Analysis of a Distributed Command-and-Control Algorithm to Implement Mosaic Warfare

Authors

Stephen D. Donnel, Air Force Institute of TechnologyFollow
Brian J. Lunday, Air Force Institute of TechnologyFollow
Nicholas T. Boardman, Air Force Institute of TechnologyFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

Recognizing that communication between assets may be possible locally but not globally (e.g., due to disruptions to a communication network), Mosaic Warfare requires the movement and operation of multiple, dispersed assets in smaller groups (i.e., tiles), within which exist hierarchical, functional relationships between assets. This research sets forth and evaluates a hierarchical asset tiling and routing heuristic (HATRH) to implement Mosaic Warfare for an enterprise of aerial assets comprised of airborne sensors, command-and-control aircraft, and strike aircraft seeking to move toward and destroy a set of stationary targets. The HATRH is comprised of three, iteratively applied algorithms: a grouping algorithm to cluster assets into functional tiles, and two algorithms respectively related to group movement and individual asset movement. Embedded within the latter two algorithms are user-determined parameters that roughly correspond to group and individual asset agency within the mosaic. Extensive testing examined the effect of these parameters and asset density for three different operational scenario designs, and with comparison to optimal (i.e., efficient) asset utilization via two Price of Anarchy (POA) inspired metrics. Results showed the user-defined parameter corresponding to individual asset agency notably influenced both average munition expenditures and the average distance traveled by assets. In the scenario wherein assets initially surround adversary targets, both the individual and group agency user-defined parameters influence operational efficiency, in terms of munitions expended and fuel consumed.

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DOI

JSTOR:27300953

Source Publication

Military Operations Research

Recommended Citation

Donnel, S. D., Lunday, B. J., & Boardman, N. T. (2024). Analysis of a Distributed Command-and-Control Algorithm to Implement Mosaic Warfare. Military Operations Research, 29(1), 5–30.