The Joint Mission Planning Software (JMPS) is aviator planning software used by the US Navy (among other forces) to plan aerial missions. Current versions of JMPS do not support multi-operator, multi-client collaborative mission development. In this proposal, Rep Invariant Systems presents a high-level technical approach for adding collaborative mission development capability to JMPS, thus creating a Collaboration-Enabled JMPS (CEJMPS) system. In a Phase I effort, we propose to revise, refine, and detail this strategy, ensuring that each element is feasible in practice. In a Phase I Option effort, we propose to prototype key elements of the strategy, and begin additional human factors evaluations. In our approach, we pay particular attention to the need to collaborate over low-bandwidth networks, without reliable access to centralized services on the Global Information Grid. We also pay careful attention to the need to address human factors when adding additional capabilities to JMPS.
Benefit: The primary opportunity provided by this SBIR is to provide the Navy with an extension to JMPS enabling multiple users to collaboratively develop aerial missions. Rep Invariant will address this market by creating a productized extension to JMPS for US Navy use. We will sell support contracts to the Navy and contract to add additional capabilities as required. As the technology for Navy operations matures, we anticipate expanding the market to include other forces, e.g. Air Force.
Keywords: JMPS, JMPS, Human Factors, Joint Operations, Collaboration, mission planning, Command and Control, Communications, low bandwidth
