Time interval assessment of mission plan quality dynamic asset allocation

• US 10,296,862 B1
• Filed: 05/12/2016
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Inventors: Oddo, Louis, Parekh, Devang R., Parsons, William, Fung, Henry H., Cao, Feng, Patel, Miteshkumar K.
• Primary Examiner(s): White, Dylan C
• Application Number:
  US15/152,666
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management

Abstract

A method includes processing one or more mission plan inputs to generate a mission definition file (MDF) that includes mission data that describes one or more plans for one or more manned or unmanned vehicles. The method includes evaluating planned tasks against defined scoring criteria specific to each task type and specific to each task to generate individual task achievement quality scores for each of the planned mission tasks. The method includes processing the MDF, the individual task quality scores, and route costs to generate a mission plan to enable evaluation and comparison of one or more mission plans. The method includes generating graphical output data from the output quality scores where the graphical output data can be configured as a mission plan evaluation chart.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory to store computer-executable components; and

a processor to execute instructions corresponding to the computer-executable components from the memory, the computer-executable components comprising;

at least one mission planner that processes one or more mission plan inputs and generates a mission definition file (MDF) that includes mission data that describes one or more mission plans for one or more manned or unmanned vehicles;

a task achievement evaluator that evaluates task criteria to generate individual task quality scores for each of the mission plan input tasks processed by the at least one mission planner, the task quality scores representing an expectation of how the planned task is to be executed;

a mission plan constructor to process the MDF from the at least one mission planner and the task quality scores from the task achievement evaluator to generate a plan score for one or more annotated mission plans; and

a plan comparator to process the one or more annotated mission plans, the plan comparator generating graphical output data from the output quality scores generated by the task achievement evaluator, the graphical output data configured as a mission plan evaluation chart, the mission plan evaluation chart providing the plan score generated by the mission plan constructor, the plan comparator comprising;

a spatial temporal forecaster to project planned mission states to a specified future point in time; and

a human machine interface (HMI) for visualizing mission plans and projected future states of the mission plans, the HMI comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) to display the mission plan evaluation chart generated by the plan comparator, the GUI providing a visualization of the tasks and constraints that drive the mission plan inputs, a visualization of the task achievement quality scores associated with data-collection resources associated with the one or more vehicles, a visualization of a primary mission plan among the one or more mission plans, and a visualization of the plan score,

wherein the plan comparator generates a behavior and a duration display output to the GUI to indicate when a loaded mission plan is active and the amount of time that the loaded mission plan is active and when data can be collected by the resources.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the behavior and the duration is stored in a data structure comprising:

a route field to describe a planned route for one of the one or more vehicles;

a behavior field to describe three-dimensional spatial capability of the vehicle and its resource capability that includes at least one of a latitude, a longitude, and/or an altitude parameter for the mission plan of the vehicle; and

a when field that describes a starting time or a duration for the mission plan of the vehicle and a starting time or a duration for deployment of the resources.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a time selector to adjust the when field of the data structure to specify time projections of the mission plan and deployment of resources over time.

4. The system of claim 2, further comprising a state aggregator to process input data feeds to update the behavior field of the data structure in real time, the data feeds include at least one of a tasking feed, a mission plan feed, a weather feed, a threat feed, a sensor feed, a tracks feed, and/or a communications feed.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising a prediction engine to project the data feeds from the state aggregator into a future visualization of the mission plan, a future visualization of the resources, and a future visualization of at least one alternative plan for the vehicle.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plan comparator generates graphical output data for multiple mission plan evaluation charts having output quality scores generated by the task achievement evaluator for each of the multiple mission plan evaluation charts, each of the multiple mission plan evaluation charts relating to an alternative plan for one of the one or more vehicles.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein payload criteria evaluated by the task achievement evaluator includes sensor availability, a number of sensor scans, a resolution of the sensor scans, communications capability of one of the one or more vehicles, and asset deployment capability of the vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the task achievement evaluator includes at least one evaluation engine that includes a processor to process at least one of a statistical model to determine statistical data relating to future conditions encountered by one of the one or more vehicles, a probabilistic model to determine probabilities for asset deployment of the vehicle, and/or a physical model to determine if the planned tasks are within physical constraints of the vehicle and its resources.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein mission constraints analyzed by a route cost evaluator for a plan under evaluation that includes at least one of available fuel for one of the one or more vehicles, wind speeds and direction vector, weather patterns in the mission area of the vehicle, and/or threats to vehicle safety in the mission area.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable components stored thereon, the computer executable components comprising:

at least one mission planner that processes one or more mission plan inputs and generates a mission definition file (MDF) that includes mission data that describes one or more mission plans for one or more manned or unmanned vehicles;

a task achievement evaluator having at least one evaluation engine that evaluates task criteria to generate individual task quality scores for each of the mission plan input tasks processed by the at least one mission planner, the task quality scores represent an expectation of how the planned task is to be executed;

a mission plan constructor to process the MDF from the at least one mission planner and the task quality scores from the task achievement evaluator to generate a plan score for one or more annotated mission plans; and

a plan comparator to process the one or more annotated mission plans, the plan comparator generates graphical output data from the output quality scores generated by the task achievement evaluator, the graphical output data configured as a mission plan evaluation chart, the mission plan evaluation chart providing the plan score generated by the mission plan constructor, the plan comparator comprising;

a spatial temporal forecaster to project planned mission states to a specified future point in time; and

a human machine interface (HMI) for visualizing mission plans and projected future states of the mission plans, the HMI comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) to display the mission plan evaluation chart generated by the plan comparator, the GUI providing a visualization of the tasks and constraints that drive the mission plan inputs, a visualization of the task achievement quality scores associated with data-collection resources associated with the one or more vehicles, a visualization of the primary mission plan, and a visualization of the plan score;

wherein the plan comparator generates a behavior and a duration display output to the GUI to indicate when the loaded mission plan is active and the amount of time that the loaded mission plan is active and when data can be collected by the available resources.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the plan comparator generates graphical output data for multiple mission plan evaluation charts having output quality scores generated by the task achievement evaluator for each of the multiple mission plan evaluation charts, and wherein each of the multiple mission plan evaluation charts relates to an alternative plan for one of the one or more vehicles.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein payload criteria evaluated by the task achievement evaluator includes sensor availability, a number of sensor scans, a resolution of the sensor scans, communications capability of one of the one or more vehicles, and asset deployment capability of the vehicle.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the at least one evaluation engine includes a processor to process at least one of a statistical model to determine statistical data relating to future conditions encountered by one of the one or more vehicles, a probabilistic model to determine probabilities for asset deployment of the vehicle, and/or a physical model to determine if the planned tasks are within physical constraints of the vehicle and its resources.

14. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

processing one or more mission plan inputs to generate a mission definition file (MDF) that includes mission data that describes one or more mission plans for one or more manned or unmanned vehicles;

evaluating payload criteria to generate resource quality scores for each of the processed mission plan inputs, the resource quality scores relating to the payload execution ability over time of resources that drive the mission plan inputs;

processing the MDF and the resource quality scores to generate output quality scores related to the quality of one or more mission plans;

projecting planned mission states to a specified future point in time;

generating graphical output data from the output quality scores, the graphical output data being configured as a mission plan evaluation chart;

generating a behavior and a duration display output to indicate when a loaded route from the mission plans and associated resources are active and the amount of time that the loaded route is active and when data can be collected by the resources;

displaying, with a human machine interface (HMI) including a graphical user interface (GUI), visualized mission plans and projected future states of the mission plans, including the mission plan evaluation chart, the GUI providing visualization of data-collection resources associated with the one or more vehicles and constraints driving the mission plan inputs, visualization of the output quality scores, visualization of the resource quality scores, and a visualization of a primary mission plan among the one or more mission plans.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising generating graphical output data for multiple mission plan evaluation charts where each of the multiple mission plan evaluation charts relate to an alternative plan for one of the one or more vehicles.