N142-105 TITLE: Intelligent Multi-Computing-Platform for Complex Tactical Manned and Unmanned Engagement Planning and Data Distribution

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Human Systems

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA 281

RESTRICTION ON PERFORMANCE BY FOREIGN NATIONALS: 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 nationals 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 national who is not in one of the above two categories, the proposal may be rejected.

OBJECTIVE: Design and develop software to be used on intelligent modern handheld device(s) to optimize mission planning across distributed computing environments to support multiple manned and unmanned platforms.

DESCRIPTION: Current tactical engagement planning is accomplished via manual query, data collection, manual data entry and data distribution, in a memory-limited mission planning architecture with extremely restricted data sharing and data access. In many daily operational scenarios, multiple tactical platforms/operators require similar data in unique configurations to be machine usable during tactical operations. Additionally, to facilitate synchronized human readable data that must be available during flight, all critical data must be manually reformatted and printed in multiple copies, with unique configurations for each operator. The overall planning process creates a labor intensive operational environment. The planning process currently uses a Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS) laptop (e.g. F/A-18) to generate various output files in different formats, including PowerPoint files, mission plans for Electronic Knee Boards (EKB), and aircraft data loads. There is very limited machine-to-machine communication between JMPS laptops supporting dissimilar aircraft (e.g. E/A18-G, E-2). The mission planning process also collects data from various other sources that includes, but is not limited to, weapons data, weather data, divert information, etc.

The newly developed software should significantly expedite and unify the operational mission planning process, currently occurring in a diverse, human-centric distributed environment (consisting of systems such as white boards, paper maps, paper target folders, and time intensive programs like JMPS). The handheld device(s) will not only be used to enter mission plan requirements, but also to receive completed mission plans that could be updated during mission planning and execution as required. The proposed software should be capable of automatically adjusting the format of mission plans based on the specific devise. An additional goal is to investigate the most effective, secure interface between the remote device(s) and the appropriate JMPS laptop/server. The overall result of this project would vastly change the mission planning world and significantly improve unit level planning without having to re-code the entire JMPS system.

PHASE I: Identify and develop a conceptual software technique to conduct collaborative mission planning in a manned and/or unmanned environment, using a handheld device(s) and an associated JMPS system. Define an optimal interface between the remote handheld device(s) and the associated JMPS laptops/servers. Identify the cost impact (additional software development effort) to JMPS to facilitate an interface for the remote computing interaction.

PHASE II: Develop a prototype using the conceptual technique and demonstrate the overall mission planning process with emphasis on information assurance, which will be critical in the subsequent phase and eventual integration. Provide appropriate software documentation.

PHASE III: Implement and demonstrate the mission planning process using a handheld device(s) in an operational exercise, and ensure that software is ready for information assurance certification.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Anticipate that the result of this development be applicable in the following commercial and government markets with particular focus:

1. Commercial aviation industry
2. Commercial package delivery businesses
3. Homeland security-FEMA, etc.

REFERENCES:
1. Menner, W. A., 1997, The Navy's Tactical Aircraft Strike Planning Process, Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, 18(1), 90-104.

2. Wood, D., Hughes, E., Special Operations Data Quality Issues, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Information Quality (ICIQ-02), http://mitiq.mit.edu/ICIQ/Documents/IQ%20Conference%202002/Papers/SpecialOperationsForcesDataQualityIssues.pdf.

3. Damilano L., Guglieri G., Quagliotti F., Sale I., Lunghi A., 2013, Ground Control Station Embedded Mission Planning for UAS, Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 69(1-4), 241-256.

4. DOD Directive 8500.01E, Information Assurance, https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=22214.

KEYWORDS: Human Computer Interface (HCI); Data distribution; Interoperability; Handheld Devices; Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS); Electronic Knee Board (EKB)

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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