Search

Wargaming is a process of thinking through and visualizing events that could occur during a possible course of action. Over the past 200 years, wargaming has matured into a set of formalized processes. One area of growing interest is the application of agent-based modeling. Agent-based modeling and its additional supporting technologies has potential to introduce a third-generation wargaming capability to the Army, creating a positive overmatch decision-making capability. In its simplest form, agent-based modeling is a computational technique that helps the modeler understand and simulate how the "whole of a system" responds to change over time. It provides a decentralized method of looking at situations where individual agents are instantiated within an environment, interact with each other, and empowered to make their own decisions. However, this technology is not without its own risks and limitations. This paper explores a technology roadmap, identifying research topics that could realize agent-based modeling within a tactical wargaming context.

Achieving lithographic printability at advanced nodes (14nm and beyond) can impose significant restrictions on physical design, including large numbers of complex design rule checks (DRC) and compute-intensive detailed process model checking. Early identifying of yield-limiter hotspots is essential for both foundries and designers to significantly improve process maturity. A real challenge is to scan the design space to identify hotspots, and decide the proper course of action regarding each hotspot. Building a scored pattern library with real candidates for hotspots for both foundries and designers is of great value. Foundries are looking for the most used patterns to optimize their technology for and identify patterns that should be forbidden, while designers are looking for the patterns that are sensitive to their neighboring context to perform lithographic simulation with their context to decide if they are hotspots or not.[1] In this paper we propose a framework to data mine designs to obtain set of representative patterns of each design, our aim is to sample the designs at locations that can be potential yield limiting. Though our aim is to keep the total number of patterns as small as possible to limit the complexity, still the designer is free to generate layouts results in several million of patterns that define the whole design space. In order to handle the large number of patterns that represent the design building block constructs, we need to prioritize the patterns according to their importance. The proposed pattern classification methodology depends on giving scores to each pattern according to the severity of hotspots they cause, the probability of their presence in the design and the likelihood of causing a hotspot. The paper also shows how the scoring scheme helps foundries to optimize their master pattern libraries and priorities their efforts in 14nm technology and beyond. Moreover, the paper demonstrates how the hotspot scoring helps in improving the runtime of lithographic simulation verification by identifying which patterns need to be optimized to correctly describe candidate hotspots, so that only potential problematic patterns are simulated.

Medical images involve several steps of acquisition, processing, display, and reading to convey information from the body of a patient to a clinician who needs to decide on a course of action. The effect of all these steps is a large number of potentially coupled parameters that may need to be adjusted in order to optimize diagnostic task performance. Model observers were developed to assist this process by providing an objective computational tool that is predictive of visual performance. The defining characteristic of model observers is the generation of a decision variable from which the task is readily performed. Various models for generating the decision variable are reviewed, and various challenges and opportunities for model observers are described.

In the complex situation of the battlefield, COA (course of action) places an important role. It is required to coordinate many resources in some actions to achieve the desired purpose in the battle. The main goal of COA is to arrange the action in the right order and to put the right resource in the right action. The task which is composed of many actions is always extremely complex. Therefore, COA is actually NP-Hard and a multi-objective optimization problem. It is difficult to solve this problem by common methods. In this paper, a mechanism of co-evolutionary is introduced to solve the problem of COA. It deals well with the problems of resource management and action scheduling.

The military planning process utilizes simulation to determine the appropriate course of action (COA) that will achieve a campaign end state. However, due to the difficulty in developing and generating simulation level COAs, only a few COAs are simulated. This may have been appropriate for traditional conflicts but the evolution of warfare from attrition based to effects based strategies, as well as the complexities of 4 th generation warfare and asymmetric adversaries have placed additional demands on military planners and simulation. To keep pace with this dynamic, changing environment, planners must be able to perform continuous, multiple, "what-if" COA analysis. Scenario management and generation are critical elements to achieving this goal. An effects based scenario generation research project demonstrated the feasibility of automated scenario generation techniques which support multiple stove-pipe and emerging broad scope simulations. This paper will discuss a case study in which the scenario generation capability was employed to support COA simulations to identify plan effectiveness. The study demonstrated the effectiveness of using multiple simulation runs to evaluate the effectiveness of alternate COAs in achieving the overall campaign (metrics-based) objectives. The paper will discuss how scenario generation technology can be employed to allow military commanders and mission planning staff to understand the impact of command decisions on the battlespace of tomorrow.

This investigation centered on the most challenging search and rescue requirements: finding small targets in high seas. Our course of action was to investigate the capabilities of known hyperspectral and LWIR sensors in realistic conditions of target and environment to drive the design of a sensor system capable of substantially improving search efficiency and efficacy for these conditions. The relevant results from this study include demonstration of significant power in clutter rejection (e.g., whitewater and wave complexity) by the LWIR sensor. In addition, several factors combine to indicate that a modest implementation of HSI and IR sensors would provide significant improvement in search efficiency and efficacy for small targets in high seas. These factors include high PD, low PFA, and the untiring nature of the sensors when combined with the potential of real-time automatic target/background discrimination. This modest implementation would translate directly into faster, more complete coverage, at lower overall costs to the USCG, and a more likely probability of a successful search mission.

The Linguistic Geometry (LG) approach provides theoretical foundations of the Effects Based Operations (EBO) such as cascade effects, centers of gravity (COG), effect inference, etc. This approach is based on the concept of LG hypergames. The first prototype of LG hypergame, LG-EBO, developed in 2001, demonstrated an LG-inference of direct and indirect effects from distant causes as well as reverse inference of minimal list of causes from the desired effects. In addition, LG-EBO was the first LG prototype capable of demonstrating deceptive tactics for both sides of a conflict. In this paper we further develop our approach to EBO by giving a comprehensive description of LG approach to EBO including theory and applications.

Existing target-based and objectives-based (“strategy-to-task”) approaches to mission planning do not explicitly address the adversary’s decision-making processes. Obviously, the adversary’s courses of action (COA) are influenced in a cause-and-effect manner by actions taken by friendly forces. Given the iterative/interleaved nature of actions taken by enemy and friendly forces, mission planning must clearly take adversarial decision making into account especially during concurrent mission planning and execution. Currently, adversarial behaviour with regards to cause-and-effect are difficult to account for within the framework of existing planning approaches. This paper describes a cognitive architecture for computationally modeling, predicting, and explaining adversarial behaviors and COAs and proposes an integrated framework for mission planning. Our framework fits naturally within the Effects-Based Operations (EBO) approach to mission planning.

The present and accepted standard for determining the status of tissue relies on visual inspection of the tissue. Based on the surface appearance of the tissue, medical personnel will make an assessment of the tissue and proceed to a course of action or treatment. Visual inspection of tissue is central to many areas of clinical medicine, and remains a cornerstone of dermatology, reconstructive plastic surgery, and in the management of chronic wounds, and burn injuries. Near infrared spectroscopic imaging holds the promise of being able to monitor the dynamics of tissue physiology in real-time and detect pathology in living tissue. The continuous measurement of metabolic, physiological, or structural changes in tissue is of primary concern in many clinical and biomedical domains. A near infrared hyperspectral imaging system was constructed for the assessment of burn injuries and skin flaps or skin grafts. This device merged basic science with engineering and integrated manufacturing to develop a device suitable to detect ischemic tissue. This device has the potential of providing measures of tissue physiology, oxygen delivery and tissue hydration during patient screening, in the operating room or during therapy and post-operative/treatment monitoring. Results from a pre-clinical burn injury study will be presented.

The field of optics is continuing an explosive growth period and is finding new applications every day. The need and demand for educated and trained optical engineers and scientists has caused a significant increase in the number of academic optics programs being offered. The objective of this paper is to put forth the issues and offer a possible course of action.

Robert Hooke conjectured about fluid circulation in plants as well as in animals in Micrographia in a passage that is equally important as a commentary on the dependence, not of technology on science, but of science on technology: It seems very probable that Nature has ... very many appropriated instruments and contrivances, whereby to bring her designs and end to pass, which 'tis not improbable but that some diligent observer, if helped with better Microscopes, may in time detect. This paper, written in the form of a scientific poem, reviews the current and near-future state-of-the-art of automated intelligent microscopes based on computer science and technology. The basic concepts of computer intelligence for cytology and histology are presented and elaborated. Limitations of commercial devices and research proto-types are examined (Dx), and remedies are suggested (Rx). The course of action pro-posed and being undertaken constitutes an original contribution toward advancing the state-of-the-science, in the hope of advancing the state-of-the-art of medicine. With rapid, contemporary advances in both science and technology, it may now be appropriate to modify Hooke's passage: It seems very probable that Nature has ... very many appropriated instruments and contrivances, whereby to bring her designs and end to pass, which 'tis not improbable but that some diligent observer, if helped with Intelligent Microscopes, may in time detect.© (1979) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

A military operations order contains instructions for the maneuver and fire support elements, among others. In practice, possible maneuver plans are constructed from an approved course of action and it is the responsibility of the field artillery staff representative to respond with supporting fire support plans. The Organization for Combat tool (OFC) can produce fire support plans of a quality commensurate with Command and General Staff School graduates, validated through the system's successful completion of the appropriate course final examinations.