Track: Decision Technologies and Service Sciences
Minitrack: Network-Centric Decision Support Environments

The proposed minitrack will address new challenges that researchers and businesses are facing in designing and operating emerging sensor-unmanned systems-decision maker networks. These new network centric environments require decision support services capable of operating in the self-forming, adaptive environment of Global Information Grid. Achieving synergy between social and computer networking becomes critical. The new type decision support systems need to be network-aware, capable of adjusting the application flows to changing configuration and the performance of neighboring nodes on the network. On the other hand, network needs to be decision support aware and adjust the location or node performance respectively. We plan to bring together papers addressing theory and practice of adaptation, command and control, and decision cycle for emerging network-centric self-organizing decision support environments. . We will attract papers exploring effects of Global Information Grid on the architecture of future decision support systems and business models for network-centric services with examples from military and homeland security scenarios.

Topics and research areas include, but are not limited to:
* The emerging networking platforms, self-organizing decision maker-unmanned systems, wireless on-the-move networks, communicating via the services of Global Information Grid (The solutions for GIG integration with tactical and personal networks will be in the center of our discussion.)

* Questions on how the decision makers could share data and develop situational awareness of the events in such network-centric on-the-move environment

* The architecture and decision support models for developing situational awareness in the self-forming networks. How close the Simon's decision making cycle or Boyd's OODA loop model, are to the nature of network-centric decision support? What's missed , what are the new solutions in this area?

* Business cases, which provide the background for better understanding of business requirements to the network centric decision support services. This would include new forms of military command and control, homeland security scenarios, executive on-the-move cases, etc.

Co-chairs:
Alex Bordetsky (Primary Contact)
Department of Information Sciences
Center for network Innovation and Experimentation
Naval Postgraduate School
Phone: +1-831-656-2287
Fax: +1-831-656-3679
Email: abordets@nps.edu

Henrik Friman
Department of Management
Swedish National Defence College
Email: henrik.friman@fhs.se