Connectivity, Continuity, and Data Initialization for BC Services

This submission addresses the problem of information flow and data initialization associated with achieving Battle Command (BC) Continuity of Operations (COOPS). The highly mobile and dynamically changing environment of BC operations requires that netcentric services and applications be fully operational as quickly as possible at the quality of service (QoS) needed to successfully carry out difficult missions – in other words, federated battle decision support environments must be capable of quickly achieving a state of readiness (SoR). BC operations demand automated tools that assure federated services and applications: 1) have the right decision support initialization data to support the tasks of the target node, 2) are properly configured to meet operational objectives, 3) have needed QoS characteristics, and 4) understand the changing state of the operational system and battlespace. Computer Technology Associates, Inc. (CTA) will investigate a highly automated BC COOPS initialization/configuration concept based on Task Organization (TO) aware agents using semantically encoded, policy-based structures that specify the data requirements, constraints, and initialization parameters based on dynamically changing TO mission context. These agents will perform functions such as session management, data transformations, and application-level protocol functions needed to establish and maintain connectivity and continuity of mission operations at a specified QoS.