Resilient Communications for Autonomous and Remotely Operated Systems

The future fight will be defined by multi-domain operations (MDO) and the ability to effectively leverage remotely operated and autonomous systems. Near-peer adversaries will fiercelyĀcompete for radio frequency (RF) spectrum dominance, as has been evidenced in the recent conflict in Ukraine. The ability to manage and control contested, congested, and constrained (i.e., complex) electromagnetic operating environments (EMOE) willĀdetermine kill chain effectiveness and mission outcomes.Ā Next-generation durable and attritable platformsŚfrom robotic combat vehicles (RCV) to small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS)Śrely heavily on the reliability and predictability of their communications links. Whether remotely operated vehicles under human control or autonomous systems with machine-to-machine links,Āconnectivity in complex EMOE are the backbone of MDO.Ā??????? Current communications solutions often provide basic parameters like received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), but these do not inform the operator with a recommended course of action (COA) and are impacted by range/distance, physical obstacles, terrain, environmental variables, congested channel/s, intentional jamming, etc. Other solutions provide more detailed information on the RF environment, however without significant training and/or increasing operator cognitive load, this information is largely useless at the point of need. An opportunity exists to combine RF technology, sensor fusion, AI, and low-size/weight/power (SWaP) edge computing toĀdeliver a better experience to the warfighter. The key is taking complex data and delivering simple, actionable outputs and COAs to operators (and machines) toĀreduce, remediate, and eliminate link lossĀacross the ArmyÆs and DoDÆs robotic systems. The solution needs to be scalable, reliable, easily adopted, and platform/vendor/ domain agnostic. Delivering this solution willĀincrease the lethality, safety, and mission effectivenessĀof todayÆs warfighter result in a United States that isĀbetter prepared for the future fight.