Modelling, Formalising, and Implementing Intent in Command and Control Systems

Abstract: Intent is a fundamental element in military Command and Control (C2) systems. The ability for a commander to communicate Intent is vital to lead subordinates so that the overall mission is completed in the best possible way. However, the expressiveness of Intent is limited in current C2 systems. The current data exchange models are not capable of representing Intent in a machine interpretable format.An essential problem to overcome before Intent can be inserted into C2 systems, is to define it to a sufficient level of detail, since different definitions of Intent exist. If this problem can be overcome, the next problem is to represent Intent in such a way that it fits with existing C2 formalisms. The final problem is to what degree the proposed representation of Intent can be inserted into existing and future C2 systems.This thesis presents how to model and formalise Intent to such a degree that it can be communicated and automatically processed in military C2 systems. The contributions are: a literature review over Intent in C2; a model that captures and relates Intent to key information elements and processes in C2; a formalisation of Intent into a computational tractable representation covering the information elements defined in the developed model; an implementation of the model and formalism into an architectural design for Intent in C2 systems; and a series of demonstrations of the implementation in current C2 systems and simulators that show that the suggested model, formalism and implementation is suitable to represent Intent to such degree that Intent can be represented, exchanged, visualised and executed within current and forthcoming C2 systems.