Closed-Loop Collaborative Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Resource Management

Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) encompasses activities related to planning and operating sensors and systems that collect, process, exploit, and disseminate data in support of military operations. As the number and diversity of sensing assets continues to expand, human operators are less able to effectively manage, control, and exploit the ISR ensemble. Automated support for processing sensor data and controlling sensor assets can relieve the burden on human operators, particularly in dynamic environments, where it is essential to react quickly to information. Our approach is to apply principles of feedback control to ISR operations, "closing the loop" from sensor collections through automated processing to ISR asset control. Closed-loop collaborative ISR (CLCISR) is a feedback process that continually reallocates ISR resources to respond to changing conditions, maximize the relevance of data collected, and reduce errors and uncertainty about a tactical commander's situation of interest. APL has developed a CLCISR prototype that dynamically tasks a diverse ensemble of ISR platforms and sensors in a closed feedback loop with an upstream data fusion process that combines information to produce an accurate and current tactical picture. This article introduces the CLCISR concept and details the primary technical elements, applications, and APL's current research directions.