SBIR-STTR Award

The Force Template will provide JBI management processes with the semantic content they require. But determination of what those processes are, and hence what information and interactions the FT mechanism must support, requires experimentation with a working infosphere and these semantic models will inevitably change over time. What is required is a flexible approach to building Force Templates that includes semantic content with sufficient richness to provide a means to experiment with, and validate, the overall approach to the use of Force Templates in a JBI. By using the right methodologies and design patterns combined with semantic structures derived from earlier efforts to address the problem information dissemination management, we will be able to make significant progress in developing and demonstrating a robust and powerful Force Template mechanism.. Specifically, we propose to (1) define a structure with the flexibility to handle a wide range of semantic content in regard to describing units and organizations, (2) leverage previous work to provide a specification of a first-generation semantic content, and (3) specify both the basic FT design and the semantic content in a manner that will allow code generation of a prototype system directly from the specifications in Phase II.

Benefits:
The result of this effort will be a flexible and easily tailored approach to Force Templates. The use of ontological patterns consistent with code-generation tools will speed up and reduce risk in terms of the Phase II effort. The ontologies themselves will provide a powerful semantic base for describing unit/organizational capabilities and needs.

Keywords:
ontology code-generation

This proposal will address the need for a flexible and agile approach to configuring and managing a JBI without placing excessive burdens on the operators. Phase I of this effort refined and developed the concept of using Force Templates as a mechanism for integrating units and their clients into an infosphere. Phase II will implement a first-generation capability based on these concepts. The prototype will provide a mechanism for easily implementing and controlling the flow of information based on the operational requirements and organizational structure of the user community. The management components within the JBI infrastructure will use this operational context as the basis for selecting from a set of user-submitted information management policies those that are applicable to each individual client. This will provide a mechanism that not only addresses the problem of getting the right information to the right person at the right time, but also the problem of preventing the wrong information from reaching the wrong person. The components implementing these functions will provide full flexibility in terms of operational domains. The software will be equally capable of managing infospheres supporting military, civilian, or private sector applications. A testbed will be provided in which the prototype software may be used to experiment with various operational procedures, thereby gaining insight into how a JBI might best be used in various situations.

Benefits:
This project will produce a first-generation management capability for a JBI. The capability will use force templates to provide a mechanism for the rapid integration of units into an infosphere. The ability of a JBI to support large organizations while simultaneously minimizing operator workload will be significantly enhanced. A testbed capability will provide a mechanism for experimentation to further develop and refine the operational concepts, tactics, and procedures associated with the operational deployment of a JBI "system of systems". The value of this work is not limited to military, or even government, environments. There is a growing demand in the commercial sector for real-time business intelligence systems to support enterprise-wide decision-makers. The JBI concept is directly applicable but will not be viewed as acceptable to this market until it is shown to be manageable.

Keywords:
force templates, infosphere, publish-subscribe, model driven architecture, prototype, testbed