Intelligent Mission Management and Tasking for the Expeditionary Sensor Grid (ESG)

Unmanned sensor platforms that are launched and maintained from forward deployed ships and submarines are entering the naval force structure this decade. These assets will provide responsive networked sensor coverage to increase battlespace transparency, sharpen decision-making, and guide operations. There are, however, significant non-hardware technical challenges associated with managing these platforms and their sensor product. Successful development, fabrication, and deployment of unmanned sensor platforms will create severe processing, communications, and analytical bandwidth challenges. For this Phase II SBIR, Information Extraction and Transport, Inc. (IET) and its teaming partner Cyberneutics, Inc. will build on our Phase I efforts to develop the Bandwidth Agile Sensor Swarm (BASS). BASS is middleware that will run on UAVs, USVs, UUVs and their various control nodes. BASS employs Bayesian computational inference techniques to allow heterogeneous sensor packages to perform autonomous, cooperative situation assessment and to disseminate assessments incrementally according to variable available bandwidth. BASS provides a critical component of the modeling, processing and communication functionality to reduce Swarm Intelligence theory to practice within the context of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command's mission spectrum.