We-Plan: A Mixed-Initiative, Distributed, Simultaneous Planning Framework

ABSTRACT: Significant challenges persist in Cyber security and Net-Centric Warfare, e.g., the vast problem scale, the management and deployment of a large pool of heterogeneous and physically wide-spread resources (both human expertise and machine power), the uncertainties, contingencies and dynamics of the domain environments and operations, and finally the time constraints associated with these challenges. Obviously the complex Cyber defense processes are far beyond any single actor"s capability. Consequently there is an urgent need of a solution that can be used to collect, organize and deploy heterogeneous resources (commanders, operators and IT professionals) to effectively negate the Cyber attacks. Our solution to the aforementioned problems is an innovative software system, called We-Plan, which provides a collaborative environment for multiple actors to carry out mixed-initiative distributed simultaneous (MDS) planning in Cyber defense operations. In Phase II, we will improve the design of We-Plan from Phase I and develop it into a full-fledged, deployable and intuitive software system for AFRL to carry out in-house MDS planning in cyber operations. We-Plan is a general approach and is applicable to a wide range of DOD and commercial applications. BENEFIT: The anticipated Phase II results include a fully functional We-Plan software system that provides a collaborative environment for multiple users to carry out mixed-initiative distributed simultaneous (MDS) planning in cyber response operations. We-Plan is designed and developed to be applicable to a wide range of areas that share the same challenge described as follows: given a large pool of physically-separate heterogeneous resources, how to organize a subset of the capable and available resources to solve common problems (including problem specification, planning, scheduling, execution, potential result analysis and re-planning) in stressful time-critical dynamic environments. The immediate user of We-Plan is the funding agency and We-Plan seeks to serve as their in-house MDS planning tool. We-Plan can also transition towards concrete systems (e.g., Supplier Warranty Administration and Advanced Analytics for Logistics Command and Control) developed by our prime industrial partners. Additionally, We-Plan can potentially contribute to the Command and Control systems for various government agencies, as well as AFRL"s Distributed Mission Operations, MDA"s Ballistic Missile Defense System, Navy/Coast Guard"s Maritime Interdiction Operations, etc. Potential commercial applications include air traffic control, civilian planning for police and fire response, homeland security inter-agency response operations, and FEMA emergency/disaster management.