User-Centered Communications Manager

The User-Centered Communications Manager (UCCM) is an intelligent agent that manages the communication flow between a vehicle and its ground operators. This work is tailored for the needs of the BAMS UAS, and adapts to current bandwidth, mission objectives, and vehicle situation. A UCCM on the BAMS will manage transmissions from the vehicle. A UCCM on the ground will manage information sent to the vehicle. UCCM serves as a proxy between multiple senders and the radio subsystem. The radio obtains its next transmission from a sorted priority queue of transmission requests. Each request is prioritized based on the transmission’s metadata, sensed vehicle operating conditions, and actual mission status. A small rule base governs when to reprioritize the queue and/or delete any of the unsent requests. UCCM is implemented within the Teknowledge ActionWeb sense-and-respond framework. ActionWeb provides integration APIs for monitoring sensors and data feeds, maintains a world model based on these events, and provides rule-based logic for deciding on appropriate action.