Decision Support for Dynamic Target Engagement (DS-DTE)

1. Information Process Agents (IPAs) Consolidator Consolidation Mapping Consolidators Request/ Subscription {Consolidated} Request; Response Information Process Agent Web Service (IPAWS) Information Request/ Subscription Execution Mapping Requester (Has WS interface for returns) {Not in DB} Request Manager Resource Manager Data Manager (e.g., XML DB) Immediate Parsing Success/ Failure; Asynchronous Response Synch Context Manager Asynchronous Response to RM Broker/BPEL Transformation Service(s) Asynchronous Response to RM Asynchronous Information Update Remote CM Remote IPAs Decision Support Engine Information Source Decision Support for Dynamic Target Engagement (DS-DTE) Daniel H. Wagner Associates, Inc. - www.wagner.com Daniel H. Wagner Associates, for the Office of Naval Research (ONR), under subcontract to Solers, Inc., and teamed with the Penn State University Applied Research Lab (ARL) and Information Sciences and Technology (IST) department, is developing an advanced information management architecture to provide timely and accurate decision support during dynamic target engagement. Figure 1 shows the agent-based information management process, which 1) receives and manages information requests through a standard Web Service interface, 2) attempts to retrieve information from the local data store, 3) consolidates off-board requests to reduce message traffic, 4) determines and invokes the optimal path to available information to satisfy those requests, 5) invokes appropriate transformations on returned information based on requester preferences, and 6) synchronizes process state and information across federated nodes. During Spiral Three of this ongoing project for ONR, we have implemented the information management process within the overall decision support architecture for Maritime Dynamic Targeting (MDT). Figure 1. Agent-Based Information Management Process All agents within the framework are instantiations of the same code, and therefore are capable of performing all potential tasks; however, each agent at any given time performs only those tasks for which it is currently responsible. That is, in the diagram above, agent behaviors are represented, not specific agents. For example, an agent might be responsible for managing requests/subscriptions over time (Request Manager), consolidating similar requests based on domain-specific understanding (Consolidators), optimizing access to information sources (Resource Manager), or maintaining synchronicity/context among federated nodes (Context Manager) (or some combination thereof). The agent code is implemented in Java on the JADE agent framework, which provides FIPA-compliant communications and dynamic agent management. This project is currently supported under the ONR FORCEnet Future Naval Capability (FNC). Distribution A: Approved for Public Release; Distribution is unlimited.