Onboard Planning System for UAVs in Support of Expeditionary Reconnaissance and Surveillance (OPS-USERS)

Aurora and MIT propose to develop the architecture, core algorithms, and human interface concepts for a multi-platform, distributed UAV team that responds to requests from field operators for intelligence support. Aurora will build on existing robust distributed tasking algorithms that have been demonstrated to work in intermittent communications environments, tailoring them to address multiple-operator issues, rules of engagement constraints, and the necessity to ensure performance of time-critical tasks. Capabilities will be incorporated into a collaborative decision-making process flow that specifically accounts for human supervisory control issues, including interfaces, cognitive roles, and situational awareness. The capabilities developed will be targeted at Phase II implementation in an onboard planning module, already in development, that can be incorporated into low-cost UAVs, giving them higher levels of autonomy and making it possible for them to coordinate their activities as a team over a real-world communication network.