sampling to obtain numerical results and characterize uncertainty. Empyrean's wargaming engine uses Monte Carlo runs to establish statistical confidence in engagement outcomes. See Simulation & Wargaming.
N
NAICS - North American Industry Classification System. The standard used by federal agencies to classify business establishments. Empyrean's NAICS code is 541715 (Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences).
NIFC-CA - Naval Integrated Fire Control - Counter Air. The U.S. Navy's concept for extending the engagement envelope by using remote sensor data (typically from E-2D Hawkeye) to guide shipboard weapons against targets beyond organic radar range. See Simulation & Wargaming.
NORAD - North American Aerospace Defense Command. The U.S.-Canadian binational organization that provides aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning. NORAD assigns catalog IDs to tracked space objects. See What is SSA?.
NOTAM - Notice to Air Missions (formerly Notice to Airmen). A notice containing information essential to personnel involved in flight operations. Empyrean's Air Intelligence tab surfaces NOTAMs alongside TFRs and NASR data. See COP capabilities.
O
OCSF - Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework. An open-source schema for normalizing cybersecurity event data. Empyrean's planned Cyber Operations capability will use OCSF-native ingest. See Cyber Operations.
OFAC - Office of Foreign Assets Control. The Treasury office administering U.S. sanctions programs and the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List. The primary U.S. sanctions authority. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
Optimal Global Assignment - A data association method that evaluates all possible detection-to-track assignments simultaneously and selects the globally optimal solution (typically via the Hungarian algorithm or auction methods). Superior to greedy matching in dense, multi-sensor environments. See Fusion & Decision Engine.
OSINT - Open-Source Intelligence. Intelligence derived from publicly available sources including social media, news, commercial databases, academic publications, and government records. See Narrative Intelligence.
OTH-Gold - Over-the-Horizon Gold. A U.S. Navy message format for reporting and sharing tracks in the maritime domain. Empyrean supports OTH-Gold ingest. See Integrations.
OWA - One-Way Attack Drone. A UAS designed to fly a single mission ending in impact with its target. The Shahed/Geran family is the representative example. See What is Counter-UAS?.
P
Pattern of Life - The observed behavioral baseline of an entity over time - its typical movements, emissions, routines, and deviations from them. In SDA, building pattern of life for satellites enables detection of anomalous maneuvers. In narrative intelligence, pattern of life reveals coordinated campaign behaviors. See What is SSA?.
PEP - Politically Exposed Person. An individual entrusted with a prominent public function, along with close associates and family, carrying elevated corruption and influence risk. PEP status is a risk flag, not an accusation. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
Playing Card - In the Empyrean Wargaming Engine, a playing card is the data model that defines an entity's physical, sensor, weapon, and behavioral characteristics. Each playing card is a version-controlled YAML file with per-field source attribution. See Simulation & Wargaming.
PostGIS - Spatial extension for PostgreSQL. The spatial database extension TAK Server uses on top of PostgreSQL for geospatial data storage and querying. See What is ATAK?.
Proportional Navigation - A missile guidance law in which commanded acceleration is proportional to the rate of change of the line-of-sight angle to the target. The standard guidance law for most air-defense interceptors. See Simulation & Wargaming.
PSIX - Port State Information Exchange. The USCG maritime registry providing vessel registration, inspection and detention history, COTP orders, and identity data. Used for maritime vessel enrichment and risk scoring. See Threat Finance & Entity Resolution.
Project Overmatch - The U.S. Navy's contribution to JADC2, focused on connecting naval platforms into a unified network for distributed maritime operations.
R
QUIC - Quick UDP Internet Connections. A transport protocol supported by newer TAK servers alongside SSL/TLS, offering improved connection performance and reliability. See What is ATAK?.
RCS - Radar Cross Section. A measure of how detectable an object is by radar, expressed in square meters. Detection range scales with the fourth root of RCS - a 0.01 m2 target is detected at roughly 31.6% the range of a 1.0 m2 reference. See Simulation & Wargaming.
Remote ID - A broadcast identification system for UAS mandated by FAA Part 89 (ASTM F3411). Transmits drone position, operator location, and airframe type. Useful when compliant; trivially spoofed on non-cooperative threats. See What is Counter-UAS?.
RHEL - Red Hat Enterprise Linux. A common Linux distribution for hosting TAK Server and other enterprise defense applications. See What is ATAK?.
RF Propagation Modeling - Physics-based prediction of how radio frequency signals travel through the environment, accounting for terrain, atmosphere, frequency, and antenna characteristics. See EMSO capabilities.
RPO - Rendezvous and Proximity Operations. Deliberate maneuvering of one spacecraft to approach and operate near another. A key counterspace concern - the same equipment used for inspection and repair can also be used for seizure or damage. See What is SSA?.
RTSP - Real-Time Streaming Protocol. A network protocol for controlling streaming media. Empyrean uses RTSP for ingesting live video feeds from UAS platforms including Skydio and DJI. See Integrations.
RTL-SDR - A low-cost software-defined radio using realtek RTL2832U-based USB dongles. Empyrean Skywatch is a first-party RTL-SDR integration for passive RF detection. See Integrations.
S
S2AS - Spectrum Situational Awareness System. A dedicated EMS monitoring system that integrates with EWPMT-X for real-time electromagnetic environment awareness and EMCON support. See EMSO FAQ.
SAM / UEI - System for Award Management / Unique Entity Identifier. The federal government's system for entity registration. Empyrean's UEI is LBPHWNFT2R25.
SAPIENT - A NATO-standardized architecture (STANREC 4869) for autonomous sensor integration in C-UAS systems. Defines interfaces for sensor nodes to communicate detection and track data to a decision-making layer. See What is Counter-UAS?.
SDA - Space Domain Awareness. The effective identification, characterization, and understanding of any factor associated with the space domain - including who owns a satellite, what it is doing, and whether its behavior is anomalous. The broader successor term to SSA. See What is SSA?.
SDN List - Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. OFAC's primary sanctions list designating persons, entities, vessels, and aircraft with which U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
SDP 3-100 - Space Domain Publication 3-100, Space Domain Awareness (November 2023). The U.S. Space Force's doctrinal publication defining SSA and SDA. See What is SSA?.
SDP 3-104 - Space Domain Publication 3-104, Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (September 2025). The Space Force's EMSO doctrine covering EMS operations in, from, and to the space domain. See EMSO FAQ.
SDR - Software-Defined Radio. A radio communication system where signal processing is handled in software rather than dedicated hardware. SDRs enable flexible frequency coverage and modulation - critical for ES, EMSO, and C-UAS RF detection. See Integrations.
Sensor Fusion - The process of combining data from multiple sensors into a unified picture that is more accurate, complete, and reliable than any single source. See What is Sensor Fusion?.
SGP4 - Simplified General Perturbations 4. An analytical orbit propagation model that computes satellite position and velocity from Two-Line Element (TLE) data. The standard method for LEO satellite tracking. See What is SSA?.
SIDC - Symbol Identification Code. The alphanumeric code in MIL-STD-2525 that determines the graphical symbol displayed for an entity on an operational display. Empyrean dynamically generates SIDCs from fused identity attributes. See What is a COP?.
SIGINT - Signals Intelligence. Intelligence derived from intercepted electromagnetic signals. Distinct from ES in tasking authority: SIGINT is tasked under DIRNSA authorities for intelligence production; ES is tasked by operational commanders for immediate operational use. See What is EMSO?.
Spoof Detection - The process of identifying sensor reports that present false information - forged ADS-B transponder codes, spoofed AIS positions, or GPS meaconing. Empyrean's fusion engine includes spoof detection as part of the trust lifecycle. See Fusion & Decision Engine.
Spectrum Management - The planning, coordinating, and managing of electromagnetic spectrum use across all friendly forces. Includes frequency assignment, deconfliction, JRFL management, and EMI resolution. See What is EMSO?.
SRTM - Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. A NASA mission that produced near-global digital elevation data at approximately 30-meter resolution. Empyrean supports SRTM DEM data for terrain visualization and LOS analysis. See COP capabilities.
SSA - Space Situational Awareness. The knowledge and characterization of space objects and their operational environment - including orbital tracking, conjunction assessment, and space weather monitoring. See What is SSA?.
SSN - Space Surveillance Network. The global network of ground-based radars, optical telescopes, and space-based sensors operated by U.S. Space Command that tracks objects in Earth orbit. See What is SSA?.
STANAG - Standardization Agreement. A NATO standardization agreement defining interoperability standards. STANAG 5066 carries TAK data over HF radio for beyond-line-of-sight communications. See What is ATAK?.
T
TAK - Team Awareness Kit / Tactical Assault Kit. The broader ecosystem including ATAK (Android), WinTAK (Windows), iTAK (iOS), TAKX (Linux/cross-platform), WebTAK (browser), and TAK Server. TAK uses CoT messaging for geospatial situational awareness. Empyrean integrates natively with the TAK ecosystem. See What is ATAK? and Integrations.
TAKaaS - TAK as a Service. A vendor-managed TAK server deployment model that removes the backend burden from small teams. A fast-developing part of the ecosystem in 2026. See What is ATAK?.
TAKX - Next-generation desktop TAK. The Linux-based successor that consolidates WinTAK and the RaptorX mapping lineage, intended to run across Web, macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu. See What is ATAK?.
TBML - Trade-Based Money Laundering. Moving value by manipulating trade transactions - over/under-invoicing, phantom shipments, and misrepresentation of quantity or quality. Among the most complex and widely used laundering methods. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
TEME - True Equator, Mean Equinox. An Earth-centered inertial reference frame used in SGP4 orbit propagation. Satellite positions computed in TEME are converted to ECEF and then to geodetic coordinates for ground-track display. See What is SSA?.
TFI - Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. The Treasury directorate housing OFAC, FinCEN, OIA, and TFFC - the institutional home of U.S. financial-instrument-of-national-power authorities. See What is Counter Threat Finance?.
TFR - Temporary Flight Restriction. An FAA-imposed restriction on air traffic over a specific area for a specific period. Empyrean's Air Intelligence tab surfaces active TFRs alongside NOTAMs. See COP capabilities.
TLE - Two-Line Element Set. A standardized data format encoding the orbital elements of an Earth-orbiting object. Published by the 18th Space Defense Squadron via Space-Track.org and propagated using SGP4/SDP4. TLEs lose approximately 1-3 km of positional accuracy per day from epoch. See What is SSA?.
TLS - Transport Layer Security. The encryption protocol securing client-to-server TAK connections. Clients authenticate with TLS client certificates, typically delivered through data packages. See What is ATAK?.
TMS - Tile Map Service. A protocol for serving map tiles. Empyrean supports TMS, WMTS, and XYZ tile sources for base map rendering including OpenStreetMap. See COP capabilities.
TPC - TAK Product Center. The body that maintains and releases TAK software, publishing through TAK.gov. Successor to the original AFRL development effort. See What is ATAK?.
Trust Lifecycle - In Empyrean's fusion architecture, a 4-state model that tracks the confidence evolution of a fused entity's identity from initial detection through confirmed identification. Trust is displayed in the track detail panel and informs policy automation decisions. See Fusion & Decision Engine.
350 SWW - 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing. The USAF's center of excellence for electromagnetic warfare reprogramming, mission data, and tactics development at Eglin AFB. See EMSO FAQ.
U
UAS - Unmanned Aerial System. The complete system comprising the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the ground control station, and the communication link between them. See What is Counter-UAS? and What is ATAK?.
UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The air vehicle component of a UAS. Commonly referred to as a "drone." See What is Counter-UAS?.
UCS - Union of Concerned Scientists. Maintains the UCS Satellite Database, one of the primary open-source references for satellite payload information including operator, purpose, orbital parameters, and launch details. See What is SSA?.
UID - Unique Identifier. The identity field on a CoT event and on data packages that uniquely identifies an entity or object within the TAK ecosystem. See What is ATAK?.
UKF - Unscented Kalman Filter. A nonlinear state estimation algorithm that uses sigma points to propagate the state distribution through nonlinear dynamics. Often more accurate than the EKF for highly nonlinear systems. See What is Sensor Fusion?.
V
VLS - Vertical Launch System. A shipboard missile launching system that stores and fires missiles vertically. The Mk 41 VLS on Arleigh Burke DDGs can carry SM-6, SM-2, SM-3, ESSM, Tomahawk, VL-ASROC, and (planned FY2027) PAC-3 MSE. See Simulation & Wargaming.
VMF - Variable Message Format. A military messaging standard for C2 information exchange. Empyrean supports VMF ingest. See Integrations.
W
Wargaming - The simulation of military operations to explore outcomes, test strategies, and identify vulnerabilities. Empyrean's wargaming engine uses physics-grounded engagement resolution with Monte Carlo iteration for statistical confidence. See Simulation & Wargaming.
WMS - Web Map Service. An OGC standard for serving georeferenced map images online. Used as an imagery source in ATAK and other geospatial systems. See What is ATAK?.
WMTS - Web Map Tile Service. An OGC standard for serving pre-rendered map tiles. Empyrean supports WMTS alongside TMS and XYZ tile sources. See COP capabilities and What is ATAK?.
XYZ - Slippy-map tile scheme. The common z/x/y tile URL pattern for online map sources, used in ATAK custom-map-source configuration and web mapping. See What is ATAK?.
This glossary is automatically cross-linked throughout all wiki, FAQ, and blog content on this site. Terms link to their first occurrence on each page.
