Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

The Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AIL) develops and applies artificial intelligence technology to distributed, real-time, and autonomous systems for military platforms. The laboratory's ability to embed artificial-intelligence systems into larger software systems allows human decision-markers to increase efficiency and deal with complex, time-sensitive environments. We develop and apply artificial intelligence in a variety of domains, including rule-based technology, knowledge-based systems, distributed and real-time artificial intelligence, autonomous/collaborative systems and neural networks.

We are at the forefront of artificial intelligence in designing systems that serve as partners for users. Our laboratory focuses on four business areas:

• Intelligent Autonomy
• Net-Centric Operations Technologies
• Situation Understanding
• User-Centered Interfaces

Intelligent Autonomy

The military's use of unmanned vehicles in autonomous and collaborative roles is expanding rapidly. We provide intelligent autonomy and teaming (or collaborative) technologies to support Lockheed Martin products. These products enable warfighters to effectively exploit current and future unmanned systems. We are focused specifically on two critical operational goals:

• Significantly reduce the human workload needed to use unmanned systems
• Enable effective deployment of teams of unmanned vehicles.

Maintaining network connectivity and managing information from a variety of sources are integral components of battlefield success. Equally important is real-time communication. Without up-to-the-minute information, warfighters can't make effective battlefield decisions, risking mission failure and personal survival. Also as part of the Horizontal Fusion/Warrior's Edge program, software agents enable enterprise publish and subscribe services and allow warfighters to access all information about the battlespace, rather than only that from central command and control. Network centric operations leverage artificial intelligence to allow warfighters to access and share information throughout the entire network, despite interfaces, operating systems, or data formats. Network-centric operation provides coordination, where each node in the network helps provide a seamless, decentralized organization of intelligence resources.

Success in the battlespace requires an in-depth understanding of the situation—issues like placement of opposing forces, allies and supply convoys. By developing software that calculates situational variables and recognizes how operational context influences information fusion, we create systems that enable warfighters to gain a lucid, common, tactical picture.

We are developing system interfaces to be more intuitive, natural and cognitively capable of interacting with human decision-makers. Improved software interfaces result in improved user performance on the battlefield. Adaptive interfaces improve readiness and operational capabilities by monitoring the physiological states of human operators and then adapting to maximize their output in stressful and varied situations.

Our work is helping to forge the way for modern, network-centric warfare. Improved task performance is our main goal, and we achieve it by leveraging the forefront of artificial intelligence technologies