Unmanned systems interoperability standards

Over the past several years, there has been rapid growth in the development and employment of unmanned systems in military and civilian endeavors. Some military organizations have expressed concern that these systems are being fielded without sufficient capabilities to interoperate with existing systems. Despite recognition of this requirement, interoperability efforts remain diverse and disjointed across the United States and internationally. The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Monterey, California, was sponsored by the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise (JGRE) in Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) to explore (1) enhancement of robotics education; (2) improved representation of robotic systems in combat simulations; and (3) interoperability standards for military robotics systems. This report discusses work performed in FY16 to identify current and emerging interoperability standards for unmanned systems, including interactions of robotic systems with command and control (C2) and simulation systems. The investigation included assessment of the applicability of standardization activities in the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) in its development of the Phase 1 Coalition Battle Management Language (C-BML) and currently in-progress Command and Control Systems - Simulation Systems Interoperation (C2SIM) standardization efforts. The report provides a recommended approach, standards, activities, and timetable for a cross-system communications roadmap.Secretary of Defense Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise, 3090 Defense Pentagon, Room 5C756, Washington, DC 20301Office of the Secretary of Defense Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Intelligent Robotic Behaviors for Landmine Detection and Marking

This article discusses experimental results achieved with a robotic countermine system that utilizes autonomous behaviors and a mixed-initiative control scheme to address the challenges of detecting and marking buried landmines. By correlating aerial imagery and ground-based robot mapping, the interface provides context for the operator to task the robot. Once tasked, the robot can perform the search and detection task without the use of accurate global positioning system information or continuous communication with the operator. Results show that the system was able to find and mark landmines with a very low level of human involvement. In addition, the data indicates that the robotic system may be able to decrease the time to find mines and increase the detection, accuracy and reliability

A Survey of User Interfaces for Robot Teleoperation

Robots are used today to accomplish many tasks in society, be it in industry, at home, or as helping tools on tragic incidents. The human-robot systems currently developed span a broad variety of applications and are typically very different from one another. The interaction techniques designed for each system are also very different, although some effort has been directed in defining common properties and strategies for guiding human-robot interaction (HRI) development. This work aims to present the state-of-the-art in teleoperation interaction techniques between robots and their users. By presenting potentially useful design models and motivating discussions on topics to which the research community has been paying little attention lately, we also suggest solutions to some of the design and operational problems being faced in this area

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 320)

This bibliography lists 125 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during January, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

Human Swarm Interaction for Radiation Source Search and Localization

This study shows that appropriate human interaction can benefit a swarm of robots to achieve goals more efficiently. A set of desirable features for human swarm interaction is identified based on the principles of swarm robotics. Human swarm interaction architecture is then proposed that has all of the desirable features. A swarm simulation environment is created that allows simulating a swarm behavior in an indoor environment. The swarm behavior and the results of user interaction are studied by considering radiation source search and localization application of the swarm. Particle swarm optimization algorithm is slightly modified to enable the swarm to autonomously explore the indoor environment for radiation source search and localization. The emergence of intelligence is observed that enables the swarm to locate the radiation source completely on its own. Proposed human swarm interaction is then integrated in a simulation environment and user evaluation experiments are conducted. Participants are introduced to the interaction tool and asked to deploy the swarm to complete the missions. The performance comparison of the user guided swarm to that of the autonomous swarm shows that the interaction interface is fairly easy to learn and that user guided swarm is more efficient in achieving the goals. The results clearly indicate that the proposed interaction helped the swarm achieve emergence

The Role of Small Satellites in Our National Defense

Highly capable small satellites may play a significant role in the future of our national defense space architecture. Such capable small satellites are generically referred to as LightSats. In this paper, we examine the logical motivation behind the utilization of LightSats to support military operations and national defense requirements. To complement LightSats, new cost-effective and responsive launch vehicles are also needed. We present an overview of the DARPA Advanced Space Technology Program (ASTP), which seeks to develop high-payoff advanced enabling technologies to enhance space system operational support to military forces and to assure availability of space assets in wartime. The program is comprehensively addressing all of the key segments of an assured access to space capability, including initiatives in launch vehicles, satellites and their subsystems, ground systems and novel operational concepts. The technologies developed under ASTP auspices will improve large defense satellites by decreasing the size and weight of their subsystems, and perhaps enhancing their capabilities and survivability. Additionally, these technological advances may make possible the advent of high capability LightSats. The work being done in DARPA for the defense community synergistically complements similar small satellite and launch vehicle efforts in the commercial and scientific communities. ASTP is helping to prime the pump of our nation\u27s emerging commercial space industry, and the ramifications of this program may be far more widespread and diverse than the directly discernable impact on military space systems. For example, ASTP efforts to streamline manufacturing processes and thereby reduce the cost of inherently expensive space systems will be beneficial to the commercial and scientific space communities in addition to the defense establishment. In this regard, ASTP contributes to maintaining and invigorating our nations technical leadership in space. In addition to discussing the ASTP initiatives in some detail, we also present an overview of representative technologies and concepts for near-term (3-10 years) future LightSats which may offer significant military utility at cost-effective prices. In the Addendum to this paper, we also take a speculative look at potential areas of cross-fertilization between defense, commercial, and scientific LightSat developments for the far-term future (10-20 years)

Towards a robot task ontology standard

Ontologies serve robotics in many ways, particularly in de- scribing and driving autonomous functions. These functions are built around robot tasks. In this paper, we introduce the IEEE Robot Task Representation Study Group, including its work plan, initial development efforts, and proposed use cases. This effort aims to develop a standard that provides a comprehensive on- tology encompassing robot task structures and reasoning across robotic domains, addressing both the relationships between tasks and platforms and the relationships between tasks and users. Its goal is to develop a knowledge representation that addresses task structure, with decomposition into subclasses, categories, and/or relations. It includes attributes, both common across tasks and specific to particular tasks and task types

Multi-agent robotic systems and exploration algorithms: Applications for data collection in construction sites

The construction industry has been notoriously slow to adopt new technology and embrace automation. This has resulted in lower efficiency and productivity compared to other industries where automation has been widely adopted. However, recent advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence offer a potential solution to this problem. In this study, a methodology is proposed to integrate multi-robotic systems in construction projects with the aim of increasing efficiency and productivity. The proposed approach involves the use of multiple robot and human agents working collaboratively to complete a construction task. The methodology was tested through a case study that involved 3D digitization of a small, occluded space using two robots and one human agent. The results show that integrating multi-agent robotic systems in construction can effectively overcome challenges and complete tasks efficiently. The implications of this study suggest that multi-agent robotic systems could revolutionize the industry

Digital Twin in Naval Environment

A naval vessel is usually engaged in demanding operations that take place in a multifaceted environment. This requires a solid design of the ship as a platform and a prompt decision-making response. To support both the design and operation phases, digital tools and techniques have been widely implemented, along with a significant number of sensors and probes installed onboard. All of these features pave the way for the development of a Digital Twin model, which will be beneficial for the naval sector. In this work, relevant applications and a use case have been presented and discussed, with the goal of highlighting the added value and critical issues in the perspective of gathering them in a Digital Twin environment. The steps required to develop a shared reference digital architecture have been identified, as well as the gaps that need to be filled