Designing Unmanned Systems with Greater Autonomy Using a Federated, Partially Open Systems Architecture Approach
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Designing Unmanned Systems with Greater Autonomy Using a Federated, Partially Open Systems Architecture Approach Daniel Gonzales, Sarah Harting C O R P O R A T I O N ELECTRONIC COPIES OF RAND RESEARCH ARE PROVIDED FOR PERSONAL USE; POSTING TO A NONRAND WEBSITE IS PROHIBITED. THIS PUBLICATION IS AVAILABLE FOR LINKING OR FREE DOWNLOAD AT www.rand.org NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH INSTITUTE Designing Unmanned Systems with Greater Autonomy Using a Federated, Partially Open Systems Architecture Approach Daniel Gonzales, Sarah Harting Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense Approved for public release; distribution unlimited For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RR626 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this publication. ISBN: 978-0-8330-8606-8 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © Copyright 2014 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. 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RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org Preface The U.S. Department of Defense has made substantial progress in the deployment of more capable sensors, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and other unmanned systems (UxS). Innovative UxS can affect the way important missions will be conducted yet impose a number of interoperability and integration challenges that must be addressed before their employment in joint operations can be effective. In addition, to provide effective capabilities in more demanding missions and environments, UxS will require more autonomous capabilities than exist in current unmanned systems. This report focuses on the architectures that define such systems and proposes a way forward built on existing efforts to improve UAS and UxS interoperability and autonomy across the joint community from the bottom up. This research was sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (OUSD AT&L) and conducted within the Acquisition and Technology Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community. For more information on the RAND Acquisition and Technology Policy Center, see http://www.rand.org/nsrd/ndri/centers/atp.html or contact the director (contact information is provided on the web page). iii Contents Preface ............................................................................................... iii Figures and Tables ................................................................................. ix Summary ............................................................................................ xi Acknowledgments .............................................................................. xxiii Abbreviations ..................................................................................... xxv CHaptER ONE Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 Classifications of Autonomy for Unmanned Systems ............................................ 3 Study Objectives ..................................................................................... 4 DoD Architecture Concepts ........................................................................ 4 Analytical Approach ................................................................................. 6 Scope ................................................................................................ 6 Caveats .............................................................................................. 6 Organization of This Report ........................................................................ 7 CHaptER TWO Expanding the UxS Mission Space .............................................................. 9 UxS in Recent Operations .......................................................................... 9 Unmanned Aerial Systems ....................................................................... 9 Unmanned Ground Systems ....................................................................10 Unmanned Maritime Systems ...................................................................10 Unmanned Surface Vehicles .....................................................................10 Unmanned System Characteristics................................................................10 UxS in Future Operations ..........................................................................12 UxS Interoperability Challenges ..................................................................15 Short-Term Interoperability Challenges ........................................................15 Long-Term Interoperability Challenges ........................................................16 v vi Designing Unmanned Systems with Greater Autonomy CHaptER THREE UAS Interoperability Initiatives Led by the Office of the Secretary of Defense .......17 UAS I-IPT Goals ....................................................................................17 UAS Interoperability Profiles Working Group ................................................18 Mission Integration Working Group ...........................................................18 Horizontal Integration Working Group .......................................................18 UAS Control Segment Working Group ........................................................18 Review of UAS I-IPT Working Group Products ................................................20 USIPs ...............................................................................................20 JCUA ...............................................................................................20 UCS Architecture .................................................................................20 Aligning Future UAS Architectures ............................................................20 CHaptER FOUR Unmanned System Autonomy: Limitations and Opportunities ..........................23 UAS Autonomy .....................................................................................24 UMS Autonomy .....................................................................................26 UGS Autonomy .....................................................................................28 DARPA Initiatives ................................................................................28 Army Initiatives ...................................................................................29 Google and Automaker Initiatives .............................................................29 CHaptER FIVE UxS Architecture Developments ................................................................31 UGV Architecture–Related Developments ......................................................35 Joint Autonomous Unmanned System Architecture ..........................................36 UMV Architecture Developments ................................................................38 JANUS Communications Standard ...........................................................39 Maritime Open Autonomy Architecture .......................................................39 Mission Oriented Operating Suite Interval Programming ..................................40 UAS Architecture Developments ................................................................ 42 Open Architecture for the Integration of UAV Civil Applications ........................ 42 Data Distribution System–Based Architectures .............................................. 44 Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Swarming UAS Architecture ................................................................................. 46 MIT and Aurora Flight Sciences Decentralized Autonomous UAV Framework..........47 MIT Lincoln Laboratory Reference Software Architecture .................................49 CHaptER SIX Conclusions .........................................................................................53 Study Objectives and Scope .......................................................................53 UxS Architecture Development Challenges .....................................................54 Contents vii Findings ............................................................................................54