Affordable Control/Trajectory Management Systems for Unmanned Air or Space Vehicles

A major challenge to the successful operation of multiple unmanned vehicles is the necessity to operate effectively and safely under a wide range of changing conditions. In the past, there have been two major paradigms employed to accomplish this control;fully pre-programmed missions and manual control from a remote console. A new paradigm is needed that supports a full range of automated and mission flexible autonomous control systems. This proposal extends and enhances the work done previously by AppliedSystems Intelligence, Inc., on AF01-249 Phase I to realize a decision aiding systems that reduces risk factors in key areas associated with autonomous vehicle operations. Our goals are to refine our decision aiding concept, architecture and implementation,and develop a prototype in a HLS/DIS simulation environment for space operations. Our decision aiding solution provides a model of intelligent behavior and assessment, both human and computer, distributed across a control station and each vehicle. It canact in concert with humans to perform complex tasks and is designed to work collaboratively and cooperatively with humans or other unmanned vehicles. This prototype will be available for demonstration at the end of Phase II.