Utility-Weighted Information-Based Sensor Management for Missile Defense

The Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) continues to evolve and develop as a coordinated and integrated system of systems. As different sensor and weapon platforms are brought together in a unified C2BMC system, the commanders, system and platform operators will require the support of sophisticated tools for planning and scheduling to manage the complexities of multiple, interacting platforms in a multi-target environment. The proposed work will investigate the coordination of missile defense sensor management and engagement planning in order to achieve the system-level goal of defending assets from ballistic missile attacks. It will build on previous work, linking the University of Michigan's work in sensor management with TechFinity's work in engagement planning, to create a utility-weighted information-based sensor manager. The fundamental benefit of our approach is that it will enable a missile defense sensor manager and engagement planner to work together toward a common system goal by enhancing a cutting edge approach to sensor management with a well-founded value of information derived from the internal calculations of a modern engagement planner. The sensor manager will no longer work only to its internal goals, and the engagement planner will no longer passively accept the data delivered to it. Furthermore, the additional and improved data that will become available to the engagement planner will improve its performance, especially in battlespace analysis.