GDR 99 - Surveillance Systems

Teaming
Manned and Unmanned


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Top: The AMUST objective is to team UAVs and helicopters in order to increase combat effectiveness

Major Allen L Peterson and Kristopher F Kuck explain how the airborne manned-unmanned system technology (AMUST) programme could change the battlefield.

Army experiments have established that there are distinct and measurable benefits in teaming manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles to accomplish aviation missions. The Aviation Research, Development and Engineering Center's aviation applied technology directorate (AATD) at Fort Eustis, Virginia, and the Air Maneuver Battle Lab (AMBL) at Fort Rucker, Alabama, have been collaborating to develop the manned-unmanned team concept. AATD's airborne manned-unmanned system technology (AMUST) programme is pursuing solutions to the challenges associated with teaming unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and helicopters. The ABML is conducting a series of experiments to define and measure teaming benefits and establish manned-unmanned team tactics, techniques and procedures.

Background
In the early 1990s AATD began work on UAV teaming. A UAV programme, the autonomous scout rotorcraft testbed (ASRT), was demonstrated successfully in 1996. It showed the capability for a UAV to take off, fly a route, detect and track a target, come home and land Ð all under autonomous control. Recently there has been renewed army and DoD interest in teaming UAVs and manned systems and the AMUST programme has developed.

What is AMUST?
The AMUST programme is pursuing the identification and development of the technology to team UAVs and helicopters in order to increase combat effectiveness. The defined objective is to demonstrate, through simulation and flight test, the control mechanisms, intelligent linkages and integration architectures to allow a manned air vehicle/unmanned air vehicle system to operate as an effective warfighting system of systems to increase the combined arms team's battlefield effectiveness. Initial interest is in teaming helicopters and UAVs, but it is expected that successes will be exported to the army's family of ground vehicles and eventually to individual ground soldiers. The AMUST office also is looking at ways to capitalise on technology developed in other programmes such as Comanche, Longbow Apache, rotorcraft pilot's associate (RPA), ASRT, integrated flight and fire/fuel controls, and commercial development efforts.

Technical challenges


The ABML is conducting a series of experiments to define and measure teaming benefits and establish manned-unmanned team tactics, techniques and procedures

Both civilian industry and the army have carried out significant early work to pair a single UAV with a single helicopter in the simulation environment. Simulation efforts will continue, but it is also planned to inject live flight demonstrations where appropriate. The AMUST programme office is developing a detailed roadmap of its vision of how it gets from where it is today to the fully integrated manned-unmanned team of tomorrow. The AMBL/AMUST team is working closely with the other services and academia to capitalise on their related development efforts. AMUST will also leverage efforts currently under way by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), army, air force and navy to reduce the AMUST development risk. Some of these efforts include developments of co-operative manoeuvres with manned platforms, tactical situation assessment, co-operative search area planning, and co-operative planning for multiple vehicles. There is also potential to transfer technology from the army's RPA programme to extend associate capability to the UAV to aid in the dynamic mission management areas of communication, navigation, flight path and sensor control. Leveraging these efforts will reduce the development risk and cost of the AMUST effort.

As the number of UAVs on the battlefield grows, the likelihood of a collision with another manned or unmanned aircraft also increases. We are looking to develop a collision avoidance system that causes little or no penalty in payload or signature and that leverages efforts currently under way by the army, air force, navy and the Federal Aviation Administration. Addressing concerns about a collision with another manned or unmanned aircraft is necessary for further acceptance of manned-unmanned teaming. The AMUST effort is working with the Communications-Electronics Command and the Joint UAV Program Office in the area of sensor interface. We will leverage their sensor technology programmes to attain a sensor package and sensor interface that is mission-compatible with those aircraft with which the UAV is likely to be teamed.

Operational issues

If the AMUST effort determines it can successfully team manned and unmanned aircraft, what capability does that system buy the commander or soldier in the field? To answer this, AMBL set up a series of manned-unmanned (MUM) concept experimentation programmes (CEPs) designed to define and quantify the differences in mission performance between scenarios where helicopters and UAVs are employed as individual systems and scenarios where they are teamed as a system of systems.

MUM I established baseline interoperability data and examined employment alternatives critical to effective platform interfaces, operator performance, and networked (digital communications/critical C2 links) performance on the digital battlefield. The results of the MUM I simulation established that there are distinct and significant tactical advantages gained by teaming manned and unmanned aerial platforms to conduct tactical reconnaissance. AMBL's report stated that manned-unmanned teaming is a more efficient use of assets and provides an increase in effective reporting, a reduction in mission completion time, and enhances survivability of the systems within the team. The experiment showed that manned-unmanned teaming reduced the time required to complete a tactical reconnaissance mission by more than 10 per cent, increased the number of high payoff targets identified and reported by more than 20 per cent, and provided the commander a greater than 30 per cent more effective answer to the critical information requirements. The experiment also showed a decrease in the number of acquisitions and trackings of the team by enemy systems.

MUM I established a foundation on which to build the experimentation focus for the follow-on MUM II and MUM III.

Major Allen L Peterson is the AMUST project manager at the Aviation Research, Development and Engineering Center's aviation applied technology directorate (AATD) at Fort Eustis. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy and a Masters of Science in systems management from the University of Southern California. He is a graduate of the US Navy Test Pilot School and is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps.

Kristopher F Kuck is the AMUST deputy project manager at the Aviation Research, Development, and Engineering Center's aviation applied technology directorate (AATD) at Fort Eustis. He holds a Bachelors degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters degree in engineering administration from George Washington University. He is a member of the Army Acquisition Workforce.

MUM II and III
The MUM II experiment will be conducted within a larger scripted training and doctrine command high resolution scenario (TRADOC HRS 61) and involve a joint force conducting force projection/early entry operations. An aviation taskforce (brigade size), as part of a larger 21st-century force, employs aerial platform teams (manned and unmanned) to conduct missions supporting the commander's development and resolution of commander's critical information requirements (CCIR). The force will be opposed by a 21st-century threat force equipped with armoured systems, a robust air defence threat, and a theatre-level missile capability. The composition of the threat forces is confused by the presence of paramilitary forces operating throughout the area of operations. The aviation taskforce will employ air manoeuvre reconnaissance teams (manned and unmanned platforms as a team) to maintain a continuous surveillance screen for force protection, and will conduct zone and area reconnaissance missions preparatory to deep strikes. An additional mission performed will be battle damage assessment after target engagements by any delivery means, such as air force, cruise missiles and artillery.

A part of the matrix of the current MUM II testing is a determination of the effects on workload as the level of interaction is increased. Currently there are five levels of interaction with the UAV as prescribed by the Joint UAV Program Office. In the MUM III experiments and the AMUST effort we also will be considering what additional technology can be utilised to improve efficiency such as automatic target detection and classification (ATDC) functions, other sensors, cognitive decision making and co-operative mission planning.

We are focusing the MUM and AMUST efforts on the effects of teaming the manned-unmanned system and the associated improvements in combat effectiveness. The improvements attributable to teaming expected during MUM III include a 35 per cent improvement in operational effectiveness, a 25 per cent improvement in operational efficiency, a 25 per cent improvement in survivability, and a 50 per cent improvement in timelines over a baseline non-teamed system.

The future of manned-unmanned teaming is bound only by the imaginations of the people working on the programmes and the funds available to pursue their ideas. Autonomous, cognitive and possibly armed UAV team members are a distinct possibility in the not so distant future. However, there are many interim steps that need to be taken to realise the benefits of manned-unmanned teaming sooner, and to develop a solid engineering base of teaming experience.