On Optimizing Command and Control Structures

This paper uses information theory to investigate the utility of alternative Command and Control (C2) structures and strategies. Specifically we use information theoretic metrics complexity, entropic drag and evolutionary entropy. Complexity measures the amount of information required to fully express a situation. Entropic drag measures the rate at which situational information becomes obsolete. These metrics are used to characterize situations managed by C2 systems. The performance of C2 designs is measured as a function of these characteristics; performance that is characterized as the C2 system’s impact on mission performance, situation awareness and controllability. This paper provides a comparative analysis of C2 topologies including: centralized control, scale-free hierarchies, scale-invariant hierarchies and heterarchical “small world” topologies. Dominance plots that map optimal topologies to scenario characteristics are provided as results. To support our analysis of training and innovation we introduce the concept of evolutionary entropic drag, which is the rate at which adversaries are able to adapt their behavior. KeywordsConcepts, Theory and Policy; Collaboration, Shared Awareness and Decision Making; Networks and Networking