After ISAF: partners and proxies in Afghanistan after 2014

The conclusion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014 has generated substantial uncertainty about the duration and level of international commitment to Afghanistan. The fate of local allies of international forces is therefore deeply in doubt. This article is of necessity speculative rather than empirical, but it attempts to draw on the history of previous intervention in Afghanistan as well as more general patterns of local and external alliance to sketch plausible scenarios for the fate of local allies. It proceeds in four parts. First, it draws distinctions between different types of local allies in Afghanistan based on position and relationship to the Afghan state and an external actor. Second, it examines the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan for relevant lessons for the fate of local allies. Third, it presents a scenario based on the foregoing that assumes there will be an ongoing small but significant international military presence and accompanying resources. Fourth, it presents a scenario that assumes there will be no or minimal international military presence and accompanying resources.     

The solution to an open problem for a caching game

In a caching game introduced by Alpern et al. (Alpern et al., Lecture notes in computer science (2010) 220–233) a Hider who can dig to a total fixed depth normalized to 1 buries a fixed number of objects among n discrete locations. A Searcher who can dig to a total depth of h searches the locations with the aim of finding all of the hidden objects. If he does so, he wins, otherwise the Hider wins. This zero‐sum game is complicated to analyze even for small values of its parameters, and for the case of 2 hidden objects has been completely solved only when the game is played in up to 3 locations. For some values of h the solution of the game with 2 objects hidden in 4 locations is known, but the solution in the remaining cases was an open question recently highlighted by Fokkink et al. (Fokkink et al., Search theory: A game theoretic perspective (2014) 85–104). Here we solve the remaining cases of the game with 2 objects hidden in 4 locations. We also give some more general results for the game, in particular using a geometrical argument to show that when there are 2 objects hidden in n locations and n→∞, the value of the game is asymptotically equal to h/n for h≥n/2. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 23–31, 2016     

Network design for time‐constrained delivery

To meet customer demand, delivery companies are offering an increasing number of time‐definite services. In this article, we examine the strategic design of delivery networks which can efficiently provide these services. Because of the high cost of direct connections, we focus on tree‐structured networks. As it may not be possible to identify a tree‐structured network that satisfies all of the delivery guarantees, we allow these guarantees to be violated but seek to minimize the sum of the violations. We establish the complexity of the problem and exploit an empirically identified solution structure to create new neighborhoods which improve solution values over more general neighborhood structures. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

支持多剧情并发执行的仿真克隆中间件机制研究

仿真克隆可以提高分布式离散事件仿真的效率和并行性,方便快捷地对仿真中的多种可能性进行分析、比较和评估.介绍仿真克隆的相关概念,分析HLA环境下封装式仿真克隆中间件的不足,提出并设计一种支持多剧情并发的拦截式HLA仿真克隆中间件,讨论基于该拦截式仿真克隆中间件的HLA仿真成员体系结构,并对联邦成员的时间延迟性能进行测试,测试结果表明该松耦合结构使联邦成员产生的时间延迟是有限且基本稳定的,基于拦截式仿真克隆中间件方法是可行的.     

Route optimization for multiple searchers

We consider a discrete time‐and‐space route‐optimization problem across a finite time horizon in which multiple searchers seek to detect one or more probabilistically moving targets. This article formulates a novel convex mixed‐integer nonlinear program for this problem that generalizes earlier models to situations with multiple targets, searcher deconfliction, and target‐ and location‐dependent search effectiveness. We present two solution approaches, one based on the cutting‐plane method and the other on linearization. These approaches result in the first practical exact algorithms for solving this important problem, which arises broadly in military, rescue, law enforcement, and border patrol operations. The cutting‐plane approach solves many realistically sized problem instances in a few minutes, while existing branch‐and‐bound algorithms fail. A specialized cut improves solution time by 50[percnt] in difficult problem instances. The approach based on linearization, which is applicable in important special cases, may further reduce solution time with one or two orders of magnitude. The solution time for the cutting‐plane approach tends to remain constant as the number of searchers grows. In part, then, we overcome the difficulty that earlier solution methods have with many searchers. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2010     

基于随机搜索策略的中继卫星调度方法

高质量的调度方案不仅能满足用户的需求,还能为中继卫星系统的计划编制提供科学的决策手段和依据。针对日益多样化的用户需求,采用全新的中继卫星调度应用模式,允许用户提交多个可以滑动的时间窗口。面向这种调度模式,考虑中继业务中任务调度的灵活性和任务间的冲突,构建考虑多滑动窗口的中继卫星调度模型,并设计基于随机搜索策略的中继卫星调度算法。算法包括任务资源匹配与邻域生成、可用时间段生成、任务冲突分析、邻域搜索与冲突消解以及资源与任务集更新5个算子。通过仿真实验将该算法与基于时间自由度的启发式算法进行对比,验证了算法的有效性。     

适应低时延业务需求的分布式可穿戴单兵作战信息系统

针对云计算应用在单兵作战系统场景下业务处理时延高、服务质量无法保障的问题,提出一种基于可穿戴计算的分布式单兵作战信息系统。利用士兵身上的可穿戴智能设备构建本地计算层,在作战地点就近处理计算数据,提供给士兵本地的信息处理与融合能力,并采用广义扩散负载均衡算法平衡各设备负载,降低业务处理时延;同时利用分布式计算的容错能力增强系统的可靠性。仿真结果表明,基于可穿戴设备的分布式本地网络架构能有效地降低作战任务的处理时延,同时增强系统的可靠性。     

Reforming the bras tendus? The Congolese National Police reforms, 2003–2016

The security sector reform (SSR) programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has failed, according to a former high-level member of the United Nations (UN) mission in the DRC, as a large section of the country remains outside government control, and the security institutions of the state continue to constitute one of the predominant sources of insecurity for the local population in a number of ways. Based on several field studies, this article critically scrutinises the SSR of the Congolese National Police (Police nationale congolaise; PNC) and the efforts to reform it between 2004 and 2016. It further attempts to explain why so little progress was made in the SSR of the PNC, despite extensive involvement from donors. The article shows that the instrumental and traditional approach to SSR is partly to blame, because in this case it failed to address the root problems and initiate the needed fundamental reform and reconstruction of the police force. It also shows that reforming local security institutions becomes even more difficult when the local authorities do not support the effort.     

Effects of cueing in cooperative search

We consider the effects of cueing in a cooperative search mission that involves several autonomous agents. Two scenarios are discussed: one in which the search is conducted by a number of identical search‐and‐engage vehicles and one where these vehicles are assisted by a search‐only (reconnaissance) asset. The cooperation between the autonomous agents is facilitated via cueing, i.e., the information transmitted to the agents by a searcher that has just detected a target. The effect of cueing on the target detection probability is derived from first principles using a Markov chain analysis. In particular, it is demonstrated that the benefit of cueing on the system's effectiveness is bounded. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

基于多元高斯概率分布的无线局域网定位方法研究

针对无线局域网环境及室内目标定位需求,研究了基于接收信号强度指示的定位技术,提出了一种基于多元高斯概率分布的信号强度模式匹配方法,讨论了定位系统框架。试验结果表明,该方法具有较好的室内定位效果。