N102-158 TITLE: Intelligent Agents for ASW Threat Prosecution

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Battlespace

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Under Sea Warfare Decision Support Systems (USW-DSS) ACAT II

OBJECTIVE: This topic seeks to develop and adapt a decision process model to filter and aggregate contacts, and declutter displays in contact dense environments. The goal is to employ the decision process model to provide different tactical renderings of the data based upon common underlying features in the state data linked to entity tracks. The relevant tactical feature sets will be provided to as Government Furnished Information.

DESCRIPTION: The decision environment in which the Anti Submarine Warfare Commander (ASWC)must operate during threat prosecution is characterized by severe time pressure, complex, multi-component decision tasks, rapidly evolving and changing information. The data on which ASWC threat prosecution decisions are based are presented in an automated, information dense ASW tactical master plot that displays all acoustic contacts from multiple platforms and multiple sensors across the strike group. This tactical master plot is currently simplified for decision making purposes by visual inspection.

A flexible decision process model is sought that decomposes track data into simplified renderings that support ASW contact prosecution workflow. Unclassified state data and operationally important features will be provided as GFI during Phase I. The key metric to be used in evaluating the effectiveness of the approach will be reduction in the detect to engage timeline.

PHASE I: Design a decision process model that can be applied to tracker state data to declutter contact dense displays. Demonstrate the performance of this model for a simple test case (defined at program kickoff)

PHASE II: Build an automated prototype. Build a full library of filters and alerts, sufficient to improve ASWC effectiveness in assigning resources and prosecuting contacts. The number of contacts he is able to manage/prosecute effectively should increase, and the training required to do the job effectively should decrease, resulting in an overall increase in productivity and reduction in detect to engage timeline.

PHASE III: Transition the Intelligent Agent to the Carrier and to USW Decision Support platforms.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: This product is appropriate for all Army, Navy, and Airforce automated scene managment applications. There is potential to provide scene management tools for managing high density shipping traffic, as well as for resolving ambiguity in air traffic control data.

REFERENCES:
1. Moray, N., Editor "History and Scope of human factors" September 2005

2. Kirlik, A., Editor "Adaptive Perspectives on Human-Technology Interaction" Oxford University Press 2006

3. Brunswik, E. "The conceptual framework of psychology" University of Chicago Press 1952

KEYWORDS: Decision Process Model; Anti Submarine Warfare; Cognitive Engineering; Automation; Battlespace Management; Tracking

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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