CoAX - Coalition Starter Pack

CoAX

Coalition Agents eXperiment
Coalition Starter Pack

This page provides a number of resources to assist a new country to join and participate in a coalition force. It is provided as part of the Coalition Agents eXperiment (CoAX) Binni 2002 demonstration (see http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/project/coax/) which is part of the DARPA Control of Agent Based Systems Research Program (see http://coabs.globalinfotek.com or http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/programs/coabs/).

Item Description	Suggested Usage
CoABS Grid	Install CoABS Grid Middleware
CoABS Grid Agent Wrappers	Use one of the CoABS Grid Wrapping toolkits to create an interface between your agents or services and other agents on the CoABS Grid
I2AT - CoABS Interoperable Intelligent Agent Toolkit	Use one of the CoABS Grid Wrapping toolkits to create an interface between your agents or services and other agents on the CoABS Grid
KAoS Domain Management Agent Wrappers	Use the KAoS Agent Wrapping toolkit to create an interface to an agent already running on the CoABS Grid in order that it can participate in secure and mediated communications with other "Domain-aware" components over the CoABS Grid
Decision Desktop	Use Decision Desktop to provide a flexible, customisable tool that augments decision-makers' cognition by enabling them to acquire, visualise and manipulate diverse and dynamic information - however they wish and whenever they need it.
I-X Process Panels	Install an I-X Process Panel on the CoABS Grid to establish messaging and task-oriented communications with other coalition participants
Information Broker Agent Toolkit	Use the Information Broker Agent Toolkit to assist in information source discovery and sharing between agents
OpenMap	Use maps and terrain data
Briefing Aid: Knowledge Management Book	Use the Verona Knowledge Management Book briefing tool to share collect and present briefing materials
Coalition Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)	Consider appropriate standard operating procedures and approaches as advocated by MPAT (the Multi-national Planning Augmentation Team) for multi-national forces - especially those available for operations other than war

CoABS Grid:

Purpose: The CoABS Grid is middleware that integrates heterogeneous agent-based systems, object-based applications, and legacy systems.
More detail: The CoABS Grid includes a method-based application programming interface to register agents, advertise their capabilities, discover agents based on their capabilities, and send messages between agents. The Grid also provides a logging service, to log both message traffic and other information; a security service to provide authentication, encryption, and secure communication; and event notification when agents register, deregister, or change their advertised attributes. The Auto-Wrapping utility will generate the classes and interfaces needed to wrap an existing Java class or interface. The tool will generate build files that can be used with Ant (an Apache/Jakarta Java-based build tool). Also, it will create a test client that can be used to test the wrapped service/agent.
Resources: CoABS Grid distribution is available on request via the Web URL below.
Estimated Deployment Time: Once the software distribution has been downloaded, the CoABS Grid can be installed and operational in less than 5 minutes.
Web URL: CoABS Home Page - http://coabs.globalinfotek.com
Contact: Dennis Brake <dbrake@globalinfotek.com>

CoABS Grid Agent Wrappers:

Purpose: To provide an automated way to quickly wrap a Java class or interface and allow it to register and participate as a Grid agent or service.
More detail: The Auto-Wrapping utility will generate the classes and interfaces needed to wrap an existing Java class or interface. The tool will generate build files that can be used with Ant (an Apache/Jakarta Java-based build tool). Also, it will create a test client that can be used to test the wrapped service/agent.
Resources:
- The AutoGenerator application distributed as an executable Jar file. This should be placed into the coabsgrid root directory. The wrapping tutorial provides screen shots and instructions on usage. Jar File, 106 KB
- A wrapping tutorial that provides step-by-step instructions to wrap a legacy database. This requires the WrappingExample software listed below. When using these instructions please record the total elapsed time required to wrap the example code. Microsoft Word Document, 325 KB.
- The wrapping example software contains a legacy Microsoft Access database. The database contains a table of sensors and a Java GUI to interact with the data. When the wrapping is complete, the GUI will be made downloadable and the data will be remotely accessible. The step-by-step instructions for wrapping this code is in the wrapping tutorial document listed above. Zip File, 24.8 KB.
Estimated Deployment Time: Initial testing has shown that a Java class can be converted into a grid-enabled agent or service in approximately 1 hour.
Web URL: http://www.globalinfotek.com
Contact: Dennis Brake <dbrake@globalinfotek.com>

I2AT - CoABS Interoperable Intelligent Agent Toolkit:

Purpose: Rapidly compose agents from reusable tasks via drag and drop; configure behaviors via forms or custom editors.
More detail: With LM ATL's Interoperable Intelligent Agent Toolkit (I2AT) a user defines an agent as a workflow of activities, tasks, and decision paths without programming. The user then integrates the agent into a multi-agent systems by defining events that trigger its launch and defining its communication paths to other Grid agents. Non-LM ATL contributors can easily create new tasks from Java beans by adapting a code template.
Resources: A beta release is available for release to U.S. government organizations
Estimated Deployment Time: LM-ATL developers estimate that an agent that takes 2 days to build by hand takes 2 hours to build using the agent composer tool.
Web URL: http://www.atl.lmco.com/overview/programs/IS/I2AT.html also the I2AT entry in the "Project Overview" section on the CoABS Home Page http://coabs.globalinfotek.com
Contact: Martin Hofmann <mhofmann@atl.lmco.com>

KAoS Domain Management Agent Wrappers:

Purpose: To allow grid agents to take advantage of KAoS policy-based domain management services with minimal effort.
More detail: KAoSAgentRegistrationHelper class is used in place of the corresponding grid class--no other changes to grid agents required. Grid agents modified to be more fully domain-aware can use advanced features of KAoS.
Resources: http://www.ihmc.us/research/projects/KAoS/
Estimated Deployment Time: TBD
Web URL: http://www.coginst.uwf.edu
Contact: Jeff Bradshaw <jbradshaw@ai.uwf.edu>

QinetiQ Decision Desktop:

Purpose: Use to provide flexible, customisable tool that augments decision-makers' cognition by enabling them to acquire, visualise and manipulate diverse and dynamic information - however they wish and whenever they need it.
Resources: Decision Desktop Description
Estimated Deployment Time:
Web URL: http://www.qinetiq.com
Contact: David Allsopp <d.allsopp@signal.qinetiq.com>

I-X Process Panels:

Purpose: To provide process and activity management aids, issue tracking, workflow, reporting and messaging support between coalition participants.
Resources: I-X Process Panels for CoAX - including CoABS Grid and KAoS Communications Adaptors.
Estimated Deployment Time:
1. download, install, local setup and test (20-40 minutes)
2. create new country process panel (6-8 minutes)
Web URL: http://i-x.info or CoABS Grid Extension Version (follow links "Grid" -> "Grid Software" - requires CoABS Program password).
Contact: Austin Tate <a.tate@ed.ac.uk>

Information Broker Agent Toolkit:

Purpose: To assist in information source discovery and sharing between agents.
Resources: BBN Information Broker System
Estimated Deployment Time: TBD
Web URL: http://www.bbn.com
Contact: Mark Burstein <burstein@bbn.com>

OpenMap:

Purpose: To provide maps and terrain data displays.
Resources: OpenMap Software
Estimated Deployment Time: TBD
Web URL: http://openmap.bbn.com/
Contact: Mark Burstein <burstein@bbn.com>

Briefing Aid: Knowledge Management Book:

Purpose: To provide a Knowledge Management "Book" to assist in briefing and information/knowledge management.
More detail: Based on Verona, a collaborative knowledge management tool that can be used to rapidly package, present, share, and distribute knowledge in timely manner. Notebooks are organized into chapters and pages. Users can "drag and drop" almost any object onto a Verona page - MS Office documents, web pages, multimedia, Java applets, and so forth. Objects dropped into Verona become objects in the book, displayed on a page in content-specific ways.
Resources: TBD
Estimated Deployment Time:
Web URL: http://www.gitisolutions.com
Contact: Dennis Brake <dbrake@globalinfotek.com>

Coalition Guidance Documents and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP):

Purpose: Guidance Documents and Resources for the Conduct of Coalition Operations.
More detail: Unrestricted openly available resources provided by Jens Jensen, USPACOM, courtesy of the Multinational Interoperability Council (MIC) and the Multinational Planning Augmentation Team (www.mpat.org or www.apan-info.net).
Resources:
- The Lead Nation Concept in Coalition Operations, 20 December, 2000. A Report to the Multinational Interoperability Council (MIC) prepared by the Doctrine, Plans and Procedures Multinational Interoperability Working Group. PDF Document, 540KB.
- Coalition Building Handbook, November 15, 2001. A Report to the Multinational Interoperability Council (MIC) prepared by MIC EXCOM CWAN CONOPS Adjudication Committee. PDF Document, 138KB.
- Crisis Action Planning Handbook (for Humanitarian Assitance), Undated. A Report to the Multinational Interoperability Council (MIC) prepared by the Multinational Force/Combined Task Force (MNF/CTF). PDF Document, 340KB.
- Multinational Force Standard Operating Procedures (MNF SOP). Table of Contents (for Working Draft April 10th, 2002, United States Pacific Command - USPACOM).
  Downloadable version: 9MB Zip File.
Estimated Deployment Time:
Web URL: Multinational Planning Augmentation Team (www.mpat.org or www-apan-info.net) for latest versions and further guidance.
Contact: MPAT Secretariat <mpat@mpat.org>

Supported by The Technical Cooperation Program,
United States Air Force Research Laboratory/Information Directorate, Rome Research Site,
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory,
Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Australia