ATAK-COBRA Integration v. 7.7.21

ATAK-COBRA Integration

July 7, 2021

Overview

COBRA now has basic integration with the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK), a geospatial and situational awareness application that allows users and teams to collaborate while geographically dispersed. The ATAK-COBRA integration functions similarly to COBRA Locators and offers another option for emergency managers and the Emergency Operations Center to track personnel and teams deployed to the field during an incident. 

Connect ATAK Device to COBRA FreeTAK Server

In order share ATAK device data with COBRA, the device needs to connect to the COBRA FreeTAK Server. To connect to the COBRA FreeTAK Server, take the following steps below.

1. In ATAK (or WinTAK, if using the desktop application), click the hamburger menu button in the upper left hand corner of the application and then click the "Settings" gear wheel button.
2. With the Settings menu open, select "Network Preferences."
3. In Network Preferences, click the "Manage Server Connections" button.
4. In Manage Server connections, enter the following information: 
   • Description: PATRIOT 2021 FreeTAK Server
   • Protocol: Select "TCP"
   • Host Address: 52.245.240.186
   • Port: 8087
   • Click "OK"
5. Once successfully connected to the TAK Server, the user should see the TAK Network Status cloud bubble at the bottom right hand corner of the screen turn green with a check mark inside.

Adding ATAK Devices to a COBRA Incident

To add ATAK devices to an incident in COBRA, ensure you are logged in as an Organizational Administrator and follow the steps below:

1. From the incident home page, navigate and click on the "Locators" option under the Communication submenu.
2. From here, the user will arrive on the Locators page. If Locators have not yet been added to the incident, a pop-up window will present asking if you would like to activate locator(s). Click "Yes".
3. The user will now see a list of locators available to the Organizational Administrator to be added to the incident under the "Organization Locators" list on the left side of the page. Using the checkbox located to the left of the Locator Name, the user can mark locators to be added to the incident. These marked locators will then appear under the "Selected Locators" list on the right side of the page.
4. After marking the desired ATAK devices to be added to the incident, they will be displayed in the Locator table with the following data: Locator Name, Serial Number, Time of Reading, Last Location Reading, and Battery %.

Viewing ATAK Devices in a COBRA Incident

Once ATAK devices are added to an incident, they can be viewed and tracked in the incident map tool. Follow the steps below to display activated ATAK devices in the COBRA mapping tool:

1. In the mapping tool, navigate and click on the "Locator Data" button found on the right side of the map, just under the WMS/WFS button.
2. After clicking the "Locator Data" button, a fly-out window will appear with a nested list of available Locators to display (in this case, ATAK devices). By expanding the list with the arrow button, the user should see the ATAK devices that were previously added by the Organizational Administrator.
3. To display the location of the ATAK device on the incident map, click on the "Show / Hide Feature" button located under the ATAK device name. The ATAK device should then appear on the map with the TAK symbol.
4. By clicking on the ATAK feature icon, the user can display an information pop-up that provides the following information: Serial Number, Last Transmission (date and time), Battery Level (%), Last Location Reading (date and time), and Last Location (in Lat/Long coordinates).

Send Alert from ATAK Device to COBRA

ATAK users in the field can send basic alert communications to a COBRA Organization by following the steps below.

1. In ATAK or WinTAK, click on the "Emergency' button in the upper menu.
2. In the "My Emergency Beacons" menu on the right side of the screen, set both switches to initiate an emergency beacon, and ensure the "Type of Emergency" is set to Alert.
3. Click on your ATAK Callsign location on the map and select the alert, which should be designated as a combination of your Callsign-Alert (e.g., Pace-Alert).
4. After selecting the alert, a set of buttons will appear around the alert - select the document button on the right.
5. In the Alert marker details box on the right side of the screen, enter a short message in the top text field, and then click the "Send" button in the lower left corner of the menu.
6. In the "Send To" menu, click the "Broadcast" button in the lower right corner.
7. In COBRA, under the Communication menu, click on the "Alerts" button. On the Alerts page, the user should see the emergency alert that was sent by the ATAK user (e.g., "This is a test") in the COBRA Alert table.