Embedded Mission Decision-Making based on Dynamic Decision Networks in SoPC Platform

Abstract

This paper tackles a Bayesian Decision Making approach for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) mission that allows UAV to quickly react to unexpected events under dynamic environments. From online observations and the mission state-ment, the proposed approach is designed by means of Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBN) arising from the safety or performance failures analysis. After proposing a DBN model, a probabilistic approach based on Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) is then applied to find the best configuration reaching a balance between performance and energy consumption, thus decide which tasks will be implemented as SW and which as HW execution units, regarding the mission requirement. The proposal UAV mission decision-making is three-pronged, providing: (1) real time image pre-processing of sensor observations; (2) temporal and probabilistic approach based on Bayesian Networks to continuously update the mission plan during the flight; and (3) low-power hardware and software implementations for online and real time embedded Decision Making using Xilinx System on Programmable Chip (SoPC) platform. The proposed approach is then validated with a practical case UAV mission planning using the proposed dynamic decision-maker implemented on embedded system based on a hybrid device.