5.2.2 Normative and Descriptive Models for Test & Evaluation of Unmanned and Autonomous Systems of Systems

Abstract

AbstractThe United States Department of Defense (DoD) has purchased and deployed many unmanned autonomous systems and is expected to do so at an ever‐increasing rate in the years to come. These autonomous systems are often expected to operate in system of systems environments. Our research aims to address a number of questions posed by members of DoD's acquisition workforce regarding test and evaluation of these systems.In this paper we present a small set of normative (ideal) and descriptive (actual) models for test and evaluation. We describe test strategies used in the DARPA Grand Challenge competition and the SPHERES test bed, and extract lessons learned from each case study. We will use these models as a step toward identifying prescriptive models for testing unmanned and autonomous systems of systems. The prescriptive models will be implemented within PATFrame (Prescriptive and Adaptive Testing Framework), the decision support system that we are developing.