TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Information Systems, Battlespace, Human Systems

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA281, Strike Planning and Execution Systems

RESTRICTION ON PERFORMANCE BY FOREIGN CITIZENS (i.e., those holding non-U.S. Passports): This topic is "ITAR Restricted." The information and materials provided pursuant to or resulting from this topic are restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120 - 130, which control the export of defense-related material and services, including the export of sensitive technical data. Foreign Citizens may perform work under an award resulting from this topic only if they hold the "Permanent Resident Card", or are designated as "Protected Individuals" as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). If a proposal for this topic contains participation by a foreign citizen who is not in one of the above two categories, the proposal will be rejected.

OBJECTIVE: Develop a tool to optimize manned and unmanned utilization in prosecution of pre-planned and ad hoc air requests, with easy access for the warfighter whether in combat or elsewhere.

DESCRIPTION: A tool that is capable of performing real-time decision making is needed to provide collaborative command and control (C2) of aircraft assets with regard to emergent tasking supporting both manned and unmanned aircraft. The desired decision theoretic planning tool should be able to tailor and perform intelligent filtering of various data sources and air support requests initiated from users in combat or elsewhere (shipboard, etc.). It should also select the most appropriate available aircraft, including weapons and load capabilities and other information required in support of the mission to include all concurrent or nearly-concurrent sorties. The tool should automatically deconflict requirements and make the most efficient use of aircraft. There are multiple criteria to consider for choosing a particular aircraft, such as timeliness of response, geographic location, and current payload. In addition, new situational data will be provided to this automatic decision theoretic planning tool in real-time for current and forward locations so that flight plans can be adaptively changed based on the most up-to-date data. In this way, the tool will reduce data overload, reduce uncertainty and improve decision making. The output flight routes should minimize time and risk, avoid hostile airspace and deconflict with friendly operations.

The final software tool will be integrated with existing systems such as Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS) and Tomahawk Cruise Missile Autorouter System (CMARS). The tool will be used to support write-once/read-everywhere access to time critical data for the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) and support integrated Assault Support Board (ASB) and Aircraft Planning Board vetting processes.

PHASE I: Determine the feasibility of developing a real-time mission planning tool for managing emergent air support requests, scheduling aircraft to satisfy the requests, and managing the execution of the operation. Demonstrate the technical merit of the proposed solution.

PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate a prototype of the innovations developed in Phase I.

Note: The prospective contractor(s) must be U.S. Owned and Operated with no Foreign Influence as defined by DOD 5220.22-M, National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, unless acceptable mitigating procedures can and have been be implemented and approved by the Defense Security Service (DSS). The selected contractor and/or subcontractor must be able to acquire and maintain a secret level facility and Personnel Security Clearances, in order to perform on advanced phases of this contract as set forth by DSS and NAVAIR in order to gain access to classified information pertaining to the national defense of the United States and its allies; this will be an inherent requirement. The selected company will be required to safeguard classified material IAW DoD 5220.22-M during the advance phases of this contract.

PHASE III: Mature the prototype capability for automated machine-to-machine (M2M) integration with all present and future real-time Air Tasking Order (ATO) management software packages and suites. Formalize the Application Programming Interface (API) for user developed applications to be developed ad hoc by subject matter experts in the active forces. Transition the technology to the fleet.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: All route scheduling applications in the civilian market are potential targets for this technology. Given the increasingly "just-in-time" nature of our economic models, it will be ever more important that business managers have access to technologies proposed in this topic. Furthermore, the technology can be applied to any domain where logistic schedules have to be quickly modified, e.g. homeland security and law enforcement applications.

REFERENCES:
1. Farhoodi, F. & Fingar, P. (1997). Competing for the Future with Intelligent Agents. Distributed Object Computing. http://home1.gte.net/pfingar/agents_doc_rev4.htm

2. Farhoodi, F. & Fingar, P. (1997). Developing Enterprise Systems with Intelligent Agent Technology, Distributed Object Computing. http://home1.gte.net/pfingar/docmag_part2.htm

3. Blythe, J., (2009). Decision Theoretic Planning. AI Magazine. http://www.isi.edu/~blythe/papers.html

KEYWORDS: Air Tasking Order (ATO); Theater Battle Management Core System (TBMCS); Computer Modeling; Route Deconfliction; Ad Hoc Flight Schedule Simulator; Information Fusion

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between November 10 and December 12, 2010, you may talk directly with the Topic Authors to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting December 13, 2011, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the DoD's SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS (11.1 Q&A) during the solicitation period for questions and answers, and other significant information, relevant to the SBIR 11.1 topic under which they are proposing.

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