Advanced Collection Management

The objective of the research effort will be to apply optimization technology to developing a coordinated collection plan for a set of airborne platforms. This problem is important because of the imminent addition of the Tier2+ (Global Hawk) and Tier3- (Dark Star) Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) to current intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance assets. It is difficult because of the large number of variables and numerous constraints that must be satisfied by the collection plan. Our approach is to decompose the problem into computationally feasible sub-problems to determine collection platform tacks, target-to-track assignments, and collection schedules. In Phase I, we will demonstrate a solution to the assignment and scheduling subproblems based upon algorithms for solution of large scale combinatorial optimization problems developed by ALPHATECH researchers. We will implement a capability for a user to view targets and platform tracks on a map background, algorithms to set up and solve the corresponding assignment and scheduling problems, and graphical display of the results. The Phase II effort will extend Phase I by implementing a comprehensive solution methodology and developing a plan for insertion in the theatre level collection management systems such as the Joint Collection Management Tool (JCMT).