Jeffrey Kline - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Jeffrey Kline

NPS NRP Executive SummaryProject Summary: Logistics support plays an essential role in the United... more NPS NRP Executive SummaryProject Summary: Logistics support plays an essential role in the United States Navy’s success at sea as fuel, food, and equipment are delivered to underway ships on a daily basis via the Combat Logistics Force (CLF). However, with the advent of unmanned vehicle technologies, unmanned logistic surface vehicles (ULSVs) have the potential to provide a less costly and more efficient alternative to conventional CLF ships. Additionally, ULSVs have the potential to enhance freedom of maneuver and lethality in contested environments as they require little to no human intervention during transit. The ability to maintain communications is critical to ULSV operations, especially in a communication-challenged environment such as the Philippine Sea. Through review of literature and experimentation via wargaming, this thesis proposes an additional or alternative communication architecture onboard ULSVs by exploring the impact of tactical wireless mesh networks (WMN) in c...

Proceedings, 2005 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics.

Homeland security and national defense include many missions that would be served by a multisenso... more Homeland security and national defense include many missions that would be served by a multisensor platform capable of flying, landing, perching, and walking. Soldiers in an urban environment could obtain near-and medium-field intelligence by deploying the vehicle and landing it on the top of a building. Maritime domain protection would be significantly enhanced by a small aerial vehicle that could 'perch on' (hang from) the high point of a cargo ship during onboard inspection. The surveillance capability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are beginning to enjoy widespread use in military and reconnaissance situations, could be significantly enhanced by a vehicle with sufficient stealth to gain closer approach to the surveillance target without being detected. Finally, long term surveillance could be performed by a vehicle capable of flying, walking, and taking off from the ground. The Morphing Micro Air-Land Vehicle (MMALV) has been developed in response to these opportunities in surveillance and intelligence gathering. MMALV integrates the University of Florida's micro air vehicle (MAV) technology with the terrestrial mobility of Mini-Whegs™. MMALV is capable of flying and walking, and successfully performs the transition from flight to walking. Furthermore, MMALV is currently able to transition from terrestrial to aerial locomotion by walking off the roof of a two story building. A wing retraction mechanism improves the portability of the vehicle, as well as its terrestrial stealth and ability to enter small openings. A tail hook is currently in the design process, to allow for the 'perching' behavior.

Both traditional and asymmetric threats continue to pose challenges to any combatant commander in... more Both traditional and asymmetric threats continue to pose challenges to any combatant commander in a Stability, Security, Transition, and Reconstruction (SSTR) Operation. Limited threats that were once confined to littoral and brown waters now extend to the green water theater. Many NATO countries operate frigates in green water SSTR missions, typically as a single unit scouting vast areas. In the calm waters of the Mediterranean and Gulf of Aden, small, agile, fast and usually cheap small craft are often encountered. In this study we investigate the question of whether a swarm of 4 8 small vessels, armed with hand-held weapons, can attack and achieve a mission kill on a typical NATO FFH operating in a SSTR mission. In this context our primary goals for IDFW18 were to examine the factors driving the model and create a suitable experimental design. Our secondary goals were to create inputs based on the selected design, conduct runs on the SEED Center’s cluster computer, and analyze th...

Military Operations Research, 2021

Although U.S. naval combatants carry a range of weapons, defensive and offensive missiles are the... more Although U.S. naval combatants carry a range of weapons, defensive and offensive missiles are their most formidable ones. U.S. Navy destroyers and cruisers carry their missiles in a vertical launch system embedded into their decks. Each ship is currently fitted with between 80 and 122 VLS cells and each cell holds one or more missiles. There are essentially nine major types of missile, some intended for defense of the ship and some for attacking other ships, submarines, aircraft, missiles, or land targets. A combatant ship deploys to sea with a fixed load of missiles and the mix of missile types influences how well she is prepared to carry out any of several anticipated missions. Any group of ships must be prepared for a variety of hostilities and does not get to choose which one it will actually encounter. We show how an available pool of missiles can be allocated among Navy combatants using an integer linear program to maximize their anticipated military effectiveness across many possible mission assignments in various operational plans. "'Tis your noblest course. Wisdom and fortune combatting together."

Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics, 2012

Surf-zone environments represent an extreme challenges to robot operation. A robot that autonomou... more Surf-zone environments represent an extreme challenges to robot operation. A robot that autonomously navigates rocky terrain, constantly changing underwater currents, hard-packed moist sand and loose dry sand characterizing this environment, would have significant utility in a range of defence and civilian missions. The study of animal locomotion mechanisms can elucidate specific movement principles that can be applied to address these demands. In this work, we report on the design and optimization of a biologically inspired amphibious robot for deployment and operation in an ocean beach environment. We specifically report a new design fusing a range of insectinspired passive mechanisms with active autonomous control architectures to seamlessly adapt to and traverse a range of challenging substrates both in and out of the water, and the design and construction of SeaDog, a proof-of-concept amphibious robot built for navigating rocky or sandy beaches and turbulent surf zones. The rob...

Naval Warfare Studies Institute (NWSI)Warfare Innovation Continuum (WIC)The Warfare Innovation Co... more Naval Warfare Studies Institute (NWSI)Warfare Innovation Continuum (WIC)The Warfare Innovation Continuum (WIC) is a series of coordinated cross‐campus educational and research activities synchronized by the Chair of Systems Engineering Analysis with a central theme of interest to the United States Navy. Its purpose is to expose NPS faculty and students to emerging naval challenges and opportunities to allow relevant education and research across campus

: What is audacity?A dictionary uses flattering words such as intrepid (characterized by fearless... more : What is audacity?A dictionary uses flattering words such as intrepid (characterized by fearlessness, fortitude, and endurance), daring, originality and verve (specialized ability or talent); along side these, less complementary such as recklessly bold. 2 Many times which meaning a user implies depends on the final outcome of an audacious event successful bold actions are daring and original; unsuccessful bold actions tend to be reckless. There is an axiom that risk is commensurate with reward. In the examples provided here of action in the chaotic, confused and confined littoral maritime environment, success favors the audacious audacity favoring lethal, offensive action. On May 5, 1801, Lieutenant Thomas Cochrane s HMS Speedy, a 158-ton brig of 14 4-pound guns, was pursuing a Spanish gunboat near Barcelona as part of a successful littoral campaign against Napoleon s ally.3 From behind a fishing boat cluster appeared the Spanish frigate Gamo, a much larger and faster ship with 32 ...

Over half of worldwide piracy occurs in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Somali Coast and over 40% o... more Over half of worldwide piracy occurs in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Somali Coast and over 40% of the world's seaborne oil passes through the same. 2 The high cost of piracy off the HOA has resulted in many insurance firms designating the area as a "war-risk" zone and rates have been raised accordingly. There is a growing multinational naval effort to patrol the high risk area and combat the Pirate Action Groups (PAGs) which now consist of multiple skiffs supplied and deployed by larger mother ships. The use of Privately Contracted Armed Security Personnel (PCASPs) is also on the rise. 2

Operations Research, 2005

We describe JOINT DEFENDER, a new two-sided optimization model for planning the pre-positioning o... more We describe JOINT DEFENDER, a new two-sided optimization model for planning the pre-positioning of defensive missile interceptors to counter an attack threat. In our basic model, a defender pre-positions ballistic missile defense platforms to minimize the worst-case damage an attacker can achieve; we assume that the attacker will be aware of defensive pre-positioning decisions, and that both sides have complete information as to target values, attacking-missile launch sites, weapon system capabilities, etc. Other model variants investigate the value of secrecy by restricting the attacker’s and/or defender’s access to information. For a realistic scenario, we can evaluate a completely transparent exchange in a few minutes on a laptop computer, and can plan near-optimal secret defenses in seconds. JOINT DEFENDER’s mathematical foundation and its computational efficiency complement current missile-defense planning tools that use heuristics or supercomputing. The model can also provide ...

Naval Research Logistics (NRL), 2011

The U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Patrol, Marine Corps, and Navy have deployed several hun... more The U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Patrol, Marine Corps, and Navy have deployed several hundred port patrol vessels to protect waterways, U.S. Navy ships and other high-value assets in ports worldwide. Each vessel has an armed crew of four, is relatively fast, and features a surface search radar, radios, and a machine gun. These vessels coordinate surveillance patrols in groups of two or four. We developed a mathematical model for advantageously positioning these vessels, and possibly shore-based radar too, to minimize the probability that an intelligent adversary in one or more speedboats will evade detection while mounting an attack. Attackers can use elevated obstructions to evade radar detection in their attack paths, and ports feature many such restrictions to navigation and observation. A key, but realistic assumption complicates planning: the attackers will be aware of defensive positions and capabilities in advance of mounting their attack. The defender-attacker optimization suggests plans here for a fictitious port, the port of Hong Kong, and the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet Headquarters in Bahrain. In these cases, the defender can almost certainly detect any attack, even though the attacker, observing defender prepositioning, plans clever, and evasive attack tracks.

Interfaces, 2007

This is a sea story about using a simple classroom example to save a great deal of money, as well... more This is a sea story about using a simple classroom example to save a great deal of money, as well as to convince beginning Postgraduate Naval School operations research students—experienced, skeptical military officers—that mathematical analysis can yield immediate results. The application is planning a ship’s transit from one point to another in a fixed amount of time, given that the ship can operate with one or more of its propulsion plants idled to save fuel. Simple analysis yields nonintuitive results that US Navy shipboard energy-conservation guides overlook. One of the authors (Kline) solved this homework problem as a student and subsequently applied this example when he took command of USS AQUILA, a patrol hydrofoil missile ship. AQUILA achieved results so striking in comparison to her sister ships that the squadron material officer inspected her engineering plant to ensure that no safety settings were being overridden to achieve this record. Kline’s spreadsheet decision-supp...

Naval War College Review, 2017

The twenty-first century will see the emergence of maritime powers that have the capacity and cap... more The twenty-first century will see the emergence of maritime powers that have the capacity and capability to challenge the U.S. Navy for control of the seas. Unfortunately, the Navy’s ability to react to emerging maritime powers’ rapid growth and technological advancement is constrained by its own planning, acquisition, and political processes. Introducing our own technology advances is hindered as well. The planning and acquisition system for our overly platformfocused naval force structure is burdened with so many inhibitors to change that we are ill prepared to capitalize on the missile and robotics age of warfare. Yet by embracing the robotics age, recognizing the fundamental shift it represents in how naval power is conveyed, and refocusing our efforts to emphasize the “right side” of our offensive kill chain—the side that delivers the packages producing kinetic and nonkinetic effects—we may hurdle acquisition challenges and bring cutting-edge technology to contemporary naval wa...

N0001412WX20510 LONG-TERM GOALS At the direction of the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), the Naval... more N0001412WX20510 LONG-TERM GOALS At the direction of the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) leverages its long-standing experience and expertise in the research and education of robotics and unmanned systems (UxS) to support the Navy's mission. The Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research (CRUSER) program grew out of the SECNAV's UxS prioritization, and concurrent alignment of UxS research and experimentation at NPS. CRUSER serves as a vehicle by which to align currently disparate research efforts and integrate academic courses across discipline boundaries. Top level CRUSER goals are to: Provide a source for unmanned systems employment concepts for operations and technical research;; Provide an experimentation program to evaluate unmanned system employment concepts;; Provide a venue for Navy-wide education in unmanned systems;; Provide a DoD-wide forum for collaborative education, research, and experimentation in unmanned systems. CRUSER will continue to be an inclusive, active partner for the effective education of future military leaders and decision makers. Refining existing courses of education and designing new academic programs will be an important benefit of CRUSER, making the Consortium a unique and indispensable resource for the Navy and highlighting the educational mission of NPS. CRUSER will take a broad systems and holistic approach to address issues related to naval unmanned systems research and employment, from technical to ethical, and concept generation to experimentation. Manning requirements, human systems integration, information processing, information display, training, logistics, acquisition, development, command and control (C2) architectures, legal constraints, and levels of autonomy versus mission risk are just a sample of topics for investigation in addition to technical research areas for these systems. These research areas will inform and augment traditional technical research in unmanned systems and aid in their integration into fleet operations.

Wiley Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science, 2011

As for military methods: the first is termed measurement, the second, estimation [of forces]; the... more As for military methods: the first is termed measurement, the second, estimation [of forces]; the third, calculation [of numbers of men]; the fourth, weighing [relative strength]; and the fifth, victory. Terrain gives birth to measurement; measurement produces the estimation [of forces]. Estimation [of forces] give rise to calculating [the numbers of men]. Calculating [the number of men] gives rise to weighting [strength]. Weighting [strength] gives birth to victory." Sun-Tzu, The Art of War [1] Deriving insights in military operations through analytical methods is as old as the writings of Sun Tzu, author of the 2500-year-old book The Art of War. Discussing considerations for military force disposition, Sun-Tzu demonstrates the use of quantitative thinking in military decision making. His writings show campaign analysis is far older than the origins of operations research in World War II, or Lanchester's derivation of force-on-force exchange equations from World War I. Broad in nature, campaign analysis is a field of application, rather than a focused academic discipline. Hughes defines campaign analysis as a study of conflict between heterogeneous forces in a series of encounters, over time and a wide geographic area. [2] Its purpose is to develop insight into relationships between risk(s) engaged, resources committed, and campaign analysis. While borrowing from tools of operations research, campaign analysis is simultaneously informed by analogous conflicts in history, geographical literacy, awareness of dynamic social issues and economic interdependencies, and respect for operational military experience. Value is provided to military decision makers when campaign analysis inspires focused discussion of synthesized information, while offering informed, quantitative, specific, yet incomplete advice. An appreciation for levels of risk versus resources is one product of campaign analysis, but detailed predictions of outcomes are not. While the focus of campaign analysis is on quantitative insights in support of operations before and during conflict, the analyses of past campaigns are a vital element of the field that provide guidance, data, and models for present applications. Models and lessons from McCue's U-Boats in the Bay of Biscay have application in antisubmarine operational plan development today. *3+ Likewise, Morse and Kimball's Methods of Operations Research chapter on Strategical Kinematics provides useful models and data developed from their World War II analyses. [4] Additionally, analyses of past campaigns provide tools like Lanchester force exchange equations and Hughes' naval salvo equations *5+. Numbers, Predictions, and War by Colonel Trevor Dupuy is another example of historical data analysis that gives insight into exchange rates between competing forces [6]. Derived from analyzing historical campaigns,