Title :
Instability of distributed decision making in in command and control systems
Author :
Kott, Alexander ; Hubbard, Paul ; Martin, Michael
Author_Institution :
BBN Technol., Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Abstract :
We argue that the phenomenon of autocatalytic decision overload (ADO) may be a key mechanism contributing to catastrophic collapse of command and control (C2) systems. We introduce the concept of ADO and describe typical scenarios for such a collapse. We then provide a simple nonlinear difference equation model for the dynamics of error propagation in C2 systems which exhibits the ADO phenomena and examine extensions of this model to complex networks of decision making units. We discuss these examples and finally provide a practitioner´s guide to mitigating the ADO phenomenon
Keywords :
command and control systems; decision theory; difference equations; nonlinear differential equations; stability; C2 systems; autocatalytic decision overload; catastrophic collapse; command and control systems; distributed decision making; error propagation; instability; nonlinear difference equation model; Command and control systems; Complex networks; Decision making; Distributed decision making; Humans; Nonlinear dynamical systems; Nonlinear equations; Pathology; Personnel; Protocols;
Conference_Titel :
American Control Conference, 2001. Proceedings of the 2001
Conference_Location :
Arlington, VA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-6495-3
DOI :
10.1109/ACC.2001.946300
