Exploring C4ISR employment methods

We investigate several employment schemes for command, control, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) collection assets in a simulated force combat model. These collection assets include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and any ground platforms, normally part of a conventional coalition force lay down. Samples of ground assets include: armored personnel carriers (APC), helicopters, tanks, trucks, binoculars and eyes. Collection asset performance characteristics, along with obtained sensor scans, enable probabilistic identification of participating adversaries or their weapon systems. Comparative analysis focuses on the time to initial enemy observation, threshold of commander´s critical information requirements met, and prevention of collection asset loss rate. The analyst controls all thresholds via the user interface. Additionally, a paradigm for information management, i.e. intelligence fusion, is presented. We explore procedures for reducing data volume within this paradigm. We also discuss implications for the coordination of simulation, analysis, and acquisition activities.