Intelligent agent remote tracking of chemical and biological clouds

Abstract

An intelligent agent-accomplished detection and tracking system responsive to sensed characteristics in a cloud of chemical or biological warfare agent(s) dispersed over a geographic area of the earth. The intelligent agent elements of the invention provide an organized and repeated comparison of signal data extracted from overhead dispersed conventional sensors of the chemical or biological agent material and accomplish communication with other agents and the outside world using a common flexible communication language. The intelligent agent elements are disposed in hierarchical arrays having at least lower level, mid level and upper level locations and are inclusive of multiple path forward and feedback agent communications.

1. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area, said method comprising the steps of:
 disposing a plurality of diverse input condition responsive warfare agent sensor elements above said geographic area of detecting and tracking;  
 coupling an output from each of said diverse input condition responsive warfare agent sensor elements to a sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element in a hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements;  
 extracting, in said sensor specific first level intelligent agent decision element, cloud-related signal indicia from said output, said extracting including applying segmented output data and first level intelligent agent knowledge base data to a decision engine algorithm portion of said sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element to generate a sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element eXtensible markup language document type definition output;  
 said sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element eXtensible markup language document type definition output also including a cloud identification output and a warfare agent sensor element output quality-determined first confidence signal;  
 applying said eXtensible markup language document type definition output of said sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element to a plurality of second and successive other mid level intelligent agent decision elements in said hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements;  
 evaluating in said mid level intelligent agent elements cloud, weather condition, ground condition and cloud duplicate related outputs received via said mid level eXtensible markup language document type definition outputs of said first level intelligent agent elements;  
 said evaluating step including a determination of possible natural cause for said cloud-related outputs, a determination of said cloud-related outputs being a warfare agent plume and a determination of a second confidence signal, said determinations being encoded into an intelligent agent decision element eXtensible markup language document type definition output;  
 connecting said second intelligent agent decision element eXtensible markup language document type definition output to a plurality of upper level intelligent agent decision elements in said hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements; and  
 determining in said plurality of upper level intelligent agent decision elements in said hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements an occurrence of a warfare substance attack event and a course of travel for said warfare agent plume in said geographic area, said determining including determining a third confidence signal level and encoding of said determining step signals into an intelligent agent decision element eXtensible markup language document type definition output.  
 
   
   
     2. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area of  claim 1  wherein said diverse input condition responsive warfare agent sensor elements include at least one of an infrared radar apparatus, a synthetic aperture radar apparatus and an ultraviolet sensor apparatus. 
   
   
     3. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area of  claim 1  wherein said intelligent agent decision elements each comprise a physical representation component, a cognitive component, an agent interface component and a knowledge base component. 
   
   
     4. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographical area of  claim 3  wherein said intelligent agent decision element physical representation component comprises an external environmental model inclusive of terrain description data, sun position data, moon position data, major water body description data, weather data, soil temperature data, soil moisture content data and cloud reflectance data. 
   
   
     5. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographical area of  claim 3  wherein said intelligent agent decision element knowledge base component includes mission related input and output data definitions, intelligent agent decision element instructional data and a confidence determination algorithm. 
   
   
     6. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area of  claim 3  wherein said intelligent agent decision element cognitive component includes a knowledge base component and a physical representation component responsive decision engine element. 
   
   
     7. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area of  claim 6  wherein said knowledge base component and physical representation component responsive decision engine element includes a current world model processing algorithm, an expected world model processing algorithm, an environment analyst processing algorithm, an other sensor inputs analyst processing algorithm, a feedback analyst processing algorithm and an engine memory component each having two way communication within said decision engine element. 
   
   
     8. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area of  claim 7  wherein said environment analyst processing algorithm includes a cloud-related sensor data examination routine. 
   
   
     9. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area of  claim 7  wherein said current world model processing algorithm includes a cloud-related examination routine having environment analyst processing algorithm generated input data. 
   
   
     10. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area of  claim 7  wherein said expected world model processing algorithm includes a cloud data change-related examination routine. 
   
   
     11. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area of  claim 7  wherein said other sensor analyst processing algorithm includes a cloud-related data examination routine having data inputs from a plurality of other algorithms in said decision engine element. 
   
   
     12. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area of  claim 7  wherein said feedback analyst processing algorithm includes data inputs from a plurality of other algorithms in said decision engine element and conditional outputs to a plurality of algorithms in said decision engine element. 
   
   
     13. Chemical and biological warfare agent plumes detection and tracking apparatus comprising the combination of:
 a plurality of diverse input condition responsive warfare agent sensor elements dispersed above a geographic area for detecting and tracking; and  
 a hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements coupled to outputs of said diverse input condition responsive warfare agent sensor elements;  
 said hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements including sensor specific first level intelligent agent decision elements generating eXtensible markup language document type definition outputs including a cloud identification output and a warfare agent sensor element output and a confidence output in response to segmented data received from said diverse input condition responsive warfare agent sensor elements;  
 said hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements also including a plurality of mid level intelligent agent decision elements determining cloud-related signal indicia originating in a warfare agent plume;  
 said hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements also including a plurality of upper level intelligent agent decision elements determining a course of travel for said warfare agent plume in said geographic area.  
 
   
   
     14. The method of detecting and tracking a cloud of chemical warfare substance over a geographic area, said method comprising the steps of:
 coupling an output from each of diverse input condition responsive warfare substance sensor elements to a hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied decision making algorithms disposed in an array of lower level, mid level and upper level intelligent agents;  
 comparing a plurality of currently received chemical warfare substance signatures from said chemical warfare substance sensor elements with stored previous similar signatures in an ongoing sequence of comparison events accomplished within said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied decision making algorithms;  
 upgrading and refining said stored previous similar signatures as said comparing step ongoing sequence ensues;  
 communicating data relating to said chemical warfare substance signatures; including a data confidence signal, from intelligent agent decision making algorithms in said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied signal processing algorithms in a uniform, stable, human comprehensible communication language;  
 outputting signals identifying presence of said chemical warfare substance, movement of a cloud of said chemical warfare substance and dispersion of a cloud of said chemical warfare substance from said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied decision making algorithms in said same uniform, stable, human comprehensible communication language.  
 
   
   
     15. The method of detecting and tracking a cloud of chemical warfare substance material over a geographic area of  claim 14  wherein said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied decision making algorithms include one of Bayesian network, fuzzy logic rules, case based reasoning, probabilistic reasons and genetic algorithm decision making systems. 
   
   
     16. The method of detecting and tracking a cloud of chemical warfare substance material over a geographic area of  claim 14  wherein each said intelligent agent in said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied decision making algorithms comprises a physical representation component, a cognitive component, an agent interface and a knowledge base. 
   
   
     17. The method of detecting and tracking a cloud of chemical warfare substance material over a geographic area of  claim 14  wherein said step of communicating data relating to said chemical warfare substance signatures, including a data confidence signal, from intelligent agent decision making algorithms in said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied signal processing algorithms in a uniform, stable, human comprehensible communication language includes communicating data according to an eXtensible Markup Language document type definition. 
   
   
     18. The method of detecting and tracking a cloud of biological warfare substance over a geographic area, said method comprising the steps of:
 coupling an output from each of diverse input condition responsive biological warfare substance sensor elements to a hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied decision making algorithms disposed in an array of lower level, mid level and upper level intelligent agents;  
 comparing a plurality of currently received biological warfare substance signatures from said biological warfare substance sensor elements with stored previous similar signatures in an ongoing sequence of comparison events accomplished within said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodiment decision making algorithms;  
 upgrading and refining said stored previous similar signatures as said comparing step ongoing sequence ensues;  
 communicating data relating to said biological warfare substance signatures, including a data confidence signal, from intelligent agent decision making algorithms in said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied signal processing algorithms in a uniform, stable, human comprehensible communication language according to an eXtensible Markup Language document type definition;  
 outputting signals identifying presence of said biological warfare substance, movement of a cloud of said biological warfare substance and dispersion of a cloud of said biological warfare substance from said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied decision making algorithms in said same uniform, stable, human comprehensible communication language.  
 
   
   
     19. The method of detecting and tracking a cloud of biological warfare substance material over a geographic area of  claim 18  wherein said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied decision making algorithms include one of Bayesian network, fuzzy logic rules, case based reasoning, probabilistic reasoning and genetic algorithm decision making systems. 
   
   
     20. The method of detecting and tracking a cloud of chemical warfare substance material over a geographic area of  claim 18  wherein each said intelligent agent in said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied decision making algorithms comprises a physical representation component, a cognitive component, an agent interface and a knowledge base. 
   
   
     21. The method of detecting and tracking a cloud of biological warfare substance material over a geographic area of  claim 18  wherein said step of communicating data relating to said biological warfare substance signatures, including a data confidence signal, from intelligent agent decision making algorithms in said hierarchy of intelligent agent software embodied signal processing algorithms in a uniform, stable, human comprehensible communication language includes communicating data according to an eXtensible Markup Language document type definition. 
   
   
     22. The method of detecting and tracking chemical and biological warfare agent plumes over a geographic area, said method comprising the steps of:
 disposing a plurality of input condition responsive warfare agent sensor elements taken from the group of an infrared radar apparatus, a synthetic aperture radar apparatus and an ultraviolet sensor apparatus above said geographic area of detecting and tracking;  
 coupling an output signal from each of said input condition responsive warfare agent sensor elements to a sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element comprising a physical representation component and a cognitive component and an agent interface component and a knowledge base component in a hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements;  
 said intelligent agent decision element physical representation component comprising an external environment model inclusive of terrain description data, sun position data, moon position data, major water body description data, weather data, soil temperature data, soil moisture content data and cloud reflectance data;  
 said sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element further including a physical representation component, a cognitive component, an agent interface component and a knowledge base component;  
 extracting, in said sensor specific first level intelligent agent decision element, cloud-related signal indicia from said output, said extracting including applying segmented output data and first level intelligent agent knowledge base data to a decision engine algorithm portion of said sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element to generate a sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element eXtensible markup language document type definition output;  
 said first level intelligent agent knowledge base data including mission related input and output data definitions, intelligent agent decision element instructional data and a confidence determination algorithm;  
 said sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element eXtensible markup language document type definition output also including a cloud identification output and a warfare agent sensor element output quality-determined first confidence signal;  
 applying said eXtensible markup language document type definition output of said sensor-specific first level intelligent agent decision element to a plurality of second and successive other mid level intelligent agent decision elements in said hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements;  
 said knowledge base component and physical representation component responsive decision element including a current world model processing algorithm, an expected world model processing algorithm, an environment analyst processing algorithm, an other sensor inputs analyst processing algorithm, a feedback analyst processing algorithm and a memory component each having two way communication within said decision element;  
 said cloud related examination routing having environment analyst processing algorithm generated input data, said current world model processing algorithm including a cloud-related examination routing having environmental analyst processing algorithm generated input data, said expected world model processing algorithm including a cloud data change-related examination routing, said other sensor analyst processing algorithm including a cloud-related data examination routing having data inputs from a plurality of other algorithms in said decision engine element and said feedback analyst processing algorithm including data inputs from a plurality of other algorithms in said decision engine element and conditional outputs to a plurality of algorithms in said decision engine element;  
 evaluating in said mid level intelligent agent elements cloud, weather conditions, ground condition and cloud duplicate related outputs received via said mid level eXtensible markup language document type definition outputs of said first level intelligent agent elements;  
 said evaluating step including a determination of possible natural cause for said cloud-related outputs, a determination of said cloud-related outputs being a warfare agent plume and a determination of a second confidence signal, said determinations being encoded into an intelligent agent decision element eXtensible markup language document type definition output;  
 connecting said second intelligent agent decision element eXtensible markup language document type definition output to a plurality of upper level intelligent agent decision elements in said hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements; and  
 determining in said plurality of upper level intelligent agent decision elements in said hierarchical array of intelligent agent decision elements an occurrence of a warfare substance attack event and a course of travel for said warfare agent plume in said geographic area, said determining including determining a third confidence signal level and encoding of said determining step signals into an intelligent agent decision element eXtensible markup language document type definition output.