Situation analysis for decision support: A formal approach

Defence Research and Development Canada at Valcartier is pursuing the exploration of situation analysis concepts and the prototyping of computer-based decision support systems to maintain the state of situational awareness for the decision maker. The integration of the human element at the beginning of the analysis process is an important facet of our approach. The mathematical formalism and methodology proposed will be illustrated on concrete examples for visibility-based terrain analysis and reasoning for combat search and rescue (CSAR) operations. The work presented is based on the North Atlantis scenario GIS dataset, depicting a conflict taking place over an imaginary continent. The dataset is composed of topographic, hydrographical, transportation, and other typical land cover layers. Applications presented will include landing site determination as well as shortest path to crash site determination.