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Advanced Command and Control Architectures for Autonomous Sensing
Navy STTR 2018.B - Topic N18B-T030 NAVAIR - Ms. Donna Attick - donna.attick@navy.mil Opens: May 22, 2018 - Closes: June 20, 2018 (8:00 PM ET)
TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Air
Platform, Battlespace ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA-266
Navy and Marine Corp Multi-Mission Tactical UAS OBJECTIVE: Develop an
innovative system-of-systems approach to air vehicle command and control (C2)
that facilitates a high degree of autonomy combined with highly efficient human
interaction. DESCRIPTION: Achieving higher
levels of autonomy in uncertain, unstructured, and dynamic environments is
critical for maritime situational awareness. Currently, many contributing
elements such as decision engine technology and operator interfaces that would
facilitate the desired level of autonomy exist as disparate elements yet to be
integrated into a synergistic application. A variety of autonomous platform and
sensor control approaches are under development. Multiple vessel classification
and identification approaches are being pursued and fusion techniques are
maturing to combine information to build knowledge of patterns of life and
quickly identify abnormal or threatening behaviors. Key mission sets that the
C2 approach should address run the gamut from participation in the Global War
on Terrorism to conducting maritime security and interception operations and
participating in numerous coalition operations. Increased autonomy changes the
nature of operator involvement, creating significant new challenges in the
areas of human-machine interaction. The Navy seeks autonomous platform and
sensor systems command and control approaches that support intelligent
decision-making and provide understandable and predictable behavior. Overall
system architecture may leverage state-of-the-art C2 applications such as the
Navy’s Minotaur Mission Processor as the basis to build in greater levels of
autonomy. PHASE I: Develop the system
architecture and demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative C2 structure for
autonomous operations. Provide a detailed description of the overall approach
and an assessment of the underlying autonomous engine’s understandability and
predictability. Develop a detailed architectural description clearly
identifying all primary functional elements and the development required to
sufficiently mature the approach. Prepare a software development and support
plan that maximizes the flexibility of the application and its ability to be
easily enhanced in the future. The Phase I effort will include prototype plans
to be developed under Phase II. PHASE II: Develop a prototype
C2 application using the framework developed in Phase I. Demonstrate the
capability in a representative operational airborne maritime surveillance
environment. PHASE III DUAL USE
APPLICATIONS: Complete the development and testing of the application on a suitable
Navy maritime surveillance platform. Transition the technology to the Navy as a
software upgrade to its candidate maritime surveillance platforms. The
application is generally applicable to multiple autonomous sensing systems for
security, law enforcement, border protection, or exclusive economic zone
monitoring. REFERENCES: 1. Jain, A. K., Duin, R. P.
W., and Mao, J. “Statistical Pattern Recognition: A Review”. IEEE Transactions
on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Volume: 22, Issue: 1, Jan 2000,
pp. 4-37. DOI: 10.1109/34.824819 2. Benavoli, A., Chisci, L.,
Farina, A., Immediata, S., Timmoneri, L., and Zappa, G. “Knowledge-based system
for multi-target tracking in a littoral environment”. IEEE Transaction on
Aerospace and Electronic Systems, VOL. 42, NO. 3, November 2006. DOI:
10.1109/TAES.2006.248193 3. Duda, R.O., Hart, P.E.,
and Stork, D.G. “Pattern Classification”. New York: John Wiley & Sons,
2001, pp. xx + 654 KEYWORDS: Autonomous Sensing;
Command and Control; Maritime Surveillance; Unmanned Aircraft; Radar; Patterns
of Life
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