Sensor and Payload Evaluation Process

"Recent developments have led the services to consider the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and/or unmanned ground systems(UGS) to perform tasks that previously performed by military personnel. Reductions in force levels have made it necessary to keepavailable forces, "out of harm's way" and the unmanned vehicle or unattended sensor offers the solution. Recent advances in technology have permitted size, weight, cost and volume reductions on a scale that makes the use of these devices practical. Payloadassessment for cost effectiveness is critical since the likely outcome of using these devices is their ultimate destruction after relaying the collected information. Spectra Research, Inc. and Veridian Engineering propose to leverage the results of anongoing study funded by DARPA to provide a payload analysis capability to the U.S. Army. The effort will provide an assessment of the requirements for such payloads, the threat to them, and development of a set of analytical tools to perform the tradestudies needed to determine the cost effectiveness, reliability, and feasibility of a given payload. The benefit to military analysts is clear, the most effective payload for the mission. An "engineering toolbox" containing the necessary scripts to performsuch trades clearly offers the ability to review many scenarios and understand the impact of a particular parameter on the outcome of a mission. An obvious commercial application is in the