Perspectives on the Need for Semantic Technology

1. Perspectives on the Need for Semantic Technology James Milligan Information Directorate Air Force Research Laboratory James.Milligan@rl.af.mil

2. Presentation Outline • Provide some examples of military problems and needs ripe for semantic technology • Describe some AFRL activities making use of semantic technology as part of the solution • Conclusions

3. Heterogeneous EnterpriseProblems • Achieving and maintaining systems interoperability • Incompatible data, data models, services, and applications. • Challenges exist in sharing information across domains • Insufficient information sharing capabilities that allow effective information exchange across multiple communities of interest, security enclaves, organizational boundaries, and infrastructures. • Policy conflicts can hamper efficiency and effectiveness of joint and coalition operations • Insufficient means to encode policies for semi-autonomous interpretation, negotiation, enactment, and enforcement.

4. Heterogeneous EnterpriseNeeds • Systems that interoperate (even in the face of change) • Compatible data, data models, services, and applications. • Cross-domain information sharing • Information sharing capabilities that allow effective information exchange across multiple communities of interest. • Policy specification and enforcement • Tools and mechanisms to encode policies for semi-autonomous interpretation, negotiation, enactment, and enforcement.

5. Policy Enforced Interoperable Communities of Interest Semantic Broker Info COI Information Space COI Information Space COI Information Space COI Information Space Region (PACOM) Region (PACOM) Region (NORTHCOM) Theater

6. Situational AwarenessProblems • Maintaining situational awareness is difficult if the necessary collection assets cannot be rapidly deployed and connected • Inability to autonomously manage and network theatre assets for rapid situational awareness. • Correlating and integrating vast amounts intelligence data remains a hard problem • Particularly as new sensor systems and platforms come on-line, it is difficult to effectively correlate, disambiguate, deconflict and combine sensor and human intelligence data into a common contextual model. • Human interpretation of intelligence information is time consuming and sometimes error-prone • Insufficient ability to rapidly interpret vast amounts of intelligence information.

7. Situational AwarenessNeeds • Enabling situational awareness • Ability to autonomously manage and network theatre assets for rapidly achieving situational awareness. • Intelligence data fusion • Ability to effectively correlate, disambiguate, and combine sensor and human intelligence data into a common context and information model. • Rapid interpretation of intelligence • Ability to rapidly interpret vast amounts of intelligence information.

8. Intelligence Collection and Analysis Enable Fuse Interpret

9. Effects-Based OperationsProblems • Ensuring that critical command and control systems continue to operate as needed • Information systems require a high level of human intervention to keep them operational during mission preparation and execution. • It is difficult to synchronize the application of diverse, distributed forces in time-critical situations • Execution management capabilities are challenged in near real-time conditions in order to dominate an adversary and achieve the desired effects. • Rapidly assessing that combat operations are achieving the desired effects is a challenge • Real-time effects-based assessment of combat operations is problematic.

10. Effects-Based OperationsNeeds • Command and control systems resource management • Self-aware systems that can learn, adapt, and heal themselves. • Rapid employment of agile forces • Near real-time, dynamic synchronization of the employment of distributed forces to dominate an adversary and achieve desired effects. • Real-time effects assessment • Provisioning of real-time effects-based assessment of combat operations.

11. C2, Synchronization, Assessment ConstellationNet NCES Collaboration Service Collaboration Targeting Decision Semantically Tagged Info CAOC Notification CAOC NCES Messaging Service BDA Intelligence Report Weapons Effects Assessment Subscribers NCES Messaging Service ENEMY TANK CAOC – Combined Air and Space Operations Center NCES – Net-centric Enterprise Services

12. AFRL Semantic WebTechnologies & Applications Enabling Technologies Ontologies Knowledge Bases Artificial Intelligence Expert Systems Intelligent Agents Machine Inferencing, Reasoning and Learning Formal Methods W3C Standards, Protocols, and Reference Implementations Defense Applications Net-Centric Operations (e.g., NCES) Service Discovery, Composition, Mediation, Workflow Orchestration, and Execution Natural Language Processing Systems and Information Modeling, Integration, and Interoperability Knowledge Acquisition/Representation Cognitive Systems Modeling and Simulation Policy Representation and Enforcement Collaboration Cross-domain Information Sharing Resource Management Effects Based Operations Adversarial Modeling/Cyber Operations Decision Support/Planning/Predictive Environments (e.g., CPE) Multi-Platform/Source Intelligence Fusion Homeland Security

13. Representative AFRL Semantic Research and Applications Information Transformation Semantic Interoperability Anticipatory Environments Dynamic Air & Space Effects Based Assessment (DASEA) Collaboration Distributed enterprise object models Integrating Human Centeredness in the Design of Collaborative Systems Cross-Domain Information Access (CDIA) Foundation technologies Defensive Cyber Operations Cyber Situational Understanding (Event Pattern Ontologies SBIR) NETWAR: Strategic Attack Prediction and Detection Command and Control Resource Management System Link Discovery & Pattern Learning Heterogeneous Urban RSTA—Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Target Acquisition—Team (HURT) SIGINT Sensor Management Semantic-based Policy Enforcement Effects Based Operations Ontology for Scenario Generation SBIR NeXt Generation (XG) Program OWL Policy Language Development Command and Control Mobility Projects Intelligent Semantic NOTAM Query Capability Formal Methods

14. Representative AFRL Efforts Employing Semantic Technologies • Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) • Semantic Interoperability • Rapid Processing of Intelligence Data • Commander’s Predictive Environment (CPE) • Infospace Concept Exploration and Development • Multi-Platform SIGINT Fusion and ISR Management • Tangram: A Fully Automated, Continuously Operating, Intelligence Analysis Support System • Intelligence Fusion for Targets-Under-Trees • FY06 Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Program topics: • AF06-047 Semantic Interoperability of C2 Tools and Technologies • AF06-049 Real-Time Effects Assessment Management System • AF06-052 Semantically Correct Interoperability of Executable Architectures • AF06-053 Knowledge-based Technologies to Support Predictive Mission Awareness • AF06-060 Enabling Monitoring and Analysis of Concept-Based Event Information in Text • AF06-061 Multi-INT Ontology Mediation Services • AF06-066 Systems-of-Systems Data Utilization Patterns • AF06-077 Command Decision Support and Explanation from Fused Structured and Unstructured Information Sources

15. Conclusions • Semantic technology holds great promise in addressing many of the problems and needs identified • Additional investments are needed to mature the technology and make it easier to use and deploy in military applications • An incremental approach toward widespread adoption seems likely – some semantic technologies will gain traction sooner than others • We (academia, industry, government) need to do it together, and progress is rapidly being made from a historical perspective