Capability Concept Demonstrator for Interoperability within Unmanned Ground Systems and C2
Abstract
This report describes the research and experiment efforts of the NATO STO RTG IST-149 Capability Concept Demonstrator for Interoperability within Unmanned Ground Systems and C2. Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) are becoming increasingly relevant in the modern battle-space. These systems can carry massive sensor suites, delivering unprecedented streams of data right from the front line. On the other hand, these systems still require tele-operation in most cases. It is very important to realize that the ISR data will remain largely useless if there is no proper way to exchange the information between the coalition partners and/or pipe it into C2 systems. The main purpose of the group was to find ways to improve this situation, and more specifically to investigate possible standards for controlling UGVs from Operator Control Units (OCUs) and receiving data back, and testing them in a real world scenario. The efforts of the project have been two-fold. The Belgian contribution is work done in the EU project ICARUS. This project involved a team of assistive unmanned air, ground and sea vehicles for Search and Rescue. The interoperability was verified in several different experiments. The ICARUS consortium consisted of several international partners, where Belgium was the link to this group. The second effort was a combined effort in the group to have an experiment demonstrating interoperability between the UGVs and OCUs available within the group. The group had a final demonstration in Rena, Norway, in 2018. Both efforts used the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) with the Interoperability Profile (IOP) to successfully enable interoperability between the systems. The trials showed that it is possible to extend the systems quite easily and achieve compliance with parts of the standard in a relatively short time. Both Fraunhofer FKIE and TARDEC had developed software to pass information from the IOP domain to and from the Robotic Operating System (ROS).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1183682
Entities
People
- A. Tiderko
- F. Schneider
- G. De Cubber
- J. Glowka
- J. J. Roning
- K. Mathiassen
- M. Baksaas
- P. Bounker
- R. Kozik
Organizations
- NATO Science and Technology Organization