Investigating Constraint-Based Approaches for the Development of Agile Plans
Abstract
The ability to conduct coordinated interdependent, full spectrum actions by widely dispersed teams throughout the width and depth of the battlespace, ordered and connected within an operation design created to achieve the desired end state is key to the Canadian Army. This concept has been called Adaptive Dispersed Operations (ADO). Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) has investigated different concepts to support a battle group commander conducting ADO. A key problem occurring in existing C2 systems is related to the fact that, during the execution of an operation, the details of a plan are most likely subject to change due to a highly dynamic, partially uncertain and complex environment. However, changes without impact on the end state of an operation should not justify continuous time consuming adaptation. Accordingly, due to the high tempo of ADO operations, tactical planners should only adapt plans when required. For monitoring ends, an intelligent notification mechanism becomes key in such a context. For example, one could wonder if a small delay of the task schedule is really meaningful to the achievement of the operation and hence requires special attention of the commander. This paper presents a temporal and spatial constraint based planning approach aiming to support the development of robust plans. Robustness is sought (i) to provide more flexibility in the execution of actions and (ii) to reduce need for replanning when missions face moderate unexpected disturbing events. The proposed approach is illustrated by implementing a mission plan in the Tactical Planning and Execution Management (TPEM) prototype developed by DRDC.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA607017
Entities
People
- Christian Fricke
- Micheline Belanger
- Mohamad Allouche
- Nicolas Lechevin
- Normand Pageau
Organizations
- DRDC Valcartier