Taking the Next Step: From 'Unmanned' to True Autonomy
Abstract
Unmanned systems have come to be used so extensively that it is almost impossible to imagine tomorrow's military operating without the strategic, operational, and tactical advantages that they offer. However, today most unmanned systems have yet to advance towards true autonomy; instead, they require extensive manpower support, which escalates Total Ownership Costs to unsustainable levels. As the DoD's Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap 2011-2036 states, "the increased manpower to operate unmanned systems is adding stress to the overall workload of the armed forces. This stress highlights the need to transition to a more autonomous, modern system of warfare." Future C4ISR development to make this vision a reality must reduce manpower while expanding complexity of missions these systems are able to carry out. A particularly urgent focus area is the need for unmanned intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems to conduct onboard processing of data to address the "information overload" crisis that the U.S. military is facing today. We will present examples of ground-breaking work being conducted in the DoD laboratory community, highlighting systems such as the Intelligence Carry On Program (ICOP) that are paving the way for a completely new paradigm--multiple unmanned systems controlled by one operator.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA570098
Entities
People
- George Galdorisi
- Rachel Volner
- Robin Laird
Organizations
- Naval Information Warfare Systems Command