TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Information Systems, Battlespace

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA-281, Strike Planning & 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 software tool that acquires individual mission information for Air Tasking Orders (ATO), provides all the data necessary for each mission, establishes that all the equipment needed is available and not scheduled for a different concurrent or approximately concurrent mission and identifies an optimal flight route to the target.

DESCRIPTION: Depending on the requirements, an ATO may be enormous and highly complex. It contains everything that is scheduled in theater including helicopters and commercial flights plus all ground and airborne threats. In many cases, this would necessitate making thousands of folders in order to capture a tailored folder for each sortie. There are many processing steps involved in generating the target folder for a typical sortie. When done manually, this is time-consuming and the accuracy of the information is suspect due to direct data entry. Automation using machine-to-machine information transfer can solve both these problems. However, as success will require human-like decision making, balancing alternatives and sometimes conflicting goals, human-like reasoning and decision-making capabilities are needed, this is critical in particular during the mission execution phase.

A system is required that can perform the following reasoning and judgment in three areas:
1) Given a specific mission (for example, destroy a radar installation) in a specific location, choose the best combination of aircraft type, weapon type, and launch location when multiple types of each are available and launch could occur from the continental U.S, foreign bases or carrier platforms. This may require tradeoffs, such as weighing the importance of the best weapon for the task, available aircraft, and distance to target from location of aircraft. In addition during a mission execution as data changes (i.e. weather, threat information, etc.) mission planners/pilots need to be alerted to the changes, identify possible impact on current mission and compute alternative routes and/or alternative actions.
2) Subscribe to the required data for the mission from a variety of sources. This involves, for example, determining if the target is recognizable in imagery available and, if so, is it only recognizable from specific angles.
3) Plan a flight route using such factors as the likelihood of encountering threats, interfering/deconflicting with friendly operations, and geography/terrain. These three steps may be iterative.
4) Need to consider a virtual space around the aircraft during the mission execution so that mission planner/pilots are provided real time alert to data/information changes that may impact overall mission success that e.g. include weather, threats, change in target.

Note: The mission planning functions will be generic so that any qualified small business can submit proposals.

PHASE I: Demonstrate technical feasibility of developing a system that can emulate human-like reasoning to make best choices when choosing involves judgment and gray areas. Develop an initial concept for dealing with multiple sources of data. Also address how to alert mission planner/pilot as data changes and define alternative course of action based on data information changes.

PHASE II: Develop a prototype that works in a modeling or model environment. The prototype must demonstrate clearly the ability to weigh conflicting choices, aid in the selection of imagery, plan routes based on that, and make the audit trail available to show how to alert mission planner and/or pilots as data and information changes during flight. Develop plans to integrate the system into the Fleet.

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: Integrate the software within the Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS) framework. Also, focus the development of software for additional platforms, mature the development for operational testing, and demonstrate the software as part of a Fleet exercise.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: This capability lends itself to providing situational awareness (SA) data for civil authorities during emergencies in major disaster areas such as earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires, homeland defense emergencies and other similar types of catastrophic events.

REFERENCES:
1. Carley, K.M. Smart Agents and Organizations of the Future. http://oz.stern.nyu.edu/seminar/sp04/0422-3.pdf

2. Dawidowicz E. Towards Smart Intelligent Agents in the Command and Control Environment.
http://www.dodccrp.org/events/2000_CCRTS/html/pdf_papers/Track_4/109.pdf

3. Sulaiman S., Shamsuddin, S.M. , Forkan F. & Abraham, A. (2009). Intelligent web proxy caching detection using Neurocomputing and particle swarm optimization. Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Mechatronics and its Applications (ISMA09)

KEYWORDS: Information Fusion; Decision Theory; Automation; Artificial Intelligence; Reasoning; Weapons

** 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.

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