Force aggregation for OOTW: classification based on capabilities

0. Abstract In operations other than war, we face many different kinds of opponents: clans, gangs, terrorists, guerillas and militias. Most of these opponents do not have a detailed organizational structure, and can hence not be analyzed and described using standard military hierarchical doctrines for units. Thus, methods previously developed for force aggregation do not work. In this paper, we describe an alternative method that uses descriptions of the capabilities that an object or group of objects possess in order to assign meaningful labels to them. This paper will describe the background of the method and discuss some extensions of it. A demonstration of the method is planned for September 2006. The output of the method is useful for reducing the amount of information displayed to the users as well as for use in threat analysis and planning systems. Modern systems for handling intelligence and providing a common operating picture will need to implement aggregation features. Aggregation is a means for reducing the amount of information displayed to a user, so that it is easier to process it. It consists of two steps: first objects that belong together must be grouped (“clustered”) so that they can be represented by one symbol on the display. Second, a meaningful label must be attached to the created group. Allowing this label to depend on the capabilities that the group has will help users achieve situational awareness. The labels based on capabilities can also be used for threat analysis modules, which determine what possible goals the enemy might have given the capabilities that we observe among them. Capabilities can be determined in several different ways. In some cases, advanced signal processing will be able to directly determine that, e.g., a group has a truck. We believe, however, that the most important source of intelligence used by the method will come from human observers (HUMINT).