Unmanned and Autonomous System Test

Abstract

Unmanned and Autonomous Systems (UAS)support every domain of warfare, operating in space, in air, on land, on sea, undersea and in sub-terrain conditions to support a vast variety of missions. UAS is experiencing exponential growth in technological capabilities and employment in current operations. The emergence of robotics brings a host of revolutionary capabilities that will profoundly influence warfare. The Unmanned and Autonomous Systems Test (UAST) project addresses current and emerging challenges associated with the test and evaluation (T&E) of these critical warfighting capabilities. The UAST project is developing test technologies to simulate, stimulate, instrument, measure, and assess the capability of an autonomous system to perceive its environment, process information, adapt to dynamic conditions, make decisions, and effectively act on those decisions in the context of mission execution. The technology development efforts within the UAST project have been re-prioritized to align to Secretary of Defense guidance on science and technology priority investments for FY2013-2017, particularly in assessing autonomy. The UAST project will provide the test technologies to effectively measure performance and characterize risk, thereby increasing the warfighter’s trust in autonomous systems. Current Department of Defense (DoD) test capabilities and methodologies are insufficient to address the testing of increasingly autonomous units and teams of unmanned systems operating in unstructured, dynamic battlespace environments. Furthermore, advancements are being made in developing collaborating system-of-autonomous-systems, working in concert as a swarm or pack and in close proximity with humans. New test technologies are needed to stress the collective set of autonomous systems under realistic conditions, predict emergent behavior of autonomous systems, emulate the complex environment, and assess mission performance of these highly coupled and intelligent systems.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Project
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2013
Source ID
7_0603941D8Z_3_0400_PB_2013

Tags

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Military Science and Technology Research and Modernization.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Autonomous Systems
  • AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy
  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs
  • Space
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers

Related Documents