A “Net-Centric” conduct of navigation and ship management

Following the so-called “Industrial Revolution”, the shipping industry has benefitted from a very extended number of technology innovations. Over time, shipbuilding practices and the equipment of ships have been significantly improved. Furthermore, during the last couple of decades, the continuous improvement and integration- interconnection of electronics systems (the “network-centric” approach), have created a new operating environment for shipping. It is therefore not a coincidence that recent discussions on digitalization and autonomous ships provide a disruptive picture of how this industry may be transformed in the near future. Contemporary sea-going vessels are equipped with various technologically advanced systems and are highly automated. Today, all systems supporting the conduct of navigation and the various information technology (IT) applications related to ship management activities are heavily reliant upon real-time information to safely/effectively fulfil their allocated tasks. The issues of connectivity and interconnection clearly stand out. It is important to assess how navigation will be conducted in the near future. This analysis is based on a qualitative methodology, and its starting point, which also serves as the necessary “literature review”, is to identify and briefly discuss a certain number of technological developments that follow the network-centric architecture and have been recently introduced as equipment appropriate for ships. Next, it will examine how interactive processes and applications, both on the shore side and onboard vessels, can facilitate a safer working environment for seafarers and allow personnel based ashore to have a better understanding of what is happening at sea, as part of explaining the so-called “net-centric” framework of operations. Another important aim is to evaluate these promising technological trends according to their capacity of adoption in order to promote efficient and safe operations within the extended maritime transport domain. An important conclusion is that a net-centric philosophy and associated software applications can truly break down any existing limitations and create a collaborative environment for people and “machines”, including remotely controlled unmanned vessels

The Operator 4.0: Human Cyber-Physical Systems & Adaptive Automation towards Human-Automation Symbiosis Work Systems

A vision for the Operator 4.0 is presented in this paper in the context of human cyber-physical systems and adaptive automation towards human-automation symbiosis work systems for a socially sustainable manufacturing workforce. Discussions include base concepts and enabling technologies for the development of human-automation symbiosis work systems in Industry 4.0

Ambient Multimodality: an Asset for Developing Universal Access to the Information Society

International audienceThe paper tries to point out the benefits that can be derived from research advances in the implementation of concepts such as ambient intelligence (AmI) and ubiquitous or pervasive computing for promoting Universal Access (UA) to the Information Society, that is, for contributing to enable everybody, especially Physically Disabled (PD) people, to have easy access to all computing resources and information services that the coming worldwide Information Society will soon make available to the general public. Following definitions of basic concepts relating to multimodal interaction, the significant contribution of multimodality to developing UA is briefly argued. Then, a short state of the art in AmI research is presented. In the last section we bring out the potential contribution of advances in AmI research and technology to the improvement of computer access for PD people. This claim is supported by the following observations: (i) most projects aiming at implementing AmI focus on the design of new interaction modalities and flexible multimodal user interfaces which may facilitate PD users' computer access ; (ii) targeted applications will support users in a wide range of daily activities which will be performed simultaneously with supporting computing tasks; therefore, users will be placed in contexts where they will be confronted with similar difficulties to those encountered by PD users; (iii) AmI applications being intended for the general public, a wide range of new interaction devices and flexible processing software will be available, making it possible to provide PD users with human-computer facilities tailored to their specific needs at reasonable expense.

APPLICATION OF AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-ENABLED REAL-TIME WARGAMING SYSTEM FOR NAVAL TACTICAL OPERATIONS

The Navy is taking advantage of advances in computational technologies and data analytic methods to automate and enhance tactical decisions to support warfighters in highly complex combat environments. Novel automated techniques offer opportunities for tactical warfighter support through enhanced situational awareness, automated reasoning and problem-solving, and faster decision timelines. This capstone project investigated the use of artificial Intelligence and game theory to develop real-time wargaming capabilities to enhance warfighters in their ability to explore and evaluate the possible consequences of different tactical COAs to improve tactical missions. This project applied a systems analysis approach and developed a conceptual design of a wargaming real-time Artificial Intelligence decision-aid (WRAID) system capability to support the future tactical warfighter. An operational scenario was developed and used to conduct an operational analysis of the WRAID capability. The project identified requirements for the future WRAID capabilities and studied implementation challenges (including ethical) that will need to be addressedNPS Naval Research ProgramThis project was funded in part by the NPS Naval Research Program.Civilian, DoD, NUWCNPTCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyCivilian, Department of the NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Visualizing threat and impact assessment to improve situation awareness

Situation awareness comes from combined knowledge of the environment, friendly actions and adversaries\u27 actions. Impact assessment applies that knowledge to determine the consequences of those actions on specific missions and assets. In domains such as asymmetric warfare and cyber security, impact assessment is critical to provide timely and comprehensive situation awareness. An analyst needs to be able to quickly and accurately assess a situation, see the factors affecting important assets, and come to a conclusion on what the best course of actions are to take. Many attempts have been made to visualize a situation from observed raw data for better awareness. However none have attempted to visualize the impact and threat of observed actions on assets and missions. This thesis investigates critical visual elements that will enhance situation awareness. Our approach leverages results of threat and impact assessment of ongoing situations. These include changes in effects on assets and missions by activities, and the projection of current situations into the future. This set of information is strategically placed and displayed to facilitate analysts to perform forensic and real-time analysis. While other visualization tools have focused on achieving situational awareness through representing raw data in a meaningful way, this visualization attempts to enhance situational awareness though situational assessment