Description:
Objective: To develop and integrate automated algorithms with visual analytic tool for processing information in cyber-physical systems. Description: As the Department of Defense increasingly emphasizes autonomous implementation of many tasks that are traditionally done by humans, it is imperative that the Tri-Services support scientific research and technology development in the domain of human-cyber-physical system collaboration. These systems are necessarily complex with intricate interacting subsystems whose formal models and the degrees of abstraction required for specification or verification of coupled components are still beyond one"s grasp. In this direction, the objective of this topic aims to tackle selected technical issues that frequently arise in the human-cyber-physical systems. Particularly, this SBIR topic focuses on the interaction between humans and information generated by cyber-physical systems. Such information can be in the form of sensor data, network data, textual data, etc. Information generated in this manner needs to be extracted, integrated, examined by humans, with background knowledge, and fed back into cyber-physical systems iteratively until some performance metrics or requirements are satisfied. This multi-stage information processing and exchange between humans and cyber-physical systems requires sophisticated algorithms and smart interactive tools working in tandem. This topic seeks advanced algorithms that can support information extraction and integration for a wide range of data types. Advanced algorithms are also needed to process humans"instructions input from a visual interface. Finally, new algorithms are sought to support hypothesis generation and hypothesis testing through deep reasoning that is provided by cyber-physical systems, humans, or their collaborative effort. Beside the importance of algorithms, interactive visualization should also be designed for displaying abstract information in a form comprehensible to humans, assisting deep reasoning, understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, verifying results output by cyber-physical systems, facilitating workflow management. Algorithms, information representation, and interactive visualization designs must be based on rigorous scientific principles. In addition, novel ideas in mathematics, statistics, and computer science are highly encouraged. The performer should seek to demonstrate effective use of their proposed approaches in one of the following areas of cyber-physical systems: Combat Casualty Care/Health IT, Occupational Health and Safety for Military Operations, Dynamic Logistics. PHASE I: Select one of the above examples of cyber-physical systems that can support a DoD mission. Develop a suite of algorithms, as mentioned in the Description section, which are needed for this domain of interest, taking into consideration of various data types. Characterize the performance of these algorithms in terms of speed, accuracy, robustness, etc. Design novel interactive visualization tool that can interface with the designed algorithms and user"s input. PHASE II: Characterize the"ease of use"and the"learnability"of the visual interface. Characterize the effectiveness of the human-cyber-physical system interaction. Develop a prototype system by integrating the tools developed in Phase I and apply them to the selected domain of application. Demonstrate effective use of the prototype and characterize its overall performance. The deliverables will include written reports, working prototype of the technology, and performance evaluation with real-world data. PHASE III. Mature the technology developed in Phase II. The final product should have dual applications, in both military and commercial domains. In military applications, the technology can benefit Combat Casualty Care/Health IT, Occupational Health and Safety for Military Operations, or Dynamic Logistics. In the commercial sector, this technology can provide seamless integration of humans and machines or cyber-physical systems in different applications: air traffic control systems, health information technology, power grids and mass transportation systems, etc.
