Designing Unmanned Systems with Greater Autonomy: Using a Federated, Partially Open Systems Architecture Approach

Abstract

In 2008, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Robert Gates pushed the military services to field more intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets in an effort to address the warfighter s insatiable appetite for the information these systems provide. Since that time, the DoD has made substantial progress in fielding more, and more capable unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to meet the needs of warfighters in different theaters of operation. Innovative UAS platforms and sensors have been introduced by the defense community in the last decade to meet urgent operational needs to include systems with greater endurance and improved sensors. However, innovation has also led to development of multiple programs with different communications systems, which can contribute to interoperability problems and limit both the degree to which information collected by these systems can be shared and how these systems can work together, with other systems, and be controlled by warfighters in different units or military services. Today, unmanned systems encompass more than unmanned aircraft to include unmanned vehicles (UxVs) and unmanned systems (UxS) that operate on land and at sea. Such systems are having an effect on the way important missions are conducted, yet they also introduce a number of challenges: the number of personnel needed to operate and manage the increasing number and type of unmanned systems, the survivability of these systems against new threats, and the ability of these systems to operate in more complex and contested environments. These challenges can potentially be met by fielding unmanned systems with greater autonomy, but to date, as noted by the Defense Science Board (DSB), such progress has been limited.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2014
Accession Number
ADA609699

Entities

People

  • Daniel L Gonzales
  • Sarah Harting

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Application Software
  • Autonomous Navigation
  • Autonomous Systems
  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Collision Avoidance
  • Collision Avoidance Systems
  • Computer Programming
  • Computers
  • Control Systems
  • Ground Control Stations
  • Information Systems
  • Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems
  • Unmanned Underwater Vehicles
  • Unmanned Vehicles

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs