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The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Office recently notified 21st Century Systems, Inc. (21CSI) of their intent to award them a Phase I SBIR contract. 21CSI's Sys-ADE concept is designed to facilitate the interaction of humanitarian aid organizations and military operations.

Integration of humanitarian efforts with the military is a key to winning the hearts and minds of the civilian population and potentially reducing the risk of future conflict. Often non-government organizations (NGOs) will bring in tools and systems in an effort to provide services for humanitarian assistance. These systems are meant to work side-by-side with and integrate with military systems. The challenge is that the engineering and architecture needed to work with the military is often lacking and the experts are few and far between to help bridge the gap.

21CSI's proposed methodology, Systems - Agent Design Environment (Sys-ADE), would create human-system integration capability between NGOs and the military without the need of the expert. Sys-ADE will utilize an agent-based framework combined with powerful machine learning and evidential reasoning, creating a tool that will greatly improve irregular warfare operations.

This Phase I award is the first from DTRA for 21CSI and the 64th Phase I SBIR/STTR award since their inception over 14 years ago. Based in Omaha, NE, with offices around the country, 21CSI develops decision support software to help users manage complex, high-stress, rapidly changing environments through sound, computer-assisted data monitoring and decision making. Intelligent agents embedded in these systems enable the software to adapt, respond, and learn from individual users in a variety of different situations.