Coordinating Austere Nodes through Virtualization and Analysis of Streams (CANVAS)

This BAA is seeking innovative research to develop a capability to continuously orchestrate command and control (C2) processes in an Agile Combat Employment (ACE) operational environment through distributed workflow execution. We are particularly interested in approaches to orchestrate the execution of distributed workflows that adhere to maintaining flexibility, while adapting to a dynamic operational environment. The Air Force plans to complicate the adversary’s targeting problem through the distribution of forces to increase survivability and maintain functionality. Successful distributed C2 operations will rely on distributed control and decentralized execution, with an assumption that specific conditional authorities will be delegated to lower tier nodes. As the Air Force transitions from monolithic C2 nodes to many distributed nodes, it will require a capability to execute distributed C2 workflows across multiple locations while maintaining awareness of changing states to functions, resources, and mission objectives. The Coordinating Austere Nodes through Virtualization and Analysis of Streams (CANVAS) program proposes to meet these demand signals by designing and developing a system prototype that assumes contested and degraded environments will be normal for executing distributed operations. The CANVAS program proposes to develop a system for distributed task execution that includes a virtual C2 layer (TA1) to realize the concept of maintaining centralized command in distributed operations and a decentralized C2 framework (TA2) to support the execution of workflows across many physically dispersed C2 nodes. Virtualizing the C2 layer will allow AF command nodes to conduct tradeoff analysis of business rule changes and conditions-based authorities, through simulating the execution of dynamic workflows under operationally relevant conditions, before pushing changes that align with commander’s intent into the decentralized C2 framework. Populating downstream changes from the command node that achieve intent of the system, will allow distributed teams to execute local workflows through trust, shared awareness, and understanding of commander’s intent. Orchestrating these changes through intent-based networking concepts will achieve real-time tracking of the downstream effects within the workflows and graphs of the decentralized C2 framework. The TA2 execution framework fills a critical operational gap within ACE by realizing the full utilization of capacity of operational and tactical C2 elements while increasing the resiliency of these same elements. TA2 will research and develop the ability to orchestrate operational processes, while optimizing for limited resources in a contested environment.