Tactics, Training, and Procedures for the Warfighter Reacting to

There exists a body of information associated with crowd dynamics. However, much of thisinformation is associated with overall characteristics (e.g., crowd size, motivation, age range, andcultural diversity) or exit behavior at games and concerts. Information concerning interactionsand responses between the crowd and the crowd managers is sparse. A new approach to theproblem is proposed using wavelets. Wavelets will be used to transform the crowd dynamicsinformation domain into a compressed domain. In the compressed domain, specific features willbe examined, such as crowd vector acceleration, to determine their effect on the overall crowdbehavior and the interaction between the crowd and the crowd managers. Based on thisapproach, thresholds, which lead to changes in the overall crowd behavior, can be detected andisolated. With this information, crowd managers will have additional information to make amore informed decision concerning, for example, the use of Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW). Parameters and factors which effect crowd behavior and dynamics will be very useful in avariety of government and commercial applications. As the number of crowds increases, and thecrowd dynamic becomes more a part of the process for both political and entertainment events,more and more research into the use of the variables and parameters, which will be defined underthis proposal, will be necessary. Tactics, procedures, and training courses can be developedwhich illustrate the effects of the changes in these parameters in the crowd dynamic and how thedecisions of crowd managers are likewise effected.