Launched earlier this month, Intelligent Ship Phase 3 is the latest stage in a science and technology effort intended to scope and refine the design implications, challenges and opportunities of future command and control (C2) systems that incorporate multiple artificial intelligence (AI)-based agents designed to interact and work together as a collaborative AI ‘system of systems’.
The capabilities and understanding captured in the project are expected to be exploited in the design and specification of future complex C2 systems – such as the Royal Navy’s projected Type 83 Future Air Dominance System – and in support of connected HAT, autonomy and naval C2 focused research activities. “Developing an understanding of these future systems should lead to more timely and informed decision-making that can be trusted in a complex and contested data environment,” DASA said.
Phase 3 aims to build upon the outputs delivered from the first two phases of the Intelligent Ship programme. These developed both the integration and evaluation environment – known as the Intelligent Ship AI Network (ISAIN) – and a series of AI-based machine agents to integrate within it. System performance and operator usability was evaluated against a naval scenario within a simulation environment at Dstl’s Command Lab facility using Dstl military advisors as operators.
While Phase 1 and Phase 2 were primarily focused on developing and evaluating the performance of collaborative AI systems – with the human operators effectively ‘overlaid’ onto the system via a range of independent user interfaces – the Phase 3 competition will attempt to better integrate the ‘human’ within a HAT construct. As such, DASA and Dstl are inviting proposals that will design, optimise and demonstrate an effective human/machine team based upon collaborative intelligent agents and humans.
“The primary aim will be to investigate and develop understanding through the design and evaluation of a collaborative AI-based HAT system design for naval command and control. This phase shall focus in particular on investigating and developing concepts that address the human aspects of a system – ie. the required roles, interactions, and information and interface needs of both human operators and the matching AI based agents. This phase shall also investigate and further development arbitration approaches to managing potentially conflicting outputs and proposed course of action generated by the AI agents.”
DASA
The AI agents and human operators within the developed HAT system(s) will be integrated within the existing or a modified (if required) version of the ISAIN. To permit an increased focus on the human elements of the design, and the challenges of arbitration of collaborative AI, it is expected that Phase 3 will focus on a sub-set of the naval capabilities evaluated in Phase 2, with a deeper consideration of above-water warfare decision making. DASA and Dstl have suggested that focusing on the capabilities to support future anti-air defence will “reflect the expected challenges” of the Future Air Dominance System.
A total of £1.7 million has been provided by Dstl for Intelligent Ship Phase 3. The intention is to contract with a single team, with an award planned for the third quarter of 2023. Phase 3 work is planned to run through to the end of 2024.
