Proceedings of the 2004 ONR Decision-Support Workshop Series: Interoperability

In August of 1998 the Collaborative Agent Design Research Center (CADRC) of the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), approached Dr. Phillip Abraham of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) with the proposal for an annual workshop focusing on emerging concepts in decision-support systems for military applications. The proposal was considered timely by the ONR Logistics Program Office for at least two reasons. First, rapid advances in information systems technology over the past decade had produced distributed collaborative computer-assistance capabilities with profound potential for providing meaningful support to military decision makers. Indeed, some systems based on these new capabilities such as the Integrated Marine Multi-Agent Command and Control System (IMMACCS) and the Integrated Computerized Deployment System (ICODES) had already reached the field-testing and final product stages, respectively. Second, over the past two decades the US Navy and Marine Corps had been increasingly challenged by missions demanding the rapid deployment of forces into hostile or devastate dterritories with minimum or non-existent indigenous support capabilities. Under these conditions Marine Corps forces had to rely mostly, if not entirely, on sea-based support and sustainment operations. Particularly today, operational strategies such as Operational Maneuver From The Sea (OMFTS) and Sea To Objective Maneuver (STOM) are very much in need of intelligent, near real-time and adaptive decision-support tools to assist military commanders and their staff under conditions of rapid change and overwhelming data loads. In the light of these developments the Logistics Program Office of ONR considered it timely to provide an annual forum for the interchange of ideas, needs and concepts that would address the decision-support requirements and opportunities in combined Navy and Marine Corps sea-based warfare and humanitarian relief operations. The first ONR Workshop was held April 20-22, 1999 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obispo, California. It focused on advances in technology with particular emphasis on an emerging family of powerful computer-based tools, and concluded that the most able members of this family of tools appear to be computer-based agents that are capable of communicating within a virtual environment of the real world. From 2001 onward the venue of the Workshop moved from the West Coast to Washington, and in 2003 the sponsorship was taken over by ONR’s Littoral Combat/Power Projection (FNC) Program Office (Program Manager: Mr. Barry Blumenthal). Themes and keynote speakers of past Workshops have included: 1999: ‘Collaborative Decision Making Tools’ Vadm Jerry Tuttle (USN Ret.); LtGen Paul Van Riper (USMC Ret.);Radm Leland Kollmorgen (USN Ret.); and, Dr. Gary Klein (KleinAssociates) 2000: ‘The Human-Computer Partnership in Decision-Support’ Dr. Ronald DeMarco (Associate Technical Director, ONR); Radm CharlesMunns; Col Robert Schmidle; and, Col Ray Cole (USMC Ret.) 2001: ‘Continuing the Revolution in Military Affairs’ Mr. Andrew Marshall (Director, Office of Net Assessment, OSD); and,Radm Jay M. Cohen (Chief of Naval Research, ONR) 2002: ‘Transformation ... ’ Vadm Jerry Tuttle (USN Ret.); and, Steve Cooper (CIO, Office ofHomeland Security) 2003: ‘Developing the New Infostructure’ Richard P. Lee (Assistant Deputy Under Secretary, OSD); and, MichaelO’Neil (Boeing) 2004: ‘Interoperability’ MajGen Bradley M. Lott (USMC), Deputy Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command; Donald Diggs, Director, C2 Policy, OASD (NII

Pre-Conference Proceedings of the Focus Symposium on Representation of Context in Software Data → Information → Knowledge

For the past 20 years commercial corporations and government agencies have suffered under the limitations of stove-piped computer software applications that function as discrete entities within a fragmented data-processing environment. In the United States of America (US) military services, lack of interoperability has been identified by numerous think tanks, advisory boards, and studies, as the primary information systems problem (e.g., Army Science Board 2000, Air Force SAB 2000 Command and Control Study, and NSB Network-Centric Naval Forces 2000). Yet, despite this level of attention, all attempts to achieve interoperability within the current data-centric information systems environment have proven to be expensive, unreliable, and generally unsuccessful

USTRANSCOM: Corporate Information-Centric Environment

As a result of foresight and planning that has established a logical data model (i.e., the Master Model), a set of standard reference tables and 17 migration software systems as the foundation of a disciplined Corporate Data Environment (CDE), USTRANSCOM now finds itself in the enviable position of being able to implement DoD’s vision of a Global Information Grid (GIG) with speed and confidence. The urgency with which DoD views the need to shift the burden of tedious data filtering and interpretation tasks from human operators to automated machine-based processes, is reflected in the CDE and provides the opportunity for USTRANSCOM to take a leading role in implementing the GIG vision. USTRANSCOM is inundated with an overwhelming volume of data from a proliferation of heterogeneous internal and external sources. While virtually all of these data are captured and stored electronically, they are largely devoid of context and therefore have to be interpreted and transformed into useful information by human operators, planners and decision makers. The penalties associated with such a human-intensive data-centric environment include data bottlenecks, aged data, breakdown of data exchange interfaces, and the inability to accurately interpret and analyze data within time-critical constraints. This places USTRANSCOM in a reactive mode, and forces the expenditure of valuable resources on treating symptoms rather than addressing the core problem. The report outlines a blueprint for extending USTRANSCOM’s existing Corporate Data Environment (CDE) to an information-centric knowledge management environment that provides a vehicle for making information and knowledge explicit and accessible throughout the organization. The Corporate Information-Centric Environment (CICE) architecture is proposed as a core solution to support: (1) the automatic filtering of data by placing data into information context; (2) the automated reasoning of software agents as they monitor events and assist human users in planning, replanning and decision-making tasks; and, (3) autonomic computing capabilities that allow systems to monitor, diagnose and troubleshoot themselves. The principal objective of CICE is to shift the burden of lower level data interpretation, filtering, and context building, from human operators to automated software-based processes

Proceedings of the 2000 ONR Decision-Support Workshop Series: The Human-Computer Partnership in Decision-Support

The Decision Support Workshop of May 2-4, 2000 held in San Luis Obispo, Cal., was the second in a series that was started one year earlier as a joint project of the Office of Naval Research and the Collaborative Agent Design Research Center of Cal Poly. The goal of this series of Workshops is to provide a forum where connections can be established on one hand between developers and proponents of decision support tools, with potential users such as managers of large, complex organizations/systems on the other. Clearly, the military belong to this class of users and it is therefore not surprising that ONR has a vested interest in promoting research in this particular field. It is also clear that the class of potential users is not restricted to the military - in fact civilian government bodies as well as business and industry entities should be strongly interested in adopting these tools (and their future refinements) for their own specific purposes. The list of the speakers and the topics presented during the Workshop does indeed attest to the variety of areas where decision support systems are already in use. This Workshop has concentrated on the human-computer interaction. Although computers are after all man-made devices, there is a peculiarity in the way humans interact with a computer that has no parallel in human-human interactions. This was brought out in an interesting talk by Dr. Ron DeMarco. Other areas where computers play a major role included the topic of how information is handled, secured, and assured. Since the basis of all decision making is accurate , uncontaminated information, this is a very important topic that was excellently treated by Mr. Steve York and Ms. Virginia Wiggins in their presentations. Other highlights included a thought-provoking talk by RADM C. L. Munns that raised many questions concerning decision support in the Fleet. An interesting description of the risks of misusing information technology was given, with his usual verve, by Dr. Gary Klein. The reader of these Proceedings will find other excellent discussions of decision support systems, in particular the agent-based ones described by the senior staff of CADRC

Proceedings of the 1999 ONR Decision-Support Workshop Series: A Decision-Making Tools Workshop

The rationale of the Workshop rests on some very simple observations. It is well known that every situation encountered by individuals and organizations demands an appropriate response. The choice of such a response from among a multitude of options is the decision-making process. Simple situations that give rise to a small number of options allow the decision maker to decide on a course of action without great effort. This state of affairs changes dramatically when the situations are complex and involve a large number of factors. In this case, an extensive field of options is engendered that makes it impossible for the human decision maker to explore (especially in real time), without the proper support tools. To this, one should add that each decision option has an associated cost (e.g., time, money, human and other assets) that without support becomes difficult, if not impossible, to determine. These considerations and an apparent dearth of applicable support tools led us to the idea of convening a workshop in which active developers and proponents of such tools will present their approaches to an audience of potential users

Pre-Conference Proceedings of the Focus Symposium on Collaborative Decision-Support Systems

The papers included in these pre-conference proceedings reflect the increasing focus on the utilization of computers as collaborating, decision-assistance partners in complex and often time-critical problem situations. There are high expectations that intelligent software agents will solve many of our current information system woes, such as lack of interoperability, multiple failure points, vulnerability to intrusion, making the right information available to the right person at the right time, and proposing solutions under time-critical conditions. Software agents do not have magical human-like capabilities. It is not possible to simply develop a piece of software code that is capable of reasoning about conditions and circumstances like we human beings appear to be able to do. Computers are not human beings and definitely do not have human capabilities. Yet, it is indeed possible to develop software agents that are capable of accomplishing human-like tasks such as recognizing certain conditions, reasoning about these conditions, forming conclusions, and taking actions on the basis of those conclusions

Proceedings of the 2002 ONR Decision-Support Workshop Series: Transformation...

In August of 1998 the Collaborative Agent Design Research Center (CADRC) of the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), approached Dr. Phillip Abraham of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) with the proposal for an annual workshop focusing on emerging concepts in decision-support systems for military applications. The proposal was considered timely by the ONR Logistics Program Office for at least two reasons. First, rapid advances in information systems technology over the past decade had produced distributed, collaborative computer-assistance capabilities with profound potential for providing meaningful support to military decision makers. Indeed, some systems based on these new capabilities such as the Integrated Marine Multi-Agent Command and Control System (IMMACCS) and the Integrated Computerized Deployment System (ICODES) had already reached the field testing and final product stages, respectively. Second, over the past two decades the US Navy and Marine Corps have been increasingly challenged by missions demanding the rapid deployment of forces into hostile or devastated territories with minimum or non-existent indigenous support capabilities. Under these conditions Marine Corps forces have to rely mostly, if not entirely, on sea-based support and sustainment operations. Operational strategies such as Operational Maneuver From The Sea (OMFTS) and Sea To Objective Maneuver (STOM) are very much in need of intelligent, real-time and adaptive decision-support tools to assist military commanders and their staff under conditions of rapid change and overwhelming data loads. In the light of these developments the Logistics Program Office of ONR considered it timely to provide an annual forum for the interchange of ideas, needs and concepts that would address the decision-support requirements and opportunities in combined Navy and Marine Corps sea-based warfare and humanitarian relief operations. The first ONR Workshop (Collaborative Decision Making Tools) was held April 20-22, 1999 and focused on advances in technology with particular emphasis on an emerging family of powerful computer-based tools. The workshop concluded that the most able members of this family of tools appear to be computer-based agents that are capable of communicating within a virtual environment of objects and relationships representing the real world of sea-based operations. Keynote speakers included: VAdm Jerry Tuttle (USN Ret.); LtGen Paul Van Riper (USMC Ret.); RAdm Leland Kollmorgen (USN Ret.); and, Dr. Gary Klein (Chairman, Klein Assoc.). The second ONR Workshop (The Human-Computer Partnership in Decision-Support) held May 24, 2000, was structured in two parts: a relatively small number of selected formal presentations (i.e., technical papers) followed each afternoon by four concurrent open forum discussion seminars. Keynote speakers included: Dr. Ronald DeMarco (Assoc. Technical Director, ONR); RAdm Charles Munns (USN); Col Robert Schmidle (USMC); and, Col Ray Cole (USMC Ret., Program Manager ELB ACTD, ONR). The third ONR Workshop (Continuing the Revolution in Military Affairs) was held June 5-7, 2001 and focused on: the changing role of the military in a post Cold War environment; adaptive interoperable decision-support systems utilizing intelligent collaborating software agents; and, the transitional period. Keynote speakers included Mr. Andrew Marshall, Head of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment, and RAdm Jay M. Cohen, Chief of Naval Research, Office of Naval Research (ONR). The fourth ONR Workshop (Transformation...) described in these Proceedings was held on September 18-19, 2002 at The Clubs in Quantico on the Quantico Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia

Proceedings of the 2001 ONR Decision-Support Workshop Series: Continuing the Revolution in Military Affairs

In August of 1998 the Collaborative Agent Design Research Center (CADRC) of the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), approached the Office of Naval Research (ONR) with the proposal for an annual workshop focusing on emerging concepts in decision-support systems for military applications. The proposal was considered timely by the ONR Logistics Program Office for at least two reasons. First, rapid advances in information systems technology over the past decade had produced distributed, collaborative computer-assistance capabilities with profound potential for providing meaningful support to military decision makers. Indeed, some systems based on these new capabilities such as the Integrated Marine Multi-Agent Command and Control System (IMMACCS) and the Integrated Computerized Deployment System (ICODES) had already reached the field testing and final product stages, respectively. Second, over the past two decades the US Navy and Marine Corps have been increasingly challenged by missions demanding the rapid deployment of forces into hostile or devastated territories with minimum or non-existent indigenous support capabilities. Under these conditions Marine Corps forces have to rely mostly, if not entirely, on sea-based support and sustainment operations. Operational strategies such as Operational Maneuver From The Sea (OMFTS) and Ship To Objective Maneuver (STOM) are very much in need of intelligent, real-time and adaptive decision-support tools to assist military commanders and their staff under conditions of rapid change and overwhelming data loads. In the light of these developments, Dr. Phillip Abraham of the Logistics Program Office of ONR considered it timely to provide an annual forum for the interchange of ideas, needs and concepts that would address the decision-support requirements and opportunities in combined Navy and Marine Corps sea-based warfare and humanitarian relief operations. The first ONR Workshop (Collaborative Decision Making Tools) was held April 20-22, 1999 and focused on advances in technology with particular emphasis on an emerging family of powerful computer-based tools. The workshop concluded that the most able members of this family of tools appear to be computer-based agents that are capable of communicating within a virtual environment of objects and relationships representing the real world of sea-based operations. Keynote speakers included: VAdm Jerry Tuttle (USN Ret.); LtGen Paul Van Riper (USMC Ret.); RAdm Leland Kollmorgen (USN Ret.); and, Dr. Gary Klein (Chairman, Klein Assoc.). The second Workshop (The Human-Computer Partnership in Decision-Support) held May 24, 2000, was structured in two parts: a relatively small number of selected formal presentations (i.e., technical papers) followed each afternoon by four concurrent open forum discussion seminars. Keynote speakers included: Dr. Ronald DeMarco (Assoc. Technical Director, ONR); RAdm Charles Munns (USN); Col Robert Schmidle (USMC); and, Col Ray Cole (USMC Ret., Program Manager ELB ACTD, ONR). The third Workshop (Continuing the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) ) held June 5-7, 2001, is the subject of these Proceedings

Pre-Conference Proceedings of the Focus Symposium on Advances in Intelligent Software Systems

A very powerful new type of information systems technology is rapidly emerging, driven by government and commercial needs for expert decision-support and knowledge management. One very apparent result of this technology is increasingly intelligent software systems. Computer programs with collaborative agents that are capable of automatically reasoning about data and the dynamic changes in data that occur in real world decision-making situations are already in use by the military and are now transitioning to the commercial world

Pre-Conference Proceedings of the Focus Symposium on Intelligent Software Systems for the New Infostructure: Baden-Baden, Germany

Over the past several years the papers in this annual series of symposia have increasingly centered on the realization of a human-computer collaboration environment in which computer-based software agents with reasoning capabilities provide meaningful support to human decision makers. It is therefore quite appropriate that the first paper in the 2004 Proceedings should address the historical evolutionary path of ‘intelligent’ software leading to the goal of a semantic Web environment. The realization of this goal is now in sight, driven by public security threats that are increasingly relying on technology for effective countermeasures