Advanced Replanning and Execution Tools for Heterogeneous Unmanned Systems (ARETHUS)

Advanced automation capabilities and human-computer interfaces are needed to enhance operator situation awareness and reduce the cognitive work of supervising unmanned vehicle teams in complex airspaces and waterspaces. To address this need, we will design and demonstrate Advanced Replanning and Execution Tools for Heterogeneous Unmanned Systems (ARETHUS). Three core attributes characterize our approach: First, we will expand prior analyses of unmanned operations to address the operator’s need for observability and directability of automated planning tool behaviors when supervising multiple vehicles. Second, we leverage this analysis to drive the design of: (1) advanced planning algorithms that incorporate both hard domain constraints and soft operator preferences during mission planning and replanning; and (2) ecological mission displays that enhance operator awareness of the relative safety and efficacy of automated plans with respect to individual vehicle and environmental constraints, while intuitively conveying affordances for directing the planning process. Third, we will extend existing in-house planning algorithms, display tools, and simulation environments to rapidly develop working prototypes of ARETHUS component algorithms and mission displays. We will use these prototypes to demonstrate and evaluate our approaches and truly explore the complexities of mission execution and rapid replanning of unmanned vehicles in complex airspaces and waterspaces.