In: Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology, Vol.12, Workshop on Formal Methods Applied to Defence Systems, pages 125-134. 24-25 June 2002. Australian Computer Society Inc., Adelaide.
Abstract: This paper presents a Course of Action Scheduling Tool (COAST) to support operations planning in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). COAST is a software tool based on Coloured Petri Nets (CPNs or CP-nets) and Design/CPN. It is developed with an underlying conceptual framework that complements the ADF planning process. At the core of COAST is a CPN model that formally specifies the execution of tasks in a course of action. During planning, the CPN model is instantiated with concrete tasks for execution and analysis. COAST has a client-server architecture. The client provides a graphical user interface for task instantiation and lines of operation analysis. The server uses the instantiated CPN model to conduct state space analysis for generating and analysing lines of operation.
Keywords: Command and control; military operations planning; computer tool support; courses of action; Coloured Petri Nets.