Manned-Unmanned Teaming

Running out of ammunition on the battlefield often leads to the need for a manually delivered resupply. This creates a dangerous situation for all involved, placing both the individual soldier and courier’s life at risk. With recent advances in autonomous vehicles, an effort is being made to deliver ammunition to soldiers without need for manual transportation. However, the process of knowing who needs ammunition and where to send the vehicles has remained elusive and prevented the implementation of an autonomous resupply system. ARC’s proprietary sensor, ARC-Response, presents a possible solution via access to real-time firearm usage data. This data provides a way to monitor personnel ammunition levels in real-time through the identification of discharges. With knowledge of ammunition levels, a prediction can be made for when an individual will need a resupply, further informing an autonomous vehicle resupply system. The resupply could be done without the need for manual input, reducing the soldier's cognitive burden and allowing them to focus on completing their objective. To bring this system to reality, research needs to be done to identify weapon discharges using the ARC-Response sensor and to develop a model predicting when a Soldier will need an ammunition resupply.