Coalition Chat Line Breaks Down Barriers

Lager Aulenbach, Germany — Over 30 years ago writers of the fictional TV show ‘Star Trek' created a device call the ‘Universal Translator' which allowed two people from different languages to instantly communicate clearly with each other. Today, this is a reality at Combined Endeavor 2004 (CE-04) - military operators who speak different language can simultaneously communicate with one another in near time.

With 40 countries participating in CE-04, Lager Aulenbach is a natural setting for testing the Coalition Chat Line's (CCL) ability to conduct chat room translations among people of various languages.

The Coalition Chat Line (CCL) is a joint Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Office of Naval Research Global (ONRG) Science and Technology initiative to provide coalition forces a means to communicate effectively within a multilingual environment. CCL was brought into the field for the first time last year for Combined Endeavor 2003 (CE-03). CCL is back for CE-04 with additional testing taking place.

"We've added two-languages since last year, Ukrainian and Thai," says Cmdr. Jerry Irving with the Office of Naval Research (ONR). "Last year's users will also notice that connecting is faster and the translations pop up quicker."

CCL uses existing chat room and translation technology. Users type their questions or comments and almost immediately everyone signed on the chat sees in their language what was written.

Though still in the research and development mode, CCL has been used for real world operations in Iraq. A member of the Polish delegation during CE-03 tested CCL at Lager Aulenbach, and later while in Iraq requested CCL be deployed.

"The Polish Multi-National Division was taking incoming fire and they lost telephone connectivity," said Maj. Joe Angyal, U. S. European Command (USEUCOM) staff said. "They had a CCL chat window open and they were able to pass messages." "Thirteen languages are available for use in CCL," said Phylecia Ross, computer scientist for Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Systems Center in San Diego, CA.

Currently CCL operates in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, and Ukrainian.

"The long-term goal is to make it an official program of record and sent it out to the field when requested," said Ross.

As of CE-04, CCL is in a research and development classification.

"We've learned that many people already know how to use chat rooms and that this is a good communications tool," says Ross. "As with any document translator it can't handle slang. Users must use correct and simple grammar."

Coalition Chat Line was awarded the AFCEA Golden Link Award at the May 2004 Tech Net International Conference in Washington D.C. The Golden Link Awards program recognizes excellence in innovations that respond to the most pressing needs of government agencies.