Transcript R-067 Entry Point Screening

A Knowledge-Based Tool for
Planning of Military
Operations: the Coalition
Perspective
Larry Ground
Alexander Kott
Ray Budd
BBN Technologies
Presented by Alice Mulvehill
Outline
Main thesis: knowledge-based planning tool
can help a coalition staff
Example: the CADET tool
Advantages:


Tasking and synchronization
Estimates and computations
New challenges:



Field maintenance of KB
Collaboration
User interfaces
The Function of CADET
Key Inputs:
 COA Statement
(objectrepresented, 5-10
main activities)
 Friendly assets,
strength, location
 Enemy COA,
assets, strengths,
location
 Environment
(terrain, etc.)
CADET
Application domains: US Army
Div, Bde operations, intel
ops…
Intended users: Bde planning
staff officers
Role: COA analysis/
wargaming of the US Army
MDMP
Tool sponsors: Army CECOM,
BCBLs, DARPA
Key Outputs:
 Detailed Plan
 200-500 activities
 all BOS’s
 timing,
synchronization
 assets allocated
 Estimates
 attrition
 consumption
 risk
How CADET is Used
Using COA Entry
tool, officer enters
digitized operational
concept: sketch and
statement
The staff reviews
and modifies
CADET’s products
OPORD, OPLAN,
FRAGOs are
generated and
issued
COA Tool
COA Tool sends digitized
COA sketch and statement
to CADET
CADET
CADET generates detailed,
synchronized plan and estimates
Experimental Results
0.25
0.2
0.15
CADET
Human
0.1
0.05
0
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Rigorous experimental
comparison: CADETassisted vs. conventional
Multiple cases, subject,
judges
Conclusions: comparable
quality of products,
dramatically faster
Tasking and Synchronization
A challenge: effective tasking,
allocation, synchronization
challenges staffs
More so in coalition: multiple
heterogeneous organizations,
doctrines
A tool can help:




serve as an unbiased "first-cut"
accommodate nation-specific
assets, doctrines
reduce emotional factor
plan and schedule
heterogeneous assets
Estimates and Computations
attrition
A challenge: computations and
estimations of time-space,
resources, consumption,
attrition
More so in a coalition
A tool can help:
 rapidly perform thousands
of such computations
 using nation-specific rules,
formulae
 reduce arguments
 leave more time for higherlevel analysis
logistics
movements
animation
Distributed Collaboration
Must provide for:





Multiple users – integrated plans
Partial plans by coalition members
Capture, resolve inconsistencies
Asynchronous
Geographically dispersed
Field Maintenance of
Knowledge
Extreme demands
on KB maintenance:


In the field
By non-programmers
A partial answer:



Simple templates
No provisions for
programming
A 70% solution?
A route should be
selected so that the
unit moves
through the
destination area
An objective
area is
required
The unit
Maneuver
candidate
unit advance
criteria, and
logic should
BOS are
be used to
specified
model the
unit
movement
Given
that the seize is
supported, the domain expert
assesses that the unit
performing this task will
receive only 90% of the
attrition of a normal
engagement
Unconventional Interfaces
Conventional
paradigms, e.g., sync.
matrix don’t work
Coalition: cultural and
training differences
Alternatives:


Animation?
Cartoon sketches?
Conclusions
Tools like CADET can
alleviate some coalition
planning challenges:


Tasking and
synchronization
Estimates
There is an
experimental evidence
of dramatic time
savings and human-like
quality
But… such tools also
exacerbate some
coalition challenges:



Knowledge
maintenance
Collaboration
User Interfaces
BACKUP SLIDES
Technical Underpinnings
Simple concept of user operation, assumes literally
no training;
Tightly interleaved planning and scheduling, routing,
attrition and consumption calculations;
Computationally inexpensive algorithms trade
optimality for speed, almost instantaneous;
Interleaved adversarial planning via the actionreaction-counteraction paradigm;
Rigorous separation of problem solving components
from user interaction;
Extensive use of XML for simple, inexpensive
integration heterogeneous systems