Dynamic resource management and information integration for proactive decision support and planning

Major challenges anticipated by future mission planners comprise automated processing, interpretation, and development of intelligent decisions using large volumes of dynamically evolving structured and unstructured data, while simultaneously decreasing the time necessary to plan and replan. Motivated by the need to seamlessly integrate automated information processing and resource management for proactive decision-making and execution in a highly adaptive network-centric environment, we propose a) surveillance and interdiction algorithms for dynamic resource management; b) distributed and collaborative mixed-initiative multi-level resource allocation algorithms to allocate hierarchically-organized assets to process inter-dependent tasks and goals; and c) quantifying the value of information in order to accomplish mission objectives. The decision support concepts and algorithms discussed in this paper seek to maximize the efficiency of information transactions in mission planning/re-planning processes by achieving shared situational awareness and increased mission effectiveness. We specifically focus on the dynamic decision making processes associated with planning in a broad range of maritime operations.