Extending HTN to planning and execution control for small combat unit simulation

Abstract

Modeling how military commanders carry out operations is considered complicated, requiring the capability of not only planning for multiple subordinates but also responding to unexpected events during execution. This paper presents an Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) embedded planning and execution control architecture for small unit commander agents. To be adaptive to dynamic world state changes, the architecture employs a partial planning mechanism and generates actions only applicable to current situations. It is also able to coordinate subordinates’ actions and handle execution failures at runtime. We demonstrate the architecture’s use with an infantry company scenario, where the commander orders three platoons assaulting a defined hill. Our approach shows the effectiveness to control multiple entities in dynamic environments, making the architecture well-suited to represent small unit commanders’ behavior.