Abstract
AFRL is pressing ahead with development of truly autonomous UAV control systems. As we go from systems where the human is the pilot, through systems where the human is the operator, to systems where the human is the supervisor; with the ultimate goal simply to have the human as customer of UAV ops, we are running into numerous challenges. Yes, we face the typical technological questions of “What types of human tasks can we replace with on-board algorithms?” and “How big of a processor is required on-board to do this?”. What are usually not asked are other questions, maybe not technically exciting, but with enormous practical impact: “How can we affordably add more code to already costly flight critical s oftware programs?” “How do I flight certify a system that has non-deterministic attributes?” “What is the impact of implementing distributed, coordinated, info-centric control systems that now have flight critical data links susceptible to electronic and information warfare?” “How do I convince the FAA, and foreign governments, that it’s safe to let autonomous vehicles roam the skies?” These, and other questions, have just as great, if not greater, impact on systems development as the raw autonomous technology itself. This paper examines some of these challenges, how current AFRL research is addressing them, and points the way to future research that will allow truly autonomous operations.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Clough, B. Autonomous UAV Control System Safety — What Should It Be, How Do We Reach It, And What Should We Call It? NAE-CON 2000 paper. October 2000
Cooper, B. Introduction to Optical Flow, http://ciips.ee.uwa.edu.au/~bruce/research/talk/sld001.htm, University of Western Australia.
Hasslacher, B., Tilden, M. “Living Machines”, Robotics and Autonomous Systems: The Biology and Technology of Intelligent Autonomous Agents. Elsevier Publishers, Spring 1995 (Los Alamos Report LAUR-94-2636)
Arkin, R., et al. “Behavioral models of the praying mantis as a basis for robotic behavior”. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 32. Elsevier Publishers, 2000 (Cited for the excellent references it contains on ALife studies)
Mataric, M. Coordination and learning in mutirobot systems. IEEE Intelligent Systems Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 4, March/April 1998. pp. 6–8
Asimov, I. Runaround. Astounding Science Fiction. 1942
Asimov, I. Robot Visions. Penguin Books. 1990
Schultz, A. Adaptive Testing: Learning To Break Things. Available in the Web from www.aic.nrl.navy.mil/~schultz/research/adap-testing/index.html. 1999
Lipson, H., and Pollack, J. “Automatic design and manufacture of robotic lifeforms”. Nature, Macmillan Magazines Ltd., Vol 406, 31 August 2000.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Clough, B.T. (2002). Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Autonomous Control Challenges, A Researcher’s Perspective. In: Murphey, R., Pardalos, P.M. (eds) Cooperative Control and Optimization. Applied Optimization, vol 66. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47536-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47536-7_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-0549-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-306-47536-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive