Recent testing at Fort Hood, TX showed state-of-the-art autonomy for critically needed applications for the US Army.
Unmanned operations in snow and rain.
Owners Karl Murphy (L) and Alberto Lacaze (R) in front of an unmanned Stryker vehicle.
Cooperative Control of Small Unmanned Assets (CCSUA)
Robotic Research, LLC has received a Phase I contract through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program for Cooperative Control of Small Unmanned Assets (CCSUA).
This Army-funded project will create the architectural framework to produce robust surveillance solutions that will utilize Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles (SUGVs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) when tracking moving objects/targets. This is accomplished by combining unmanned systems technologies together with algorithms that provide superior, cooperative control of heterogeneous unmanned systems.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, both Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles (SUGVs) have proven their military usefulness for a large variety of mission tasks. Due to their success, platform and control technologies, for example; sensors, processing capabilities, software, batteries, and weight associated with these unmanned systems are rapidly maturing. A formidable unmanned surveillance team is created by harnessing the individual strengths of air and ground vehicles, where UAVs are capable of maintaining line-of-sight to the target while SUGVs provide long-term surveillance in areas where an aerial views are obstructed. To facilitate implementation of this concept, software systems must allow these unmanned vehicles to collaboratively function with minimal operator intervention while tracking moving targets. Surveillance assets must be dispatched with minimal effort and their information combined into one, concise representation. A robust surveillance solution that harnesses the full potential of SUGVs and UAVs has yet to be created. Rather, much of the emphasis of current research is toward refining individual systems. Without a proper collaborative system, creation of a “sum is greater than the parts” solution is impossible. Our Cooperative Control of Small Unmanned Assets (CCSUA) combines the state-of-the-art unmanned systems technologies together with algorithms that provide superior, cooperative control of heterogeneous unmanned systems.
The program manager is Dr. Norman Coleman, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ. SBIR Phase I BASE will run from Nov 2009 - May 2010
