Jerome Reaper

Leveraging collaborative technologies to support integrated human based-automated command and control process test and evaluation in the Virtual Testbed for Advanced Command and Control

The Virtual Testbed for Advanced Command and Control (VTAC) program is performing research and development efforts leading to the creation of a testbed for new command and control (C2) processes, subprocesses, and embedded automated systems and subsystems. This testbed initially support the capture and modeling of existing C2 processes/subprocesses. Having modeled these at proper levels of abstraction, proposed revisions or replacements to processes, systems, and subsystems can be evaluated within a virtual workspace that integrates human operators and automated systems in the context of a larger C2 process. By utilizing such a testbed early in the development cycle, expected improvements resulting from specific revisions or replacements can be quantitatively established. Crossover effects resulting from changes to one or more interrelated processes can also be measured. Quantified measures of improvement can then be provided to decision makers for use in cost-to-performance benefits analysis prior to implementing proposed revisions or replacements or a sequence of planned enhancements. This paper first presents a high-level view of the VTAC project, followed by a discussion of the collaborative technologies leveraged to support test and evaluation of C2 processes: process capture and modeling via workflow: integrated human based-automated process execution via intelligent agents: and Web-based process visualization and analysis

Incorporating realistic command, control, and communications (C3) effects in military mission level simulation

The Joint Synthetic Battlespace for Research and Development (JSB-RD) program is performing research and development in the areas of Modeling and Simulation (M&S), advanced visualization and analysis, and Decision Support. The goal of this work is to create a robust environment for use in ongoing research efforts in areas including Information Fusion, Effects Based Operations, and Predictive Battlespace Awareness. Present day mission level simulations suffer from overly simplistic, inaccurate communication link models that significantly overestimate available in-theater communications, a vital enabler of Command, Control and Communications (C3). Predictions based from such models can, and generally do, substantially differ from those encountered under actual battle conditions. In an effort to improve the accuracy and reliability of mission level simulation predictions, JSB-RD is adding detailed military link models into their core environment, along with the necessary logic to properly address C3 effects within the synthetic world. This paper chronicles these JSB-RD efforts to date. This paper first presents a high level view of the JSB-RD project, followed by a detailed discussion of current efforts to enhance simulation predictions accuracy by integrating detailed military communications link models with existing military mission models.

An approach for developing networked sensors architectures

Current sensor technologies provide an abundance of sensed data in a variety of bands and formats. However, rather than providing the intended improvements in situational awareness for military and civil infrastructures, these sensor systems tend to deluge users with huge data sets that hide the data of interest within the shear volume of detailed output. Additionally, these sensor systems are generally independent, forcing human operators to locate, integrate and correlate the data across multiple systems. Emerging concepts in sensor technologies suggest that a networked, collaborative approach to sensing may provide superior performance in situational awareness. This approach shows the promise of improving collected data accessibility to human users, as well as automating correlation and corroboration of collected data across multiple bands and sensor modalities. This paper explores basic networked sensor concepts and presents notional architectures for constructing and operating networks of sensors.

Course of action scoring and collaboration

The military today is looking at ways to increase both the number of courses of action (COA) evaluated to address a particular scenario as well as expanding the scope of those possible COAs to achieve the desired results while incurring the least possible negative effects. In expanding the set of evaluated COAs, collaborative decision making becomes critical in selecting a COA to implement from all of the possible and often disparate COAs. The Course of Action Simulation Analysis (CASA) task was created to address some of the issues involved with collaborative decision making for COA selection, specifically metrics identification, data representation, and scoring approaches. This paper introduces concepts behind CASA with a focus on the scoring methodologies and capabilities developed during the CASA prototyping effort, as well as addressing the collaboration issues that play in COA selection and that CASA research.

The JavaRank decision support tool and the benefits and challenges of converting an existing desktop application into a distributed collaborative tool

The JavaRank project aimed to apply the principles of an existing decision support tool called DynaRank to the domain of military course of action (COA) analysis and selection. The features of DynaRank were evaluated, and those found to be desirable were implemented in the new tool using Java technology. In the process of creating JavaRank, new features were added, and some of the original features of DynaRank were enhanced. JavaRank was used in a demonstration of COA analysis. As JavaRank development continues, the consideration has been made to convert JavaRank from a single-user desktop application, to a more robust, Web enabled, multi-user system. This paper describes the goals and intents of the JavaRank project and details the current state of the program. The discussion of the current JavaRank application is followed by a study on the conversion of JavaRank into a collaborative tool, including the benefits and challenges of such a conversion as well as proposed distributed architectures

Process capture and modeling via workflow for integrated human-based automated command and control processes

The Virtual Testbed for Advanced Command and Control Concepts (VTAC) program is performing research and development efforts leading to the creation of a testbed for new Command and Control (C2) processes, subprocesses and embedded automated systems and subsystems. This testbed will initially support the capture and modeling of existing C2 processes/subprocesses. Having modeled these at proper levels of abstraction, proposed revisions or replacements to processes, systems and subsystems can be evaluated within a virtual workspace that integrates human operators and automated systems in the context of a larger C2 process. By utilizing such a testbed early in the development cycle, expected improvements resulting from specific revisions or replacements can be quantitatively established. Crossover effects resulting from changes to one or more interrelated processes can also be measured. Quantified measures of improvement can then be provided to decision makers for use in cost-to-performance benefits analysis prior to implementing proposed revisions, replacements, or a sequence of planned enhancements. This paper first presents a high-level view of the VTAC project, followed by a discussion of an example C2 process that was captured, abstracted, and modeled. The abstraction approach, model implementation, and simulations results are covered in detail.

Using Detailed Inter-network Simulation and Model Abstraction to Investigate and Evaluate Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) Support Technologies

The Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) program is performing a technology investigation into global communications, data mining and warehousing, and data fusion technologies by focusing on techniques and methodologies that support twenty first century military distributed collaboration. Advancement of these technologies is vitally important if military decision makers are to have the right data, in the right format, at the right time and place to support making the right decisions within available timelines. A quantitative understanding of individual and combinational effects arising from the application of technologies within a framework is presently far too complex to evaluate at more than a cursory depth. In order to facilitate quantitative analysis under these circumstances, the Distributed Information Enterprise Modeling and Simulation (DIEMS) team was formed to apply modeling and simulation (M&S) techniques to help in addressing JBI analysis challenges. The DIEMS team has been tasked utilizing collaborative distributed M&S architectures to quantitatively evaluate JBI technologies and tradeoffs. This paper first presents a high level view of the DIEMS project. Once this approach has been established, a more concentrated view of the detailed communications simulation techniques used in generating the underlying support data sets is presented.

An Automated Parallel Simulation Execution and Analysis Approach

State-of-the-art simulation computing requirements are continually approaching and then exceeding the performance capabilities of existing computers. This trend remains true even with huge yearly gains in processing power and general computing capabilities; simulation scope and fidelity often increases as well. Accordingly, simulation studies often expend days or weeks executing a single test case. Compounding the problem, stochastic models often require execution of each test case with multiple random number seeds to provide valid results. Many techniques have been developed to improve the performance of simulations without sacrificing model fidelity: optimistic simulation, distributed simulation, parallel multi-processing, and the use of supercomputers such as Beowulf clusters. An approach and prototype toolset has been developed that augments existing optimization techniques to improve multiple-execution timelines. This approach, similar in concept to the SETI @ home experiment, makes maximum use of unused licenses and computers, which can be geographically distributed. Using a publish/subscribe architecture, simulation executions are dispatched to distributed machines for execution. Simulation results are then processed, collated, and transferred to a single site for analysis.

Joint synthetic battlespace for decision support (JSB-DS)

Joint Synthetic Battlespace for Decision Support (JSB-DS) is a developing set of concepts and an affiliated prototype environment with a goal of investigating the nature of decision support within a Command and Control (C2) context. To date, this investigation has focused on processing raw operational data into decision quality information and then presenting that information in a format that is useful and intuitive to a decision maker. The JSB-DS prototype was developed to support experimentation involving visual representation of, and interaction with, operational information. JSB-DSs prototype environment utilizes mission level battlefield simulations as a means to investigate decision and visualization aids with respect to situation awareness and reduction in decision timelines. These distributed simulations support dynamic re-tasking of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and airborne strike assets within a Time Critical Target (TCT) prosecution vignette. The JSB-DS environment can serve as a basis for testing C2/TCT processes, procedures and training.

Creation and usage of collaborative workflow templates in distributed simulation

Collaborative Technologies are an innovative area of endeavor that allows engineering teams to define, integrate and conduct distributed simulation experiments as part of a structured, repeatable process. Workflow techniques can be employed to capture, and frequently automate, internal processes and data flow necessary to answer questions within a wide variety of application domains. Workflow implementations can be constructed in a generalized fashion to provide a working process template to address a focused topic area. These templates define the basic scope and tenants of an experimental domain - as well as any required model sets - and allow extensive exploration within the envelope of that scope. One such template was constructed and used to answer questions postulated by the Global Awareness Virtual Test Bed (GAVTB). The domain for this template involved a study of the effects of information superiority on prosecution of time critical targets (TCTs). This experiment and Workflow template are used as an example case to highlight the approach and application of collaborative techniques in developing Workflow templates addressing multiple levels of Distributed Simulation.