Distributed Control Evaluation System for Multiplatform Applications

The broad objective of the proposed Phase II effort is to develop and demonstrate a Distributed Control Evaluation System (DISCO) for multiplatform military applica-tions. The DISCO will provide a rapid, cost-effective, and consistent means for evaluatingcandidate sensor management and distributed tracking methods. These methods are designed to optimize the gathering of target location and identification information from controllable sensors at multiple locations. Specific DISCO compo-nents to be developedor extended include: 1) simulation of battlefield environment including air and ground target motion, terrain features, and foliage coverage; 2) controllable target tracking sensors providing target location and identification information; 3) sampletracking and sensor management methods to test and demon-strate the DISCO testbed; and 4) traditional and new (information-theoretic) meas-ures of effectiveness for evaluating candidate methods. Some components of the DISCO Testbed will be extracted into astand-alone Toolkit, to support performance evalu-ation at other Air Force laboratories.