Intelligent Assistants in Next-Generation PDAs for Naval Application.

The proposed research leads to the development of special-purpose personal digital assistants suitable for a wide variety of mobile and shipboard based applications. The focus of this research is on identifying the unique problems related to Navy application of PDA technology and the development of the necessary technologies for resolution of those problems. This research project will investigate mechanical and product design issues, portable power (battery) technology, communications connectivity including wireless LANS, PCS and other emerging technologies, available PDA operating systems, input/output hardware requirements and available solutions, operator interfaces and modalities including the use of speech recognition and speech synthesis and typical applications (such as PDA-based check lists and tech manuals). One goal of the proposed research is to demonstrate how increased functionality can be provided in a PDA by using intelligent agent technology for automation of many PDA tasks and activities. This project will provide a detailed specification and conceptual design for such a PDA.