The Evolution of SPAWAR

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Network-centric Infrastructure forCommand,
Control, and Intelligence (NICCI)
Potential New DARPA ITO Program Enabling a
Global Grid that WorksJohn SalasinDARPA/ITOjs
alasin_at_darpa.mil
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The Problem

• Mission accomplishment requires
• Manipulating massive amounts of increasingly
  complex informationfast and predictably

PLACE
FORM


TIME
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Habitats A Solution

• Habitats specialize the information processing
  space

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Whats New

• Operationally
• Infrastructure automatically provides context
  information
• Business rules included as integral part of
  system
• Better and faster decisions
• Technically
• Simultaneously organize and manage the
  information processing space along multiple
  dimensions
• Dynamic capabilities
• Combines concerns about process integration
  (event sequences) and application integration
  (Application Program Interfaces (APIs))

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Technical Characteristics Dynamic Command
Structure
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Core Computing Services

• Authority/Accountability
• Dynamic information management infrastructure
• Policy specification, execution, and rule
  consistency services
• Context management and reconfiguration services

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Core Computing Services Authority/Accountability

• Authority/Accountability
• Functionality schedule and monitor tasks
  enforce rules/policies
• Have now operating system level monitors,
  enforcement mechanisms
• Need task specific capabilities

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Core Computing Services Dynamic Information
Management Infrastructure

• Dynamic information management infrastructure
• Functionality interoperability with multiple
  COTS infrastructures (e.g., .NET) connectivity
  protocols, and InfoSec information exchange,
  correlation, and coordination
• Have now CoAbs grid provides many functions
• Need expansion to support distributed
  rule/process definition and enforcement, and to
  monitor and share context

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Core Computing Services Policy Services

• Policy specification, execution, and rule
  consistency services
• Functionality distributed (peer to peer)
  rule/process specification/execution habitat
  rule/policy negotiation and deconfliction
  operational responsibility tracking and
  coordination
• Have now much work, particularly in security
  area. Negotiation (over resources) in agents
  community. Process execution efforts being
  applied to coordinate agents/robots
• Need expansion to handle multiple concerns
  (e.g., quality of service, performance, resource
  use more integration efficient negotiation
  and use of distributed/decentralized mechanisms.
  Inclusion of authority and accountability

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Core Computing Services Context Services

• Context management and reconfiguration services
• Functionality mission/task context tracking
  event/task coordination context-relevant
  resource management
• Have now run-time reconfiguration to provide
  dynamic customization of heterogeneous systems
  (DASADA)
• Need automated recognizing, locating, and
  providing of needed services/resources in a
  decentralized environment

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Benefits

• Habitats enable systems that
• Interact predictably in a network-centric world
• Can find and predictably recruit resources needed
  for task
• Safely use commercial infrastructure
• Provide run-time dynamic reconfiguration to
  optimize performance

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Benefits Accelerate C2
Going up and down the chain of command delays
operations and makes some impossible
Habitats can enable new operational concepts
(e.g., command by negation) by removing
roadblocks to their expression
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Benefits AdaptSystem to Context

• Important JSTARS/AOC operations are dependent on
  context
• Information sources (for verification) not under
  OPCON
• Threat Condition, Rules of Engagement (ROE), and
  ROE flexibility
• Available assets (and tasking rules)
• Infosec requirements

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Benefits Improved Application Performance

• Habitats improve application performance
• Component access to business rules and context
  information enables
• Controlled/constrained horizontal sharing
  (shorten chain of command)
• Improved coordination within constraints
• Potential for major reductions in latency

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Benefits Wedge for De-rigidifying Doctrine

• Habitats provide wedge for de-rigidifying
• doctrine
• Provide flexibility to operate efficiently within
  doctrinal constraints

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Benefits Terrorism/CBW

• Asymmetric threat
• Currently cant configure command center or
  assets for response until threat emerges
• (Semi) dormant habitats tailored to local
  environments (e.g., Indianapolis) could maintain
  information on resources, deployment plans (for
  different situations), etc.
• Coalitions to fight terrorism will include
  Governments, NGOs, and (perhaps) rebel and
  religious groups with different
  roles/responsibilities/rules of engagement, e.g.,
• Military operations
• Financial transactions
• Intelligence
• Contextual information packaging and
  dissemination is key

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Success Criteria Measures of Effectiveness

• Major theme Increasing speed and precision of
  command
• (Human or automated) decision agent has all
  (more) relevant information
• System includes (easily evolvable) rules about
  actions to be taken based on level of uncertainty
• Rules can
• be understood and written by military personnel
• direct background information identification,
  collection, and filtering
• ensure that specified processes are followed
• Reduced time for decisions
• Reduced time for decisions
• Increased speed of dissemination (while
  controlled with respect to both scope and content
  disseminated)
• Reduced effort/time/error in building and
  evolving capabilities

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Success Criteria Measures of Performance

• Major theme Infrastructure provides improved
  support for
• Dynamic membership model
• Dynamic trust management operating across
  organizational/ operational trust boundaries
• Dynamic policy management
• Notification services operating on global scale
• Peer-to-peer connectivity on demand with managed
  quality of service
• Uniform and seamless model for access to
  resources and service

NOT FEASIBLE IN DECENTRALIZED MODE
NOT DOABLE
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Why Now?

• Flowering of COTS infrastructure technologies for
  integration and interoperability
• eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
• Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
• Universal Description, Discovery and Integration
  (UDDI)
• DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML)
• E-Services (HP) Platform and language
  independent middleware for services
• .NET (Microsoft)
• Others

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Why Now Next Step in Coordination and
Synchronization

• Chat rooms are todays advanced State of
  Practice
• Missing elements
• Specified, enforceable rules/processes
• Pro-active context sensing and awareness
• Ability to recruit resources within defined
  constraints

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Why DARPA?

• DISA/C3I standards-based, flat world view wont
  work
• Automated specialization of function based on
  context is critical to major Service initiatives
  (currently working Services on requirements)
• Early technical leadership needed to avoid
  fragmented solutions

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NICCI Technical Challenges

• Distributed, dynamic operation with
• decentralized mechanisms to provide
• Rule specification in multiple domains and form
  usable by operational forces
• Efficient rule consistency management and
  enforcement
• Negotiation capabilities
• Service deployment and reconfiguration