An agent system for intelligent situation assessment

Abstract

Coordinating Search and Rescue (SAR) operations is a knowledge and information intensive task. Upon receiving an initial indication about a possible aircraft related problem, a Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) Controller sets out to find out more about the nature of the problem. This situation assessment phase is highly complex due to the diverse and sophisticated nature of the many information sources. In this paper, we present an intelligent agent architecture incorporating multiple, continual information planning agents for assisting the RCC controller in performing critical situation assessment tasks. The agents monitor the actions of the human controller and make their decisions on when and how to acquire more information to help the human controller, and to remind him of important steps that may have been overlooked. The system is designed based on several technologies, including hierarchical task networks, case based retrieval and intelligent agent systems.