Using Gaming and Agent Technology to Explore C2

摘要

Traditional command and control research occurs at two extremes of the cost and fidelity spectrums. At one end, low cost seminar games and simple abstractions, like chess, offer insights, but lack rigorous scientific techniques for analysis. On the other hand, highly detailed simulations, like those conducted for the US Navy's Global War Game, cost time and money, and offer little in support of developing scientific proofs. This paper details the methodology of employing two complementary concepts to the field of C2 research: game-based experimentation using distillation games, and agentbased methods. These approaches fall midway on the cost and fidelity spectrums. The game distillation, SCUDHunt, has proven to be successful in providing a rigorous scientific and statistical approach for experimentation. The results of SCUDHunt experiments offer insights into team behavior, shared situational awareness, and team performance. To complement this human-player environment, we created SCUDHunt computer agents. This agent-based approach provides an exploratory environment complementary to the human-based game. This paper provides an overview of the work we, and others, have done in these areas to date, and proposes some future directions to develop the promise of this approach.