Tactical Decision Aids for Unmanned and Autonomous Vehicles

Iraq dust stormThe requirements for airborne tactical decision aids were originally developed in response to needs for prediction of sensor performance on piloted airborne platforms. These requirements are rapidly evolving to provide performance for unmanned (UAV) and even autonomous vehicles (AAV).  The end product —detection range of a target by a sensor— may be similar, but there is much more machine-to-machine interaction. In addition, cloud information is critical for resource protection.

An important cost driver of UAV and AAV operations is vehicle loss in clouds or complex terrain. The simple range prediction must now be supplemented with aircraft operational safety documentation. The theme of the workshop is then to consider how our current products would be used in the support of unmanned vehicles. In particular, to bring back a theme from a previous workshop, how do our products fit in the operational decision loop?

Topics

General topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Tools or processes that support tactical decisions in the operational environment
• Validation, verification, and confidence measures of performance predictions
• Use, design and employment of numerical weather prediction models, to include ensemble modeling to support these models
• Ingest of local and remotely sensed observations
• Sensor developments in multi-spectral implementations in R&D, fusion and analysis
• Target and target scene models, to include buried objects and soil-covered targets
• User products and interfaces identifying problems and solutions in providing an appropriate support product
• The changing operational environment and customer base, including systems being emphasized or de-emphasized