The Pentagon’s way-out research arm is nothing if not forward-thinking. Back in the 90’s, Darpa kicked off a pair of software projects that seem almost perfectly suited to coping with a crisis like Katrina. Too bad they’re not in wider use now.
Cognitive Agent Architecture (COUGAAR) is the descendent of Darpa research’s into building semi-autonomous, adaptive bits of software that could quickly put together detailed logistical plans in “harsh, chaotic conditions.” 1000 software agents on 100 machines were supposed to be able to plot out the logistics for a 180-day military deployment, with 45% of the infrastructure blown to hell.
“Originally designed to survive a bombing, it should handle a flood similarly,” says a former COUGAAR programmer. “Hopefully something useful can come out of the quarter billion spent on it.“
Darpa stopped funding the effort last year. But COUGAAR lives on, as an open source, “Java-based architecture for the construction of large-scale distributed agent-based applications.“
The Enhanced Consequence Management Planning and Support System (ENCOMPASS) was even more directly relevant to Katrina-like situations. It was a suite of computer programs designed to manage the response to catastrophes and to track the victims. The focus was on a biological attack. But the tools were adaptable to all sorts of disasters, David Siegrist, a former consultant on the project, says.
An ENCOMPASS “playbook” pulled together the standard procedures for coping with different tragic events — a fire and a building collapse, say — into a single set of guidelines. Related software promised to handle “the management, visualization, and documentation of… incident response” as well as provide “the ability to know the location of all… responders, equipment and supplies that are necessary in controlling the event,” according to an ENCOMPASS presentation. A third program would track casualties, from on-scene triage to the hospital bed.
Components of ENCOMPASS have been used to cope with 9/11 and were put through a trial run at the 2001 inaugural. The Navy and U.S. Joint Forces Command have also worked with parts of the package. But for ENCOMPASS as a whole — “I don’t recall there being a lot of interest,” Siegrist says.
Darpa’s Crisis Code
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
In my 23 years of life, the Pentagon has said they have every gadget and capability under the sun. But it is usually a lie. And if we do have it, it usually doesnt work. And if we do have something that works, it doesnt get used correctly.
The response to New Orleans wasnt THAT Bad. The citizens were told to evacuate. THey didnt. There was National Guard in New Orleans, but the US ARmy isnt going to put 25,000 soldiers in New Orleans only to be wiped out by a category 5 hurricane. They were stationed in small numbers at the shelters. Im sure there was planety of time before the storm to stock up on water and essentials, most didnt. The city was 5+ feet under sea level, why you would ride out a potential category 5 is beyond me, they got what they deserved. THE GOVERNEMNT IS NOT TO BLAME.
Its like blaming the police for not stopping a bullet from hitting you in the head when it is from point blank range.
Sure in 5 days they should of had more assets into the city to at least provide water and basic medical. It seems they didnt. The crime and looting is inexcusable, and if I was in command everyone from New Orleans would be sent to a detention center and B-52 bombed. They acted totally innapropiate.
The head of FEMA should be fired, the people in charge of planning should be fired, and the governor and mayor of New Orleans should be impeached. And the National Guard should seriously look at its beauracacy because im sure every state could of had “somebody and something” in the affected areas within 48 hours.
Sorry for the mini rant. Point is the citizens have nobody to blame but themselves, and if the government cared they should also lay the smackdown on themselves.
Cougaar is an impressive open source (free)logistics modeler.
Could be used for roll-outs to layout any needed items or tasks.
Could also be adapted for rebuilding or combining company assets, which is a form of logistics.
Cougaar is an amazing technology. Under the Advanced Logistics Project we were able to build plans very quickly (~1hr) for major force deployments to very fine detail. This kind of technology would allow human planners to layout the high level plan requirements and intelligent agent technology to work out the details and identify the critical resource constraints.
The trick, as with all technology adoption, is finding someone with enough vision and resources to turn this great technology into a fully operational system with access to the right data sources to do its job. DARPA doesn’t build systems, it creates technologies. If you know of someone who could move this forward as a system, I would like to talk with them. My company specialize in Cougaar-based solutions and would welcome the opportunity to demonstrate what Cougaar can do in this domain.
Finally I also said that the most important thing is to find themselves on the state mind, playing their own, the same as me that if happy I will spend Hellgate gold to buy many things. I hope everyone can play happy in the game.