Intent Inferencing for UAV Control

uture airborne UAV operators will perform as system supervisors, and will have inadequate resources for micromanaging UAVs under their control. Monterey Technologies, Inc. and its subcontractor, ThoughtWave, LLC, will build and demonstrate a crew intentinferencing system to assist UAV operators, the Airborne UAV Control Module (AUCM). The system will use aircraft state and pilot activity information, and mission domain knowledge to moderate crew interaction with numerous onboard associate systemsdepending on current system context. A key innovation in the ACUM is its use during Pre-Mission Planning and/or Rehearsal phase so human-system automation issues are addressed before the mission begins. Case-based reasoning and rule induction techniqueswill capture and assimilate a wide range of Army Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) for UAV management. During the mission the AUCM will use real-time onboard and off-board data sources to match previously encountered situations in the casedatabase, and coordinate with the crew to adapt existing cases for use in new situations. The system will be demonstrated in the Air Maneuver Battle Lab, Ft. Rucker, AL. ACUM as a commercial product is applicable to most systems involving supervisorycontrol of semi-autonomous robotic entities. Military and some civil applications include a range of UAVs, and robotic ground vehicles.The principal benefit of the intent inferencing is that it provides an implicit means of human-machine communication -the pilot can communicate with the intelligent system simply by performing the mission, much like an effective human team does. The AUCM thus will enable crews to interact with complex automation, such as UAVs, in a similar way that crews coordinate witheach other. Crew intent information allows tasks to be performed without explicit crew command, and errors can be detected before they result in incidents and accidents. World-wide, the UAV market is a multi-billion a year enterprise with a double digitgrowth rate. AUCM can increase the effectiveness and reduce the crewing requirements for both airborne, and terrestrial based control. Put another way, few operators will be able to control more vehicles. In addition to the military applications, civilapplications for sea and uninhabited area surveillance will soon develop. Target customers include the over forty companies involved in UAV development and production of UAVs., e.g., Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Bell Helicopter Textron and several Japanesecompanies. Intent inferencing is broadly applicable to military and civil supervisory control systems where the human supervisor may be performing multiple tasks or has highly variable workload.