Automated Link Operations Networking Engine (ALONE)

Metron proposes to develop the Automated Link Operations Networking Engine (ALONE) for SDA. ALONE is a distributed optimization and planning engine to enable quick, effective, complete communications coverage across the transport layer. Automated, on orbit, determination of network parameters to re-connect/re-enable disconnected terrestrial users, including real-time on-orbit network reconfiguration to support dynamic user and requirement changes.  This will provide optimized solutions across a large-state space for when and where the transport layer will communicate with receiving assets, and when and where receiving assets have the lowest risk for receiving information from the transport layer.   ALONE will be developed using the foundational technology and software framework in-use by multiple planning systems, most notably PMW-120’s Horizon Program of Record – that “Emboldens the Information and Cryptologic Warfare domains by delivering advanced warfighting capabilities and functionality through a distributed, netted sensor framework.” At the core of Horizon’s planning capabilities is a suite of plan optimization approaches based a range of dynamic programming techniques.  These approaches allow handling of both deterministic and probabilistic information to allow planning in the face of an uncertain future state.  These approaches also allow for rapid replanning in the face of changing conditions.  Metron has demonstrated the generation of complex mission plans (complexity of state/action space on the order of 10^10 billion) in tens of minutes with rapid replans in under two minutes based on a change in understanding of own unit conditions. This will allow the network plans generated by ALONE to handle changing temporal and geospatial end-user requirements – traditional comms planning approaches treats end-users as relatively static – as well as develop resilient plans than handle probabilistic events such as equipment failures and adversary actions that degrade the terrestrial or space-based transport layers.