Human and Unmanned Teams for Tracking Elusive Dismounts (HUNTED)

The autonomy of Unmanned Systems (UMS) must increase if they are to be fully leveraged by small military units. Current unmanned systems require at least one human operator per platform to function in a combat environment, preventing small military units from deploying UMS teams for collaborative target acquisition and pursuit. We present the Human and Unmanned Teams for Tracking Elusive Dismounts (HUNTED) system, which will fill this functionality gap and enable teams of UMS to cooperatively acquire and maintain tracks on elusive human dismount targets with minimal oversight by a single warfighter. Our novel approach combines 3D models of the environment with game theory models of the interaction between target and pursuer to react to and shape target behavior by proactive UMS placement. Superior track maintenance is provided by actively driving and hunting targets instead of simply following them. The approach leverages 21st Century Technologies’ capabilities and expertise in 3D scene understanding, visual target acquisition and tracking, predictive planning, target behavior prediction, and dynamic tasking of surveillance assets in response to targets of opportunity. The resulting HUNTED system will drastically reduce the operator oversight needed to field UMS teams that provide superior track maintenance through cooperation.