Data farming in support of nato operations: methodology and proof-of-concept

Abstract

Farming is a process that has been developed to support decision-makers by answering questions that are not currently addressed. It uses an inter-disciplinary approach that includes modeling and simulation, high performance computing and statistical analysis to examine questions of interest with large number of alternatives. Farming allows for the examination of uncertain events with numerous possible outcomes and provides the capability of executing enough experiments so that both overall and unexpected results may be captured and examined for insights. In 2010, the Science and Technology Organization started the three-year Task Group Data Farming in Support of NATO to assess and document the data farming methodology to be used for decision support. Two case studies were performed as proof-of-concept explorations to demonstrate the power of Farming. The paper describes the Farming methodology as an iterative process and summarizes the results of the case studies.