Situational Awareness → Situational Intelligence → Wise and Prudent Indonesia
Tauhid Nur Azhar
Today, on December 4, 2023, a soft launch of a book titled “Situational Awareness: Definition, Techniques, and Prospects” by Prof. Suhono Harso Supangkat et al. The book is being launched as a milestone to commemorate the ten decades of SCCIC ITB’s work for the advancement of the beloved nation. A series of innovations and concepts have emerged from the womb of SCCIC, some of which have been implemented through various dimensions of intelligent systems in various locations and layers of public service systems across the country.
The evolution of the multi-dimensional intelligent concept initiated by Prof. Suhono has arrived at the era of cognitive management, projected in various systems and conditions that require an understanding of the current situation and its implications for the future as part of the strategic construction.
Situational Awareness, as examined in the latest book by the SCCIC ITB team, has been known since the era of World War I, as in the concept advocated by Oswald Boelke about the importance of being aware of conditions unnoticed by the enemy in a conflict. From this condition, various approaches have been developed, especially related to the evolution of increasingly complex systems with interconnected and mutually influential functionalities.
Quoting from the book “SA” by Prof. Suhono et al, which will be discussed in this writing, there are several interesting definitions related to situational awareness, including the following:
Situational Awareness is the perception of elements in the environment within a volume of space and time, understanding their meaning, and projecting their status in the near future. (Endsley, 1995)
Situational Awareness is the intentional dynamic reflection on a situation by an individual. It provides a dynamic orientation to the situation, the opportunity to reflect not only on the past, present, and future, but also on the potential features of the situation. Dynamic reflection contains logical-conceptual, imaginative, intentional, and unintentional components that allow individuals to develop a mental model of external events (Bedny G, Meister, 1999).
This concept is in line with the basic philosophy of intelligent systems advocated by Prof. Suhono Harso Supangkat regarding the fundamental cognitive process, which he categorized into 3 main functions: sensing, understanding, and acting. Acquiring and processing data and presenting it as a decision in the action domain. The utility of intelligent systems stems from the ability to rapidly and accurately acquire the right data (sensor system), process the data objectively and rationally, and produce intelligent and constructive actions that manifest in clear and solution-oriented managerial actions.
The concept of SA itself becomes a keyword in the context of developing sustainable intelligent systems that can be the spirit behind various complex system concepts, especially those related to public service functions such as in the fields of health care, education, food supply, as well as security and defense.
On the other hand, hypothetically, in line with the technological revolution that has created various potential developments in various systems as an implication of exponential achievements in various scientific fields, the aspects of sensing, understanding, and action are becoming increasingly dynamic and can also grow exponentially. Just as predicted by Gordon Moore of IBM, widely known as Moore’s Law.
Meanwhile, the dynamics of conditions and situations created by a series of complex interactions also increasingly require accurate and precise data acquisition and processing systems. There are several key elements that can affect the status of SA. The first is connectivity. Information and telecommunication technology equipped with infrastructure such as fiber optics, submarine cable networks, satellites, and low earth orbital satellites with delay-tolerant network mechanisms, etc., have enabled data receivers and acquisition systems to work optimally in real time.
This is also supported by the development of material technology, semiconductors, chips, and in turn, sensors. All are integrated into the increased capacity for connectivity. In this context, connections and relationships between points in cause-and-effect nodes, among other fundamental concepts, follow graph theory, which originated from mathematician Leonhard Euler’s study of the Seven Bridges of Königsberg problem.
The complexity of back-and-forth interactions in various alternative scenarios that can map interconnected situations can serve as a foundation for constructing more useful situational awareness.
On the other hand, the second aspect of essential elements in constructing SA is analytical power. Current analytical power has great potential for development by leveraging advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Cognitive Artificial Intelligence (CAI), and even the early stages of powerful Artificial Super Intelligence, are increasingly being developed. The implementation of machine learning subsets, such as deep learning, has been able not only to build degrees of cause-and-effect associations but also to develop prediction systems based on patterns, structures, and enriched learning processes (reinforcement learning), both independently and supervised (unsupervised and supervised).
This condition can catalyze the function of SA, not only as a tool to help improve decision-making capacity based on objective data processing but also to build awareness of the creation of prospective conditions.
It goes beyond merely predicting various possible scenarios and providing input in the form of suggested responses or actions that can be taken (decision support system). Instead, it possesses foresight or wisdom in planning what “should” happen.
The wise procreative aspect, which can be interpreted as situational intelligence, where wisdom can elegantly give birth to various conditioning and dynamics of future processes, becomes a condition that contains and invites more goodness and nobility and can accommodate noble human values such as integrity and compassion.
Various developments in SA are indeed closely related to technology implementation. In the aviation world, for example, with the advancement of navigation technology (GPS, Galileo, radio-based transmitters, VHF-UHF, etc.), the discovery of radar, including weather radar (WX radar), and the concept of the glass cockpit and the increasing autonomy of the flight control system in the functional unit of the FMS or flight management system, pilots can know the current situation, aircraft status, and various conditions that will be faced in the flight process, from departure aerodrome to the destination airport.
Decision-making and emergency situation control have also been assisted by technology-based systems. There are even methods and techniques in the process of searching for and analyzing the causes of aircraft accidents that can provide input for manufacturers, regulators, airlines, pilots, and all stakeholders in the air transportation system. There are flight data recorders, cockpit voice recorders, and emergency locator transmitters or ELTs that emit emergency signals on the 406 MHz frequency.
Fast, accurate, and precise data analysis can now be facilitated by AI. Meanwhile, the implementation of agreed-upon responses can be developed using advances in IoT or internet of things and M2M or machine-to-machine communication concepts. For example, an assessment of the condition of a railway line suspected of being affected by natural factors such as temperature and material characteristics, experiencing rail buckling, which is dangerous and can cause derailment, then the data is quickly sent to the intelligent analysis system, and a decision to stop/terminate the journey through the action mechanism bridged by automatic train protection or ATP technology.
So, if we take a moment to study the concept of genuine intelligence that we will develop in the concept of situational intelligence-based technology, in essence, this process also refers to and relies on the concept of decision-making intelligence that is mindful and wise from humans.
Humans have a sensory system known as the five senses, and also have an analytical system called cognitive function, and can also act as a form of reaction through the conative system in which there is psychomotor capacity.
Humans are endowed with memory of what has been felt through the optic, auditory, trigeminal, glossopharyngeal, olfactory, Pacinian corpuscles, Ruffini corpuscles, Meissner corpuscles, Krause nerve endings, free nerve endings, and Merkel discs throughout their bodies.
The data from the external and internal environment is processed in the association center after integration and distribution of information, which is regulated by the thalamus and processed in the Telencephalon area, which is anatomically located in the anterior part of the brain and continues to the middle part of the brain (Osumi-Yamashita et al., 1994). The Telencephalon is the largest part of the brain, which includes the cerebral cortex or cerebrum, allocortex, and striatum (Harris et al., 2015). Structurally, the Telencephalon consists of a thin layer of gray matter/substantia nigra, behavior, and consists of 15–33 billion neurons (Huang et al., 2011). In addition, the Telencephalon also consists of the basal ganglia (part of the brain that functions as motor control), corpus striatum (subcortical area), and olfactory bulb (processing data from olfaction) (Haryanto, 2010).
Functionally, the Telencephalon plays a role in constructing intelligence, developing personality traits, interpreting sensory stimuli, processing information from the olfactory sense, and responding to tactile sensations (skin) (Haryanto, 2010).
Data from all sensory pathways certainly require classification, prioritization, and optimization of utilization, including in terms of distribution for various neurophysiological functions. One of the neurophysiological mechanisms in regulating the distribution of information acquired from the sensory/somatic/peripheral nervous system and also data from the visceral nervous system is the mechanism played by the salience network/SN. The SN is played by 2 main structures, namely the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. Where the AI and ACC will be part of the cortico-striatal thalamic loop connected to many strategic areas such as the amygdala, putamen, striatum, ventral tegmental area, and thalamus.
The main function of the SN is to modulate and bridge between executive responses and the basic human neurofali fitriah platform in providing structured and adequate responses to various problems and conditions faced. It can also be said that the SN functions to manage sensory data to be further processed into cognitive responses that can end in action. Decision-making and psychomotor actions are in accordance with the understanding of the situation developed from the analysis of sensory information.
But before reaching a condition to act, where a decision has been agreed upon, the DMN function is needed to accommodate the essence value of the decision maker.
The DMN, also known as the default mode network or medial frontoparietal network or M-FPN, consists of the structure of the mediodorsal prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, and angular gyrus, plays a role in the process of contemplation, thinking about what others think, analyzing various events that have occurred and are happening, and fantasizing about the future.
The work of the DMN is then used by the CEN or Central Executive Network, which consists of the structure of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and the intraparietal sulcus. The CEN is the center of decision-making, processing working memory, mental skill, problem-solving, and constructive efforts aimed at achieving something. The FPN is involved in executive function and goal-oriented, cognitively demanding tasks.
It is crucial for rule-based problem-solving, actively maintaining and manipulating information in working memory, and making decisions in the context of goal-directed behavior. Therefore, awareness of space and the interactions within it that construct the situation cannot be separated from the neurophysiological processes in the microcosm of the human being, which can then be implemented across dimensions through the mediation of technology.
In conclusion, with wisdom in assessing situations based on sensitivity and situational intelligence provided by technology, we hope to be able to manage various crises and humanitarian conflicts, and find creative solutions that are rich in integrated wisdom values that prioritize noble human values as the foundation for the construction of civilization in the future.
