Accession Number:

ADA516035

Title:

Collaboration and Coalition Architectures

Descriptive Note:

Conference paper

Corporate Author:

GEORGE MASON UNIV FAIRFAX VA CENTER OF EXCELLENCE IN COMMAND CONTROL COMMUNICATIONS AND INTELLIGENCE

Personal Author(s):

• Handley, Holly A.
• Levis, Alexander H.

Report Date:

2002-01-01

Pagination or Media Count:

23.0

Abstract:

When command centers from multiple organizations join together to form a coalition, different task assignment strategies can be used to determine what tasks each cooperating command center should participate in. As the composition of a coalition may change over time, i.e. new organizations may join after the initial coalition has been formed, and some organizations may leave before the mission is accomplished, the allocation of the coalitions systems to mission tasks becomes an important aspect of the coalition, as it may change dynamically. The way in which tasks are assigned to the cooperating command centers creates different coalition architectures, which induce different levels of collaboration requirements among the cooperating command centers. The mission may be defined so that the tasks can be divided into geographic sectors with a responsible cooperating command center for each sector this results in a divisional structure, which requires a low level of collaboration among the cooperating command centers. If the tasks are assigned based on each cooperating command centers ability to perform the task, this results in a functional structure, which requires a higher level of collaboration among the cooperating command centers to complete the mission. Using an executable model of a coalition, based on the model of the five-stage interacting decision maker, simulations were conducted that compared different methods of assigning systems to tasks in a coalition operation. The model was populated with data from an operational scenario that has been created to provide a context for development of coalition decision support system tools. The effect of the different operational architectures, based on the task assignment strategy, is reflected in the levels of collaboration required among the cooperating command centers, and the timeliness and accuracy of the coalition performance.

Descriptors:

• *COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEMS
• *DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
• *STRATEGY
• *MISSIONS
• ACCURACY
• ALLOCATIONS
• TIMELINESS
• ARCHITECTURE
• SKILLS
• ORGANIZATIONS
• SYMPOSIA
• SCENARIOS
• CONTROL CENTERS

Subject Categories:

• Command, Control and Communications Systems

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE