30- Immaccs_brochure.pdf

7/28/2019 30- Immaccs_brochure.pdf

1/6

Integrated Marine Multi-Agent Command and Control SystemCommon View of the Battlespace at any access node

An experimental US Marine Corps command and control (C2) decision-support system

developed for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) jointly by the CAD

Research Center (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Cal Tech,

Pasadena), the Spawar Systems Center (San Diego), the Navy Research Laboratory

(NRL, Stennis Space Center), and SRI International (Menlo Park).

IMMACC

S CADRCCADResearchCenter


2/6

What is IMMACCS? The IMMACCS (Integrated Marine Multi-Agent Command and ControlSystem) agent-based C2 decision-support system will be tested by the SPMAGTF of the Marine Corps

Warfighting Laboratory during Urban Warrior in 1999. Urban Warrior is the second Advanced

Warfighting Exercise (AWE) of the US Marine Corps Sea Dragon program. The functional objectives

of IMMACCS include: acommon view of the battlespace; and, near real-timesituation awareness at

all access nodes. IMMACCS incorporates several kinds of computer-based agents that monitor events

in the battlespace to warn the user of unfavorable conditions and arising opportunities, assist the userin analysis and planning tasks, select appropriate weapons for fire missions, and deconflict targets.

The principal components of IMMACCS include: an internal Object Model of battlespace entities such

as friendly and enemy assets, urban infrastructure elements, environmental phenomena, and operational

events; an Agent Engine capable of reasoning about the currentcommon view of the battlespace and

severalplanning views, concurrently; a Shared Net communication system that provides subscription-

based object-serving facilities; a graphical browser-type user-interface; translators to selected existing

C2 software applications; and, additional communication and visualizing facilities that provide a nec-

essary level of redundancy in case of system failure.

What is new about IMMACCS? IMMACCS embodies four major design concepts:object repre-sentation; user-computercollaboration;problem solving tools rather than predetermined solutions;

and, integration ofplanning, execution and training capabilities within one system. Fundamental to

IMMACCS is the concept of high level internal representation of real world objects. For a computer

system to provide meaningful decision-support facilitiesthe system must have some understanding ofthe information that it is processing. For this reason IMMACCS incorporates an Object Model that

describes battlespace entities such as tanks, aircraft, supplies, bridges, buildings, roads, rivers, friendly

and enemy units, civilians, and so on, in terms ofbehavioral characteristics and relationships to each

other. For example, in legacy systems the interaction of the user with whatever is currently displayed

on a computer screen is limited to a small number of predefined operations because the entire picture

(or overlay) displayed on the screen, regardless of complexity, is presented to the user as a single

object. In IMMACCS every entity in the picture (e.g., road, tank, building, etc.), as well as intangible

OBJECT INSTANCESTORE(OIS)

INCON/TBIS

2-D VIEWERVIEW

2-D VIEWERVIEW

2-D VIEWERVIEW

2-D VIEWERVIEW

EXTERNALSYSTEM

EXTERNALSYSTEM

EXTERNALSYSTEM

AGENTSESSION

INFRA-STRUCTUREOBJECTS(OODBMS)

AGENTSESSION

AGENTSESSION

AGENTSESSION

AGENTSESSION

IMMACCSAGENT ENGINE

SHARED NET

IMMACCSOBJECT BROWSER

BROWSER

BROWSER

BROWSER

AGENTSESSION

AGENTSESSION

INFRA-STRUCTUREFEATURES

(NIMA)


IMMACCSOBJECT MODEL

AGENTSESSION

AGENTSESSION

AGENTSESSION

IMMACCS MODE

BROWSER

TRANSLATOR(IMMACCS)


INCON/TBIS

EXTERNALSYSTEM

EXTERNALSYSTEM

EXTERNALSYSTEM

2-D VIEWERVIEW

2-D VIEWERVIEW

2-D VIEWERVIEW

2-D VIEWERVIEW

TRANSLATOR(INCON/TBIS)

AGENTSESSION

AGENTSESSION

AGENTSESSION

AGENTSESSION

IMMACCSAGENT ENGINEIMMACCSOBJECT BROWSER

BROWSER

BROWSER

BROWSER

AGENTSESSION

AGENTSESSIONBROWSER

BACKUP MODE


3/6

entities such as weather, attack, defense, and so on, are represented as real world objects. Therefore, the

user interacts with a computer display that consists of hundreds of real world entities (objects) that all

have some understanding of each others nature, interests and objectives, and a great deal of under-

standing of their own behavior and capabilities. All IMMACCS components share this Object Model

and are therefore able to communicate with each other and the users in a common language.

Since IMMACCS has some understanding of the content of the data streams that flow through its com-

ponents, it can incorporate software modules (i.e., agents) with reasoning and similarly intelligent

capabilities. These agents perform many kinds of functions such as monitoring events that occur in the

battlespace, evaluating current conditions, identifying conflicts, proposing and evaluating alternativecourses of action, and pursuing the interests of specific entities such as groups or individual persons

and any other data objects included in the IMMACCS Object Model (IOM).

The primary purpose of IMMACCS is to assist its human users by collaborating with them, rather than

automating the decision making process. In this respect IMMACCS provides a partnership between

complementary human and computer capabilities. While the computer excels in high speed parallel

computing and data management tasks, the human user brings powerful conceptualization, abstraction,

learning and intuition capabilities into the partnership.

IMMACCS recognizes that naturally occurring problem situations cannot be predefined accurately.

Experience has shown that predetermined problem solutions in legacy computer systems seldom applyin their totality to real world situations. Therefore, IMMACCS has been designed as a set of collabora-

tive tools that can be applied dynamically both by users and the system itself to the current problem sit-

uation. These tools are equally applicable to planning, execution and training scenarios, and can be

applied in each of these areas simultaneously. Thus users are able to continuously adapt to changing

conditions in the battlespace by instituting dynamic re-planning and re-training operations.

Information

AccessInformation

Statement Publication SupportInformation

TargetInformation

OperationInformation

Definition

Annex Appendix Enclosure Operation Document Section Tab

Operation Plan Operation Order

2

ForecastInformation

Message

SALUTE

PositionReport

GraphicSignatureReport

ShiftFire BDA CFF Request

Medevac Resupply

Patrol

Acronym

AtmosphericForecast

AstronomicForecast

ClimaticForecast

4

Asset

POL

Ammunition Guided Munitions Unguided Munitions

LethalAmmunition

Non-LethalAmmunition

Missile Torpedo

Hand Grenade

Lethal Weapon Non-Lethal Weapon

Crew-ServedWeapon

PersonalWeapon

Jammer Countermeasure

Decoy Chaff

Munitions Equipment

Communication SensorWeaponNavigation

GuidanceSystem

SightSystem

Cartridge

BatonRound

Pyrotechnics


4/6

IMMACCS Paradigm Shifts

Paradigm 1 -Information Representation: Whereas existing software systems process data largely as textstreams, numeric values, or text objects, in IMMACCS information is processed as knowledge in terms of real

world objects with characteristics that describe their behavior and capabilities, and associations that describe

their relationships with each other. The IMMACCS Object Model (IOM) is comprehensive in content containing

friendly and enemy assets (i.e., weapons, supplies, equipment, munitions, personnel, organizations, etc.), the nat-

ural environment (atmospheric, climatic, astronomic, ocean, lakes, rivers, etc.), the artificial environment (mine-fields, buildings, utilities, transportation systems, etc.), events, views, and other battlespace entities. The IOM is

compiled into a library that is used by each system component, and may be easily extended without compromis-

ing the integrity of individual system components. The existance of this common language allows computer-

based agents to reason about real world events and present their suggestions utilizing explanation facilities.

Paradigm 2 -System Integration: Unlike past confederations of linked legacy systems with predefined dataflow paths, IMMACCS is an integrated system of components with object-based knowledge-passing facilities.

Each component shares the common language represented by the IOM library and utilizes the subscription ser-

vices that the Shared Net object-serving communication system makes available to its clients.

Paradigm 3 -Inter-System Communication: IMMACCS utilizes Internet-based communication among itssystem components through subscription and query services. As information that is of interest to a particular

Shared Net client becomes available the client is notified and can then retrieve the information from the Shared

Net. To optimize performance a caching mechanism (configurable by the client) is employed. In addition to

these automatic information updates, clients may seek other specific information by sending queries to the

Shared Net.

OBJECT-BASED (IOM) SHARED NET

IMMACCS COMMUNICATION

IMMACCS COMPONENTWITH IOM LIBRARY

PROXY(cache)

AUTOMATIC INFORMATION'PUSH' BASED ON SUBSCRIPTION INTEREST-BASED

SUBSCRIPTION PROFILE

QUERIES

ALERTS

COMPONENT (A)(with IOM library)

COMPONENT (B)(with IOM library)

COMPONENT (C)(with IOM library)

COMPONENT (D)(with IOM library)

COMPONENT (E)(with IOM library)

INTEGRATED IMMACCS COMPONENTS

OBJECT-BASED (IOM) SHARED NET

CONFEDERATION OF LINKED LEGACY SYSTEMS

SYSTEM (A)(meaningless text streams)

SYSTEM (B)(unique text

objects)

SYSTEM (E)(meaningless text

streams)

SYSTEM (D)(real-world objects

without relationships)

SYSTEM (C)(unique text objects)

LEGACY SYSTEM COMMUNICATION

LEGACY SYSTEM (E)WITH DATA PROCESSED AS

(MEANINGLESS) TEXT STREAMS

DATATRANSLATION

DATATRANSLATION

DATATRANSLATION

DATATRANSLATION

LIMITED DATA FLOWFROM/TO SYSTEM (B)

LIMITED DATA FLOWFROM/TO SYSTEM (A)

LIMITED DATA FLOWFROM/TO SYSTEM (D)

LIMITED DATA FLOWFROM/TO SYSTEM (C)


5/6

Paradigm 4 -System Architecture: IMMACCS overcomes the inflexibility and fragility of stove-piped lega-cy systems that rely on hardwired and predefined data channels, by employing an open architecture. In this open

architecture object-based application components may be freely added or deleted without jeopardizing the

integrity of the entire system.

Paradigm 5 - Information Integration: In IMMACCS, the fragmented views of the battlespace that have inthe past been spread over several legacy application systems, are combined into onecommon view of the battle-

space that may be viewed by any authorized user on one computer screen at any access point.

Paradigm 6 - Information Understanding: Whereas in existing legacy systems views of the battlespace arerepresented as bitmaps that must be filtered and interpreted by the user, in IMMACCS all views are represented

as interactive real world objects with internal meaning to the system. Therefore, the IMMACCS environment

can support computer-based agents capable of reasoning about events in the battlespace and providing analysis

and interpretation assistance to the human decision makers.

IMMACCS ARCHITECTURE

OBJECT-BASED (IOM)APPLICATIONCOMPONENT





LEGACY SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

SYSTEM (B)(unique text objects)

SYSTEM (A)(meaningless text streams)

SYSTEM (D)(real-world objects

without relationships)

SYSTEM (C)(unique text

objects)

SYSTEM (E)(meaninglesstext objects)

LAPTOP

IMMACCS

WORKSTATION

ECOC

LAPTOP

PDA

PDA

COMMONBATTLESPACE

PICTURE

LAPTOP

LEGACY SYSTEMS

WORKSTATION

COC

WORKSTATION

FRAGMENTEDVIEWS OF

BATTLESPACE

LAPTOP

IMMACCS

CONTINUOUS DECISION-SUPPORT FROM

IMMACCS AGENTS

SERVICEAGENT

SERVICEAGENT

SERVICEAGENT

SERVICEAGENT

SERVICEAGENT

MENTORAGENT

MENTORAGENT

LEGACY SYSTEMS

UNFILTERED DATAWITHOUT

DECISION-SUPPORT


6/6

Paradigm 7 - Real World Responsiveness: Within the IMMACCS decision making environment users andexpert agents collaborate with computer-based decision-support tools to address unconstrained, naturally occur-

ring, real world problem situations. This represents a major advance over legacy systems that typically provide

predetermined solution sequences to a limited set of preconceived problems that may occur in a different form in

the real world. In IMMACCS the emphasis is placed on providing the user with tools to interact directly with the

computer to solve problems.

IMMACCS Agents: The IMMACCS Agent Engine automatically initiates an Agent Sessionwhenever any user creates a new View. These Agent Sessions execute in parallel and may comprise

any combination of the following kinds of agents: Monitor Agents that monitor events in the battle-

space; Service Agents that have deep knowledge in narrow domains and provide expert services to

other agents and users; Planning Agents that specialize in planning tasks; Mentor Agents that represent

the interests of particular objects in the battlespace; and, Coordination Agents that identify collabora-

tive conflicts.

Object Command Language: IMMACCS incorporates an Object Command Language (OCL)that allows users to store OPLAN and OPORD information in IMMACCS. This information serves as

context for Agent Sessions in their respective View centered analysis, planning, servicing and coordi-

nation tasks. During mission analysis and planning stages the OCL provides powerful search and

reporting capabilities in support of the Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) process.

IMMACCS Team Acknowledgments: The IMMACCS project is sponsored by the MarineCorps Warfighting Laboratory, Quantico (VA) with design and development responsibilities assigned as

follows: overall design concept, Agent Engine, Object Model, Object Browser, and Object Command

Language (CAD Research Center, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA); Shared Net and Object Instance

Store (JPL, Pasadena, CA); objectified infrastructure (NRL, Stennis Space Center, MS); 2-D Viewer

and Backup System (SRI International, Menlo Park, CA); legacy system Translator(s) and SystemEngineering Integration (Spawar Systems Center, San Diego, CA).

CAD Research Center, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407

Telephone: (805) 756-2841/1310 FAX: (805)756-7567 E-mail: [email protected]

http://www.cadrc.calpoly.edu

IMMACCS

USER

AGENT

AGENT

USER

USER

USER

USERUSER

USER

AGENT

AGENT

AGENT

AGENT

AGENT

AGENT

AGENT

AGENT

AGENT

AGENT

PROBLEMSITUATION

PROBLEMSITUATION

PROBLEMSITUATION

PROBLEMSITUATION

USERS AND EXPERTAGENTS COLLABORATE

SPONTANEOUSLY TO SOLVECHANGING PROBLEMS

LEGACY SYSTEMS

LIMITED SET OF SOLUTIONSTO AN UNLIMITED UNIVERSE

OF PROBLEM SITUATIONS

SOLUTIONA

SOLUTIONB

SOLUTIONC SOLUTION

D

SOLUTIONE

SOLUTIONA

SOLUTIONE

SOLUTIONB

SOLUTIONC

USER

USER

USER

USERUSER

USER

USER

USER

Documents

30- Immaccs_brochure.pdf