Collaborative Autonomy

Phil Brown,

Autonomous Systems Principal Scientist

Dstl

Collaborative Autonomy

Three Examples

• Teaming - Autonomous systems operating collaboratively

with operators to achieve missions

• Squads – Autonomous systems operating collaboratively

with each other to achieve missions

• Swarming – autonomous systems operating collaboratively

with each other to achieve one task or single activity within

a mission Arbitrary definitions - not MOD defined

Vision Led

Research

Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T)

© Crown copyright 2016 Dstl

23 May 2017

vs.

UAS Teaming Concepts - Examples

• OFFICIAL

• Person-to-purpose concept • Task Scheduler • Recruiting sensors • Information Reference Library integration • Manned-unmanned teaming

© Dstl 2008

Dstl is part of the

Ministry of Defence

•ISTAR & MULTI-INT LAYER

•STRIKE LAYER

•SUB-TACTICAL LAYER

NETWORK-ENABLED “IPv6 CLOUD”

•“GOOGLE-LIKE”

INTERFACE with “WIKI”

Links

•TFHQ

AFLOAT

•CAOC/OISG

•NEAR-SPACE LAYER

IMPROVED INFORMATION EXCHANGE APPROPRIATE AUTONOMY IMPLEMENTATION

Digital functionality and enabling information exchanges:

– Position and Identification

– Digital Airspace Management

– Mission Tasking

– Mission plan and Route transfer

– Threat information

– Chat/ Free text

– Marked-up images

Squad Autonomy

Description

• Multiple Heterogeneous Autonomous vehicles working together to

complete a mission.

• Common dynamic task list

Benefits

• Robust mission success, teaming providing redundancy

• Improved MCM timeline, maximising utilisation

• Over the horizon operations

• Reduced burden on the operator

Achievements

• Three Squads, Three domains, Three Nations

• UUVs hunting, USVs hunting and comms relay, UAV providing comms

relay and SA

• Interoperability and pooling resources between three nations

Coalition MCM

• 10 vehicles, three nations, three domains

• Collaborative systems

• Autonomous Systems

• MCM Context

MAPLE Data Core

Other Systems or other

Data Cores

Maritime Autonomy Framework

Swarms • Fractionated Delivery for Integrated Effects

– to provide urban ISR in a non-permissive environment using a swarm of very

low cost, small UAS, operating in an integrated fashion to achieve complex

effects”.

• Current Accelerator activity

– Open Modular UAS Platforms

– Heterogeneous platforms/capabilities

– Common mission systems architectures

– Low cost

– Mission Management of UAS Swarms

– Varying levels of platform autonomy

– C2 concepts and mission management approaches

– Development of technology enablers for UAS swarms

• Value of fractionation

• Develop sensing concepts.

Challenges & Questions

• Interoperability fidelity

– Waveforms

– Comms messages

– Control Software

– Planning

• Design

– Centralised vs decentralised vs

dynamic vs variable autonomy

• Development of Standards

– MDCS

– Autonomy in challenging

environments

• Challenges

– Communications

• RF - bandwidth

• Acoustic – networks

– HMI

– Covert Operations

– TTP & CONOPS

• New systems

• Legacy systems

– Capability specific systems