|
Operations
Towards an Unmanned Systems Master Plan
Rand LeBouvier, CAPT, USN (Ret.), Bluefin Robotics
With so many agencies interested, invested, and involved in unmanned systems, an all-encompassing Unmanned Systems Master Plan is required to ensure a visionary, systemic, and results-oriented approach is adopted. Any approach to unmanned systems that does not include a holistic consideration of command and control, propulsion systems and fuel, power systems, navigation challenges, sensors and payloads, data transmission and display, manning, and combined concepts of operations where multiple vehicles and types of vehicles are operating in the same battlespace is doomed to failure. These issues are inter-related. The promise of unmanned systems lies in their ability to bring all of these disciplines together. While individual plans for unmanned air, undersea, ground, and surface systems are warranted, they must be brought together under a single master plan to ensure that efficiencies can be realized and duplication can be minimized, that multiple types of systems are interoperable and simultaneously employable, that information gleaned from these systems can be displayed on common or existing data terminals and shared with other services, agencies, and our allies, and that command and control of these systems is readily transferable to the proper agencies. This paper proposes to offer how a unified master plan could be developed.
Navy UAS Roadmap
CAPT Steve Wright, USN, N78 Air Warfare
The Navy’s Roadmap for the future development and operations of UASs, recently briefed to the Chief of Naval Operations, will be presented. The Roadmap will address the small, tactical, persistent, and penetrating classes of UAVs. Opportunities for near term fielding of existing/on-the-shelf assets will also be addressed in the presentation.
Northrop Gumman's Family of Unmanned Aerial Systems
Rick Ludwig, Northrop Grumman
This presentation will cover the Concept of Operations (CONOPS) of Northrop Grumman s Family of UAS s to support Naval Forces at Sea and USAF/USA/USMC forces ashore with the emphasis on persistent survivability. It will also address a short history of the NGC s UMS programs, system descriptions, present flight-testing and future growth potential.
The systems covered will include Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration, X-47, J-UCAS, Fire Scout, Hunter II and Killer Bee. The principal points to be addressed include autonomous flight from aircraft carriers and shore sites, autonomous mission execution, autonomous in-flight refueling, rapid retasking and system survivability. Several operational scenarios will be developed to characterize this Family s utility to Joint Forces. Stressed will be the ability of the family of UAS s to seamlessly plug into DoD s concept of Network Centric Warfare and afford the chain of command real and near-real time operational Precision Strike, ISR/T, SEAD, and EA.
SPERWER Second Tour In Afghanistan
Gilles Rousseau, SAGEM DEFENSE SECURITY
In 2003 the Canadian Forces were taking delivery of their SPERWER TUAV directly on the Kabul operational field. Three years later from February 2006, the 408th squadron of the Canadian Air Force is back in Afghanistan for their second tour with the same system but with significantly more training experience. The two systems acquired with a top of eleven aircraft are deployed on the Kandahar airfield. A small surface on the side of the camp is dedicated to takeoff and landing, the runway is not an option. One Ground Control Station will also occasionally be deployed outside the camp and the hand-over capability will be used.
The Kandahar operational site is different from Kabul in the fact that it is not so high (1300m vs 1800m) but the system will still have to face adverse environmental conditions.
The task dedicated to the 408th sqd is mainly ground operation support, a vital asset for the Canadian troops in this anti-terrorist warfare.
This paper proposes to give a comprehensive industrial feedback on this operational deployment covering system behavior, performances, logistical aspect, etc.
Developing an Intelligent and Integrated Unmanned Ground Vehicle System: A Case Study
Miles Walton, Douglas Few, David Bruemmer, Curtis Nielsen, Idaho National Laboratory
In October, 2005 the US Army Maneuver Support Center conducted a test at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) of the Autonomous Robotic Countermine System (ARCS). ARCS employs the INL-developed Robotic Intelligence Kernel operating on a countermine platform developed at Carnegie Mellon University with ground marking equipment developed at SSC San Diego. The rigorous 10-day test demonstrated the unique capabilities of this unmanned ground system. Test results included: 130 of 135 inert landmines detected (>96%) with no false detections; all landmines detected correctly marked on the ground and in the operator interface; proofing and marking a 50 meter lane took some five to six minutes; the actual operation required less than 1% human involvement; and the overall Autonomy Levels for Unmanned Systems (ALFUS) rating was 7.5-8 out of 10. The INL Intelligence Kernel currently operates on numerous research platforms and is currently being ported to field-deployable robotic systems. It is adaptable to variable sensor configurations and payload needs. The operator interface provides an augmented virtual reality perspective to aid operators and supports varied levels of autonomy ranging from teleoperated to fully autonomous. This test illustrates the adaptability and robustness of the INL Intelligence Kernel in a real world application setting.
Mixed Initiative Human/Robot Team Performance Assessment System
Dr. Amos Freedy, James McDonough, Elan Freedy, Gershon Weltman, Perceptronics Solutions, Inc., Michelle Kalphat, US Army, RDECOM-STTC
The Mixed Initiative human/robot Team Performance Assessment System (MITPAS) is a complete system and methodology to measure the performance of teams involving both human and robotic elements in training as well as real world operational environments. MITPAS responds to the revolution in battlefield technology caused by mixed initiative combat systems involving warfighter and machine collaboration in combat, and to the concurrent need for performance measurement technology that recognizes the unique interaction of two cognitive systems -- human and autonomous or semi-autonomous unmanned robot. The MITPAS prototype systems consists of three main components: (1) an instrumentation and data collection infrastructure which captures sensor data and internal state changes from the robotic element as well as human interaction events with the robotic controller (2) a multi-dimensional team performance data analysis system that aggregates measures of performance and measures of effectiveness into new scoring criteria adapted to human-robotic collectives; and (3) a demonstration simulation based on OneSAF-OTB that includes a UGV controller station, a Battle Master/Platoon Leader station and a realistic initial scenario involving UGV surveillance and clearance of a planned convoy route. Our objective is wide utilization of this US Army RDECOM-STTC sponsored technology by other researchers and operational users.
Creation of Special Use Airspace for Unmanned Aircraft Activity
Glen Witt, Stephen B. Hottman, NMSU-PSL
Aviation flight safety is structured around three principals; i.e., (1) see and avoid, by pilots (2) positive control, by air traffic control, and (3) segregation of flight operations, by regulation. Considerable effort is being made to develop see and avoid technology for unmanned aircraft that will achieve an equivalent level of safety as that required for pilots of manned aircraft. Yet, reliable and certifiable unmanned aircraft see and avoid technology is a number of years away and probably decades for smaller unmanned aircraft. Most government and commercial applications for unmanned aircraft exists in airspace that is not under positive control of the FAA air traffic control system. Therefore, until unmanned aircraft see and avoid technology is a reality, consideration should be given toward developing a category of special use airspace for unmanned aircraft proponents to utilize in non-positive control airspace that will segregate aircraft and that does not severally impact other airspace users operations.
Migrating Payload and Navigation Capabilities from the Tactical UAS Class to the Man-Portable Class
Ofer Ben-Dov, Elad Aharonson, Elbit Systems LTD
Small unmanned air vehicle (SUAV) systems are rapidly gaining recognition world wide as a vital, high-availability, airborne sensor asset for the commander in the field. SUAV systems are accumulating operational flight hours at an accelerated rate. The paper will describe our operational experience with fielded military forces using the Skylark SUAV featuring a man-portable, hand launched air vehicle with payload and navigation capabilities previously only available in the much larger tactical class. The system has been delivered to various users world wide and is operational in two low-intensity conflict (LIC) theatres in Israel, used by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and in Iraq used by the Australian Defense Forces (ADF). The paper will provide sanitized lessons learned from operational use of the system based on customer feedback. The paper will be organized as follows:
- Review of LIC scenarios
- Challenges and solutions for tracking moving targets using an SUAV
- Challenges and solutions for incorporating complex navigation modes in an SUAV
- Challenges and solutions for operator training
A sample of real-world videos will be included as part of the presentation in order to highlight the above issues.
MMW Radar for Non-Cooperative Collision Avoidance - Development Report
Robert Bernier, Pierre Poitevin, Amphitech Systems Inc.
Making the emerging UAV industry a successful one will encompass effective means of Detecting, Seeing and Avoiding (DSA) other aircraft both cooperative and non-cooperative.
Recently, radar technology has been demonstrated to meet the stringent DSA sensor performance requirements. In tests of a Ka-band radar on board the Proteus, average detection ranges of 8.3 km have been reported for small aircraft.
This paper presents the status of the development of a practical solution to provide UAVs with a sensor for autonomous DSA capability based on a MMW Radar technology.
Are discussed the software and hardware overall architectures of the system and the status of the development in both aspects. Is also discussed the methodology put forward to address the problem of detecting and avoiding other vehicles which could be either taxiing or making landing or take off maneuvers while the UAV is itself making such maneuvers.
The expected performances of the proposed technology are discussed herein. Detection ranges at up to 7.5 km on small aircraft with a radar weighing approximately 8 kg and using less than 50 Watts are presented. Finally, software and air worthiness certification requirements are discussed.
Requirements for Semi-Autonomous Flight in Miniature UAVs for Structural Inspection
Kevin Pratt, Robin Murphy, Sam Stover, Institute for Safety Security Rescue Technology, Chandler Griffin, iSENSYS
An emerging research area in rotary-wing Miniature UAVs (MAVs) is operations in confined urban environments. This paper identifies four considerations for incrementally developing autonomy. These conclusions are based on an 8-day deployment to Biloxi, MS teleoperating an iSensys IP3 MAV for a post-Hurricane Katrina survey of structural damage to seven multi-story commercial buildings. First, the aircraft must maintain a range of 3-10m from these structures for optimal viewing while simultaneously detecting and avoiding obstacles. Second, weather conditions, particularly variable and unpredictable wind turbulence, lead to instability and can cause unrequested movements on the order of several meters. Third, given these sudden movements, complete spherical proximity sensor coverage is necessary versus conventional lateral, forward, nose-down placement. Fourth, this work suggests that 'return to last known good communications point' and 'location hold' behaviors are the logical next steps in autonomy, while GPS waypoint navigation appears less of a priority given that flight paths were both dynamically changed and targeting was opportunistic in nature. The paper also discusses effective teleoperation strategies and roles of human operators.
| 
Events
