CZECH REPUBLIC REQUESTS A SCIENCE FELLOW FOR AGENTFLY

UNCLAS PRAGUE 000123 STATE FOR OES/STC - Eileen Kane BUDAPEST FOR ESTH/Camille Hill SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV TSPL ECON AMGT EZ SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC REQUESTS A SCIENCE FELLOW FOR AGENTFLY PROJECT REF: STATE 10843 ¶1. In response to reftel, Embassy Prague requests a Science Fellow who would work with the Czech Technical University to adapt AGENTFLY military project for civilian air traffic control use. Current points of contact for this proposal are ODC/Maj. Matthew Kime, KimeMJ@state.gov, 420-257-022-350 and outgoing Economic Officer Malgorzata "Margaret" Bula-Duane, Bula-DuaneM@state.gov, 420-257-022-430. After June 25, the Econ point of contact will be Economic Officer Amanda Mansour, MansourAJ@state.gov, 420-257-022-020/430. Econ Chief Mike Dixon, DixonMS@state.gov, 420-257-022-319 can also answer questions during the transition period. -------------- AGENTFLY Project Background -------------- ¶2. AGENTFLY is a software prototype of multi-agent technology deployment in aerial vehicles air traffic control supporting the free flight concept. All aerial assets in AGENTFLY are modeled as asset containers hosting multiple intelligent software agents. Each container is responsible for its own flight operation. The operation of each vehicle is specified by an unlimited number of time-specific, geographical waypoints. The operation is tentatively planned before take-off without consideration of possible collisions with other flying objects. During the flight performance, the software agents hosted by the asset containers detect possible collisions and engage in peer-to-peer negotiation aimed at sophisticated re-planning in order to avoid the collisions. The aim of this agent deployment is to demonstrate readiness of multi-agent technology for distributed, flexible, and collision-free coordination among heterogeneous, autonomous aerial assets (manned as well as unmanned) with a potential to (i) fly a higher number of aircraft, (ii) decrease requirements for off-board control operators and (iii) allow a flexible combination of cooperative and non-cooperative collision avoidance. Please see http://agents.felk.cvut.cz/projects/ for further details. Its applications have dual civil and defense uses. ¶3. The Department of Defense tri-service research laboratories and NASA have contributed approximately $1.8 million in basic research grant money to Agent Fly since the Czech Republic joined NATO in ¶1999. On September 30, 2008 the Federal Aviation Administration signed a 15 month contract with the Department of Cybernetics, Czech Technical University to develop a prototype which adapts Agent Fly for civilian air traffic control. Academic institutions in the US like Carnegie Mellon and the Applied Communications and Information Networking (ANCIN) Program at Drexel University have established partnerships with the Czech Technical University to support the development of the Agent Fly prototype. On October 16, 2008 the Office of Congressman Robert E. Andrews contacted the Office of Defense Cooperation to lend its support to Drexel University and expressed the Congressman's interest in the development of the Agent Fly prototype. -------------- -------------- Science Fellow Qualifications and Security Clearance -------------- -------------- ¶4. A successful Science Fellow should be a scientist holding a PhD in Information Communications Technology or a closely related field. The fellow should be knowledgeable of related work being performed in the United States by the Federal Aviation Administration or academic institutions like Carnegie Mellon and Drexel University, for example. Czech language skills are not required as all work shall be conducted in the English language. The fellow should have experience working for or with U.S. Government research laboratories or scientific research entities that perform work under contract for U.S. Government agencies. The fellow should be empowered to represent the interests of their government agency or academic institution and to speak on its behalf. ¶5. At a minimum, a SECRET security clearance is desired for the work so that the fellow can attend meetings and coordinate with representatives of Department of Defense research laboratories, the Federal Aviation Administration, and other appropriate U.S. Government entities. -------------- Scope of Work: From Military to Civilian Use -------------- ¶6. AGENTFLY technology is dual use. It could be developed to improve the safety of commercial air travel that would benefit both the United States and the Czech Republic. The Science Fellow would work with the Czech Technical University to develop a prototype which adapts Agent Fly for civilian air traffic control. AGENTFLY project would provide: * distributed model of flight simulation and control, * time-constrained way-point flight planning algorithm avoiding specified no-flight zones, * flexible collision avoidance architecture, dynamic adjustment to changes in the flight environment * connectors to external data (Landsat images, airports monitors, no-flight zones, cities), * 2D/3D visualization including a web-client access component, and * multiple operator - facilitating real-time control of selected assets ¶7. AGENTFLY provides four distinct collision avoidance (CA) algorithms linked by a flexible mechanism managing the autonomy of individual assets and selecting the best collision avoidance strategy in real time: -- RULE-BASED CA ALGORITHM is a domain dependent algorithm based on the Visual Flight Rules defined by FAA2. Upon the collision threat detection, the collision type is determined on the basis of the angle between the direction vectors of the concerned aircrafts. Each collision type has a predefined fixed maneuver which is then applied in the re-planning process. Visual flight rule-based changes to flight plans are done by both assets independently because the second asset detects the possible collision with the first asset from its point of view. -- UTILITY-BASED CA ALGORITHM deploys multi-agent negotiation theories (namely Monotonic Concession Protocol with the Zeuthen Strategy) aimed at finding the optimal CA maneuver. The software agents on each asset generate a set of viable CA maneuvers and compute costs associated with each maneuver (based on e.g. the total length of the flight plan, time deviations for mission way-points, altitude changes, curvature, flight priority, fuel status, possible damage or type of load). The agents negotiate such a combination of maneuvers that minimizes their joint cost associated with avoiding the collision. -- MULTI-PARTY CA ALGORITHM extends the above presented CA algorithm by allowing several assets to negotiate about collective CA avoidance maneuver. This algorithm minimizes the effects of CA maneuvers causing conflicts in future trajectories with other flying assets. While requiring more computational resources, this strategy has been shown to provide more efficient free-flight collision free trajectories. -- NON-COOPERATIVE CA ALGORITHM supports collision avoidance in the case when communication between aircrafts is not possible. Such a situation can arise e.g. when on-board communication devices are temporarily unavailable or when an asset avoids a hostile flying object. This algorithm is based on modeling/predicting the future airspace occupancy of the non-cooperative object and representing it in terms of dynamic no-flight zones. Based on this information, the algorithm performs continuous re-planning. -------------- Timeframe -------------- ¶8. The length of the fellowship should be for a minimum of three months to a maximum of one year, starting in the fall or winter ¶2009. -------------- Housing and Office Space -------------- ¶9. The Embassy will provide housing in central Prague out of the Embassy's housing pool and logistical support. The AGENTFLY research is being performed by the Department of Cybernetics, Czech Technical University in Prague. The Department as well as the University agrees to provide office space and a computer for the duration of the fellow's stay. The primary contact at the Department of Cybernetics is the Head of the Agent Technology Group, Dr. Michal Pechoucek at telephone 011-420-224-357-355, fax 011-420-224-923-667, and email pechouc@labe.felk.cvut.cz. The fellow would be working directly with Dr. Pechoucek. Dr. Pechoucek is recognized as one of the top five researchers in the world for agent technology. No in-country travel is envisioned for this project. Thompson-Jones