Digital Commons Network^™

Three-Dimensional Data Visualization Of Electronic Military Intelligence Using The Project Broadsword System, Michael L. Goeringer

Theses and Dissertations

Today's military electronic infrastructure solves many problems while creating others. Using computers, battlefield and global awareness is brought to bear through the near real-time linking of sensor platforms from around the globe. These intelligence networks produce vast amounts of data that must be parsed, interpreted, digested and stored by information gathering systems. As the amount of intelligence data continues to increase, these text-based systems become cumbersome and inadequate. To ensure vital information is not overlooked or discovered too late, other forms of intelligence product management and data navigation need to be investigated. This thesis explores procedures for enhancing the capabilities …

An Information Visualization Solution For The Analysis Of The Afm Simulation Output Data, Stuart H. Kurkowski

Theses and Dissertations

With the advancement of computer hardware and software computer simulations are now able to run faster and track more elements than ever before burdening the analyst with more and more data to analyze. Air Mobility Command's (AMC) Airlift Flow Model (AFM) is the Air Force's logistics simulator that simulates multi-day mobility scenarios in a matter of minutes producing megabytes of output data. Because the analysts' needs for summaries, trends, and comparisons of the data have surpassed the capabilities of current desktop spreadsheet analysis techniques new tools are needed.

An Intelligent User Interface To Support Air Force Weather Product Generation And Automated Metrics, Darryl N. Leon

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force pilots require dependable weather reports so they may avoid unsafe flying conditions. In order to better gauge the accuracy of its weather products, Air Force Weather has established the requirement for an Air Force-wide automated weather metrics program. Under the guidelines for this program, forecasts will automatically be compared to observed weather to determine their accuracy. Statistics will be collected in the hopes of determining forecast error trends that can be corrected through education and training. In order for the statistical data produced by such a program to draw reliable conclusions about forecast accuracy, however, the correct format …

A Human-Centered Approach For Designing Decision Support Systems, Sean G. Kern

Theses and Dissertations

The choice to include the human in the decision process affects four key areas of system design: problem representation, system analysis and design, solution technique selection, and interface requirements specification. I introduce a design methodology that captures the necessary choices associated with each of these areas. In particular I show how this methodology is applied to the design of an actual decision Support system for satellite operations scheduling. Supporting the user's ability to monitor the actions of the system and to guide the decision process of the system are two key considerations in the successful design of a decision support …

A Method Of Focusing The Attention Of The Decision-Maker On Uncertain Information, John F. Moesner Iv

Theses and Dissertations

Military decision-makers need to be able to synthesize large amounts of information quickly and make accurate and timely decisions. However, all too often, when a decision-maker is bombarded with important information that has an uncertainty associated with it, that information is often neglected. One method of dealing with this type of information overload is through proper data orientation. By reducing the clutter of irrelevant information, the proportions of useful and relevant data can be increased. At the same time, the attention of the decision-maker is directed to the critical tasks or centers of gravity. The WATCHDOG Decision Support Tool is …

A Component Based Approach To Agent Specification, David J. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force, as well as all of industry, is currently faced with the problem of having to produce larger and more complex software systems that run efficiently and reliably as well as being extensible and maintainable. This research addresses this problem by developing a knowledge representation language that can be used to unambiguously specify and design software systems in a verifiable, efficient, and understandable manner. The language is a combination of object-oriented and component-based methodologies and makes use of both graphics and text to represent information. Although designed for the development of any type of software system, the language …

Knowledge Base Support For Design And Synthesis Of Multi-Agent Systems, Marc J. Raphael

Theses and Dissertations

AgentTool is an AFIT-produced, AFOSR-sponsored multi-agent system (MAS) development tool intended for production of MASs that meet military requirements. This research focuses on enabling MAS design and synthesis tools like agentTool to store, retrieve, and filter persistent, reusable, and reliable agent domain knowledge. This "enabling" is vital if such tools are expected to produce consistent, maintainable, and verifiable agent applications on short timetables. Enabling requires: 1) modeling the agent knowledge domain, 2) designing and employing a persistent knowledge base, and 3) bridging that domain model to the knowledge base with an extensible domain interchange grammar. The achieved interchange grammar, called …

Improving The Analyst And Decision-Maker’S Perspective Through Uncertainty Visualization, Evan T. Watkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis constructs the Taxonomy of Uncertainty and an approach for enhancing the information in decision support systems. The hierarchical categorization of numerous causes for uncertainty defines the taxonomy, which fostered the development of a technique for visualizing uncertainty. This technique is fundamental to expressing the multi-dimensional uncertainty that can be associated with any object. By including and intuitively expressing uncertainty, the approach facilitates and enhances intuition and decision-making without undue information overload. The resulting approach for enhancing the information involves recording uncertainty, identifying the relevant items, computing and visualizing uncertainty, and providing interaction with the selection of uncertainty. A …

Enhancing A Virtual Distributed Library User Interface Via Server-Side User Profile Caching, Jason T. Ward

Theses and Dissertations

Various Department of Defense (DoD) agencies archive terabytes of intelligence imagery and electrooptical signature data. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Sensors Directorate (AFRL/SN), is tasked with creating and managing a virtual distributed library that facilitates secure, detailed queries across these distributed holdings using the internally developed Advanced Query Tool (AQT). In this research, a methodology is proposed to utilize user profiling techniques to augment a digital library. As part of this methodology, product-oriented usability analysis metrics are introduced that quantitatively verify the usability of an interface. The methodology is applied to the AFRL/SN's Virtual Distributed Laboratory AQT and subsequently analyzed …

On The Future Of Problem Solving Environments, Elias N. Houstis, John R. Rice

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

The Bond Agent System And Applications, Ladislau Boloni, Kyungkoo Jun, Krzysztof Palacz, Radu Sion, Dan C. Marinescu

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Fine Tuning Interfacea Relaxation Methods For Elliptic Differential, John R. Rice, P. Tsompanopoulou, E. Vavalis

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Information Management In A Ubiquitous Global Postioning Environment, Walid G. Aref, Susanne E. Hambrusch, Sunil Prabhakar

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Analysis Of Cockpit Display Development Tools, Matthew J. Gebhardt

Theses and Dissertations

Currently, no standard methodology exists that enables cockpit display engineers to evaluate software tools used in the development of graphical cockpit displays. Furthermore, little research has been accomplished in comparing current software development tools with traditional hand-coded methods, This research effort discusses a framework for analyzing cockpit display software development tools and follows through with a detailed analysis comparing today's hand-coding standard, OpenGL, with two of today's cockpit display software development suites, Virtual Application Prototyping System (VAPS) and Display Editor. The comparison exploits the analysis framework establishing the advantages and disadvantages of the three software development suites. The analysis framework …

Data Warehouse Techniques To Support Global On-Demand Weather Forecast Metrics, Meriellen C. Joga

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force pilots and other operators make crucial mission planning decisions based on weather forecasts; therefore, the ability to forecast the weather accurately is a critical issue to Air Force Weather (AFW) and its customers. The goal of this research is to provide Air Force Weather with a methodology to automate statistical data analysis for the purpose of providing on-demand metrics. A data warehousing methodology is developed and applied to the weather metrics problem in order to present an option that will facilitate on-demand metrics. On-line analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining solutions are also discussed.

Sap Implementation At The University Of Nebraska, T. Sieber, Keng Siau, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, M. Sieber

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The University Community will have access to information, including human, physical, and financial, through an integrated administrative system. The system will be user-driven and flexible in a seamless and distributed environment to support efficient and effective business processes necessary to accommodate the mission of the University and its campuses.

Extensible Markup Language As A Weather Tool, Michael J. Calidonna

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a proof of concept work that will extend the Core Mapping Application Program Interface (CMAPI) components to include weather data. The CMAPI project is headed by Air Force Research Lab (AFRL)/Information Directorate Information Handling Branch (IFEB) at Rome labs in Rome, New York. This work extends the CMAPI project in two distinct areas. The first goal is to figure out how to overlay and display weather data on a dynamically linked Internet platform. This was accomplished by incorporating existing data from the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) into the CMAPI program in a static environment. The other …

A Java Universal Vehicle Router In Support Of Routing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Robert W. Harder

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) help the military gather information in times of peace and war. During a mission, typically 100 sites or more, a UAV will frequently be re-tasked to visit a pop-up threat, leaving the operator to determine the best way to finish the day's list of sites after the re-tasking. I develop a prototype application to serve the needs of a specific customer, the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron, by helping them preplan missions and dynamically re-task UAVs. This prototype application is built on a reusable airframe router called the core AFIT Router, which can later be added to more …

A Distributed Agent Architecture For A Computer Virus Immune System, Paul K. Harmer

Theses and Dissertations

Information superiority is identified as an Air Force core competency and is recognized as a key enabler for the success of future missions. Information protection and information assurance are vital components required for achieving superiority in the Infosphere, but these goals are threatened by the exponential birth rate of new computer viruses. The increased global interconnectivity that is empowering advanced information systems is also increasing the spread of malicious code and current anti-virus solutions are quickly becoming overwhelmed by the burden of capturing and classifying new viral stains. To overcome this problem, a distributed computer virus immune system (CVIS) based …

A Formal Methodology And Technique For Verifying Communication Protocols In A Multi-Agent Environment, Timothy H. Lacey

Theses and Dissertations

As network bandwidth increases, distributed applications are becoming increasingly prevalent. Systems using these applications are very complicated to build and must be dependable. Software agents are ideal for breaking complicated problems into manageable subtasks. Agent conversations, a series of messages passed between agents, are the cornerstone of multi-agent systems and must be deemed correct before being placed into service. The purpose of this research was to develop a formal methodology and technique to verify that the communication protocols defined in a multi-agent environment were valid. This was accomplished by examining agent conversations before deploying the system. An additional goal of …

Formal Object State Model Transformations For Automated Agent System Synthesis, David W. Marsh

Theses and Dissertations

Automated agent system synthesis is the process of generating code from a requirements specification with appropriate inputs from the software engineer. Object-oriented (OO) specifications are frequently used to model intelligent software agent systems and software requirements in general; formal representations capture precisely the intentions of the specifier. Portions of OO specifications can be classified as the structural, functional, and state (or dynamic) models; major strides have been taken in the development of transformations for creating code from formal OO specifications, specifically the structural and functional aspects, and are captured within the AFIT Wide-Spectrum Object Modeling Environment (AWSOME). This research creates …

Multiagent Systems Engineering: A Methodology For Analysis And Design Of Multiagent Systems, Mark F. Wood

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis defines a methodology for the creation of multiagent systems, the Multiagent Systems Engineering (MaSE) methodology. The methodology is a key issue in the development of any complex system and there is currently no standard or widely used methodology in the realm of multiagent systems. MaSE covers the entire software lifecycle, starting from an initial prose specification, and creating a set of formal design documents in a graphical style based on a formal syntax. The final product of MaSE is a diagram describing the deployment of a system of intelligent agents that communicate through structured conversations. MaSE was created …

Designing Human-Centered Automation: Tradeoffs In Collision Avoidance System Design, Michael A. Goodrich, Erwin R. Boer

Faculty Publications

Technological advances have made plausible the design of automated systems that share responsibility with a human operator. The decision to use automation to assist or replace a human operator in safety-critical tasks must account for not only the technological capabilities of the sensor and control subsystems, but also the autonomy, capabilities, and preferences of the human operator. By their nature, such human-centered automation problems have multiple attributes: an attribute reflecting human goals and capabilities, and an attribute reflecting automation goals and capabilities. Although good theories exist that describe portions of human behavior generation, in the absence of a general theory …

Crop Updates 2000 Cereals - Part 4, C. Tang, Z. Rengel, E. Diatloff, B. Mcgann, Mehmet Cakir, Nick Galwey, David Poulsen, M. Carter, A. Briney, R. Wilson, R. H. Potter, M. G. K. Jones, Ian Barclay, Robyn Mclean, Dean A. Diepeveen, Rob Loughman, Ross Kingwell, Michael O'Connell, Simone Blennerhasset, Benjamin Michael Tiller, Senthold Asseng, Holger Meinke, Bill Bowden, Jeff Russell, Ivan Lee, Clare Johnson, Chris Newman, Robert Emery, Romolo Tassone, Ernestos Kostas, Graeme Ralph, Robert Sudmeyer, David Hall, Harvey Jones

Crop Updates

This session covers twelve papers from different authors:

BREEDING

1.Response to subsoil acidity of wheat genotypes differing in Al-tolerance, C. Tang, Z. Rengel, E. Diatloff and B. McGann, Soil Science and Plant Nutrition/CLIMA, University of Western Australia

2. Application of molecular markers in Barley Improvement, Mehmet Cakir¹, Nick Galwey¹ and David Poulsen^{2, 1}Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Western Australia, ²Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Hermitage Research Station, Queensland

3. Implementation of molecular markers for wheat improvement in the Western Region, M. Carter¹, A. Briney¹, …

Crop Updates 2000 Cereals - Part 3, Roslyn J. Jettner, Blakely Paynter, Glenn Macdonald, Pierre Fievez, Ian Foster, David Tennant, Wal Anderson, James Ridsdill-Smith, Celia Pavri, Ross Chapman, Senthold Asseng, Steve Carr, Brad Nutt, Lindrea Latham, Roger Jones, Anyou Liu, Clinton K. Revell, David Ferris, Roy Latta, Lisa-Jane Blacklow, Chris Matthews, Ted Woodburn, Paul Yeoh, Ian Rose, Anita Lyons, Simon Cook, Matthew L. Adams, Robert J. Corner

Crop Updates

This session covers eighteen papers from different authors:

BARLEY AND OAT AGRONOMY

1. Unicorn barley must meet malting specifications to be a viable option, Roslyn Jettnerand Blakely Paynter, Agriculture Western Australia

2. Optimum oat seed rates, Glenn McDonald, Agriculture Western Australia

3. Production and Quality of export Oaten Hay (1998 and 1989), Pierre Fievez, Pierre Fievez and Associates

FROST

4. Climatology of Frost in Southern Western Australia, Ian Foster, Agriculture Western Australia

5. Flowering calculator, David Tennant, Agriculture Western Australia

6. Some options for managing the risk of frost damage, Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia

PASTURE

7. …

Infofilter: Supporting Quality Of Service For Fresh Information Delivery, Ling Liu, Calton Pu, Karsten Schwan, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

With the explosive growth of the Internet and World Wide Web comes a dramatic increase in the number of users that compete for the shared resources of distributed system environments. Most implementations of application servers and distributed search software do not distinguish among requests to different web pages. This has the implication that the behavior of application servers is quite unpredictable. Applications that require timely delivery of fresh information consequently suffer the most in such competitive environments. This paper presents a model of quality of service (QoS) and the design of a QoS-enabled information delivery system that implements such a …

Two Schools Of Thought About The Political Psychology Of The Internet, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes and critiques two common assumptions about the psychopolitical consequences of continual modification and dispersal of the Internet.

Human Fallacies And Personnel Security: James Deutch And Wen Ho Lee, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes psychological phenomena that can easily subvert personnel security standards in government, the military, and business.

Wright State University College Of Engineering And Computer Science Bits And Pcs Newsletter, Volume 16, Number 2, February 2000, College Of Engineering And Computer Science, Wright State University

BITs and PCs Newsletter

A ten page newsletter created by the Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science that addresses the current affairs of the college.

Separating Touching Objects In Remote Sensing Imagery: The Restricted Growing Concept And Implementations, Leen-Kiat Soh, Costas Tsatsoulis

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This paper defines the restricted growing concept (RGC) for object separation and provides an algorithmic analysis of its implementations. Our concept decomposes the problem of object separation into two stages. First, separation is achieved by shrinking the objects to their cores while keeping track of their originals as masks. Then the core is grown within the masks obeying the guidelines of a restricted growing algorithm. In this paper, we apply RGC to the remote sensing domain, particularly the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sea ice images.