An Architecture for Real-Time Mixed Initiative Collaborative Planning

Abstract This paper describes an architecture for real time tactical planning in a naval combat system. Based around multiple users sharing a real time mixed initiative planning server, this system allows several specialists to collaboratively interact with the computer under the supervision of a task leader. Since the tactical domain requires real time response to high priority events, planning control passes between the specialists, the supervisor, and the automated planner as a function of changes in the environment. This architecture has been implemented in the DARPA Ship Systems Automation (SSA) Tactical Planner. To survive and maintain combat effectiveness in this coastal or "littoral" arena, the command team needs to analyze larger amounts of data, and plan and implement appropriate responses faster than ever before. The work described in this paper is on a multi-user real-time mixedinitiative planning system which supports the work of the command team in determining the most appropriate responses to the tactical scene, integrating them into a coherent, executable plan, and then executing that plan. We briefly describe the planning engine which makes this possible, and the collaborative architecture in which it is embedded. Then we summarize the experimental application of this mixed-initiative multi-user planning system on the DARPA Ship Systems Automation program.