Engineering Commons^™

Route Change Decision Making By Hurricane Evacuees Facing Congestion, R. Michael Robinson, Asad Khattak

VMASC Publications

Successful evacuations of metropolitan areas require overcoming unexpected congestion that reduces traffic flows. Congestion may result from accidents, incidents, or other events that reduce road capacity. Traffic professionals and emergency managers may promote deviations from planned routes to bypass an area of congestion and speed mass exit. However, some route changes may actually reduce traffic flow rates, and in these cases decision makers may want to discourage use of alternate routes. By using results of a behavioral survey of potential hurricane evacuees, this study identifies variables associated with the decision to alter routes and also identifies frequently used information sources. …

Harmonizing Bml Approaches: Grammars And Data Models For A Bml Standard, Dietmar Kunde, Thomas Orichel, Andreas Tolk, Ulrich Schade, Michael R. Hieb

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Battle Management Language (BML) is being developed as an open standard that unambiguously formalizes and specifies Command and Control information, including orders and reports built upon precise representations of tasks. BML is a language specification, based on doctrine and consistent with Coalition standards. The goal of BML is to enable and improve the interoperability in the C2 area, especially by enabling also the military communication with simulation systems and future robotic forces.

Although the need for BML is well documented, a SISO standard has still not been achieved. At present, there are two recommended approaches focusing on different aspects. In …

Utilizing Strategic Project Management Processes And The Nato Code Of Best Practice To Improve Management Of Experimentation Events, Andreas Tolk, Rafael E. Landaeta, Robert H. Kewley, Thomas T. Litwin

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Systems engineering and project management are two core engineering management processes supported by core quantitative disciplines within engineering management problems. Traditional approaches to systems engineering focus on a single system being engineered and managed (i.e., project managed), while challenges addressing composition of systems of systems and the reuse of systems for new solutions require a strategic management approach that promote a process flow in which the outputs of one project (e.g., deliverables, knowledge, work documents) are captured for the benefit of other projects within and outside the project-based organization. Two other core processes of engineering management are therefore critical to …

Exploring Primitives Of Meaning In Support Of Interoperability, Charles D. Turnitsa, Andreas Tolk, Robert Kewley

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Semantic mismatch between systems is due, in part, to the grouping together of terms who have defined meaning in different levels of granularity, and which are composed together into different groupings by distinct systems. It has been proposed that making use of elemental concepts (referred to here as primitives of meaning) can assist in interoperability, but seeking to define all terms at a level of granularity equal to or greater than that of all involved systems.

By decomposing a system’s groups of composed terms into primitives of meaning, the building blocks that can be reassembled into the compositions required by …

Applying Model-Based Data Engineering To Evaluate The Alignment Of Information Modeled Within Jc3iedm, Msdl, And Matrex-Fom, Anil Ustun, Andreas Tolk, Saikou Diallo

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

The need for a common representation of entities and their relations to support the easier composition and federation of independently developed solutions in support of the user has been identified and addressed in several papers presented during recent simulation interoperability workshop. One of the underlying assumptions is that standards derived from the same conceptual domain can easily be converted into each others, as they deal with the same concepts. In a project conducted for the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier, three of such solutions for military operations (with focus on the land forces) were utilized to capture the …

C2 Domain Ontology Within Our Lifetime, Leslie Winters, Andreas Tolk

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Agile Command and Control (C2) requires agile information sharing with an increasingly wide variety of military and non-military partners. While current net-centric approaches may improve information sharing within a particular niche of C2, they do not support information sharing across the larger C2 domain. Although not a silver bullet, the development and application of a C2 domain ontology to improve C2 data and service integration appears to be increasingly realistic. In fact, there are several examples of successful ontology applications in domains such as medicine, biology, and engineering, and the new discipline of Applied Ontology is emerging. C2 data, architecture, …

Differences In The Performance Of Knowledge Transfer Across Projects: A Study Of Gender And Role Of Key Project Stakeholders, Rafael E. Landaeta, Catherine Vergopia, Rey N. Diaz

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This investigation contributes empirical results of differences identified in key project stakeholders with respect to their use of knowledge transferred across projects. Gender and role were the two individual characteristics investigated. Project managers and members of project teams were the key stakeholders analyzed. Data was collected from 71 closed projects using a survey composed of closed-ended questions. The data collected was cross tabulated and statistically analyzed using Friedman's test and Spearman's correlation. The results provide evidence of the association of the performance of knowledge transfer across projects with (a) the individual factors of gender and role of key project stakeholders …

Seasonal Adaptation Of Vegetation Color In Satellite Images, Srinivas Jakkula, Vamsi K.R. Mantena, Ramu Pedada, Yuzhong Shen, Jiang Li, Hamid R. Arabnia (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Remote sensing techniques like NDVI (Normal Difference vegetative Index) when applied to phenological variations in aerial images, ascertained the seasonal rise and decline of photosynthetic activity in different seasons, resulting in different color tones of vegetation. The rise and fall of NDVI values decide the biological response, either the green up or brown down [1]. Vegetation in green up period appears with more vegetative vigor and during brown down period it has a dry appearance. This paper proposes a novel method that identifies vegetative patterns in satellite images and then alters vegetation color to simulate seasonal changes based on training …

Vegetation Identification Based On Satellite Imagery, Vamsi K.R. Mantena, Ramu Pedada, Srinivas Jakkula, Yuzhong Shen, Jiang Li, Hamid R. Arabnia (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Automatic vegetation identification plays an important role in many applications including remote sensing and high performance flight simulations. This paper presents a method to automatically identify vegetation based upon satellite imagery. First, we utilize the ISODATA algorithm to cluster pixels in the images where the number of clusters is determined by the algorithm. We then apply morphological operations to the clustered images to smooth the boundaries between clusters and to fill holes inside clusters. After that, we compute six features for each cluster. These six features then go through a feature selection algorithm and three of them are determined to …

An Integrated Framework For Modeling And Simulation Of The U.S. Southern Border: A Border Patrol Perspective, Shannon R. Bowling, Ghaith Rabadi, Charles Keating

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Border Security is a complex system consisting of many interrelated components that must function as a whole in order to be effective. The efficacy of border security is dependent on several independent agencies; these include U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Justice (DOJ), state and local law enforcement, and many others. Border security is not only a function of how well each of the agencies perform individually but also how well they interact to accomplish a goal. This paper attempts to model border security from a Border Patrol (BP) perspective using discrete …

Coalition Battle Management Language (C-Bml) Study Group Final Report, Major Kevin Galvin, Mike Hieb, Andreas Tolk, Charles Turnitsa, Curtis Blais, James Montgomery

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Interoperability across Modeling and Simulation (M&S) and Command and Control (C2) systems continues to be a significant problem for today's warfighters. M&S is well-established in military training, but it can be a valuable asset for planning and mission rehearsal if M&S and C2 systems were able to exchange information, plans, and orders more effectively. To better support the warfighter with M&S based capabilities, an open standards-based framework is needed that establishes operational and technical coherence between C2 and M&S systems.

Modeling Of Commercial Maritime Port Recoverability From Security Disruptions: Work-In-Progress, C. Ariel Pinto, Wayne K. Talley

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This article describes active research in commercial maritime port's recovery from security disruptions which explores the synergy of economic and simulation models in investigating the recoverability of ports after security incidents. Previous study has identified decision variables and throughput simulation models of port operation. However, none of these models have been utilized to investigate port's recovery from a security disruption and in evaluating recoverability investments. The method of research includes analysis of recorded disruptions, identification of impediments to recovery and investment criteria for recoverability. This article provides managers insight into including security and continuity of operation in managing various types …

Including Organizational Cultural Parameters In Work Processes, Holly A. H. Handley, Nancy J. Heacox

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Recent work in modeling decision-making work processes has focused on including the national culture of individual decision-makers in order to emphasize the differences in decision criteria between decision-makers of different nationalities. In addition to nationality, a decision-maker is also a member of an organization and brings this organizational culture to his role in the work process, where it may also affect his task performance. In order to represent the organizational impact on the work process, five organizational cultural parameters were identified and included in an algorithm for modeling and simulation of cultural difference in human decision-making. While the five modifiers …

Common Data Administration, Data Management, And Data Alignment As A Necessary Requirement For Coupling C4isr Systems And M&S Systems, Andreas Tolk

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Within the application domain of military simulation systems, training and exercises as well as support to real operations require the coupling of the simulation system delivering the needed functionality with the Command, Control, Computing, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) system providing the necessary data. The solution to this challenge is to build appropriate interfaces. Although in long term a more integrated approach will be necessary, in short and mid term, gateways and interfaces are likely to remain the standard. However, in order to succeed with the respective efforts, at least on the data level of interoperability, a common solution …

A Task Process Pre-Experimental Model, Holly A. H. Handley, Alexander H. Lewis

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The Adaptive Architectures for Command and Control (A2C2) program is a multidisciplinary program that employs a scientific basis for designing and analyzing adaptive and reconfigurable organizational structures at the Joint Task Force level. As part of its unique model-driven experimentation method, a pre-experimental model is created to support the formulation of hypotheses, the determination of key variables and parameter values, and the prediction of organizational performance. The pre-experimental model is used to explore the parameters of the experimental design in order to determine the appropriate region to conduct officer-in-the-loop experiments at the Naval Postgraduate School. A pre-experimental model based on …

Model Scheme A Good Fit For C4isr, Andreas Tolk

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Continuity In Dynamic Coalition Operations, Holly A. H. Handley, Larry K. Wentz, Alexander H. Levis

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The combination of participating organizations in a coalition operation often changes over time; the coalition is dynamic and evolves over the course of its mission. A given organization may participate in the coalition only at the stage where its expertise or resources are most needed, while other organizations may participate through the entire course of the operation. As these are independent organizations coming together for a limited time to meet a specific goal, the structure of the coalition must be able to accommodate the different command arrangements, procedures, and other characteristics of each organization. In order to develop a theory …

Incorporating Heterogeneity In Command Center Interactions, Holly A. H. Handley, Alexander H. Levis

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

One of the many complexities of multinational coalition operations stems from differences in culture, military procedures, and command and control processes between the cooperating command centers. These differences can influence the interactions between decision makers of different command centers and can affect the outcome of the coalition operation. A coalition model, composed of individual models of the five-stage interacting decision maker model, was used in a virtual experiment. The subjective parameters included in the decision maker model can be any attribute that characterizes the heterogeneity of the decision makers. In this case, the parameters of power distance and uncertainty avoidance …

Levels Of Interoperability In Coalition Systems, Holly A. H. Handley, Alexander H. Levis, Michel Bares

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Systems of different command centers that are brought together in a coalition operation must have some level of interoperability in order to work together. Bares [2000] has introduced a formalism of three interoperability domains that describe the ability of the systems to define their own level of interoperability within the coalition by assessing their own and the other systems’ ability to interact on actions of the coalition. The lowest domain, interconnectivity, reflects the ability to exchange messages; this level must already have been achieved in order for the systems to participate in the coalition. The second domain, interoperability, reflects a …

Approximation Model Building For Reliability & Maintainability Characteristics Of Reusable Launch Vehicles, Resit Unal, W. Douglas Morris, Nancy H. White, Roger A. Lepsch, Richard W. Brown

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper describes the development of parametric models for estimating operational reliability and maintainability characteristics for reusable launch vehicle concepts, based on vehicle size and technology support level. A reliability and maintainability analysis tool (RMAT) and response surface methods are utilized to build parametric approximation models for rapidly estimating operational reliability and maintainability characteristics such as mission completion reliability. These models that approximate RMAT, can then be utilized for fast analysis of operational requirements, for lifecycle cost estimating and for multidisciplinary design optimization.