--In this special session a new framework for command and control is presented that is constructed around the Operational Picture (OP). This framework consists of two main categories of processes. The first group consists of processes like detection, tracking, fusion and classification. This group gathers data from different types of sensors and compiles this data into an information store that is defined as the operational picture. The second group consists of the sensor management processes and analyses the quality of the information in this store and assembles tasks that select and control the available sensors in order to improve the quality of the picture. The first presentation describes the sensor management/picture compilation cycle that can be constructed from these two categories of processes and how this cycle can be utilized as a command and control framework. In this session a basic set of constituting processes is presented and some new process concepts are introduced.

--CDR Dr. Fok Bolderheij has served as an officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy since 1982. He was assigned weapon-engineering officer on various RNLN frigates. After his graduation in Design of Information systems at the Cranfield University in the United Kingdom (1996), Bolderheij has earned his PhD on “mission-drives sensor management” at Delft University, the Netherlands in 2007. Bolderheij was head of Planning and Decision Support at Force Vision, the Center for Automation of Mission Critical Systems. Force Vision is the NLMOD’s internal software house that develops combat management systems for naval ships that are characterized by a high level of automation. His current position is Associate Professor of Radar Systems at the Combat Systems Department of the Netherlands Defence Academy. His research interests are computer sciences, sensor technology, command and control and decision support.

--Vincent van Leijen graduated in mathematics at Groningen University, the Netherlands, in 1993. For six years, he served as a research officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) and at the Center for Operational Data and Analysis. From 2004-2008 Van Leijen was assistant professor in underwater systems at the Combat Systems Department of the Netherlands Defence Academy. His current position is head of Planning and Decision Support at Force Vision, the RNLN Center for Automation of Mission Critical Systems. His research interests are acoustic sensing, rapid environmental assessment, metaheuristic optimization techniques and decision support for command and control systems.