Standardized Mission Planning Environment for UAS

Abstract

The aim of STANAG 4586 is to facilitate interoperability among UAV system ground, air and C4I segments of systems operating in support of National/NATO/Coalition forces to allow data and information processed by member nation UAVs to be shared real-time through a common ground interface. One of the standardized referenced Command Control Interface (CCI) of STANAG 4856 is the Common Route Definition (CRD) file format which enables a standardized interface between mission planning environmentss (MPE) and ground control stations (GCS). Originally CRD was designed to be interoperable with the mission planning system's to provide a method for exchanging common route information. The core CRD schema represents the most basic of all flight planning information: taking-off, flying from point to point, flying to divert (emergency) points, and landing. However many mission planning areas related to the operations of UAS are not included in the core CRD. To accommodate these other mission planning areas, STANAG 4586 has defined Custom UAV Tags which enables complete and standardized mission planning for all kinds of UAS. IABG has developed a CRD compliant mission planning tool, which compromises all kinds of UAV Custom Tags. It has innovative planning functions for route, payload, communications and contingency planning, which are fundamental for operational UAS mission planning. Because of its modular software design, it is possible to change in the planning process between different kinds of UAS and take different vehicle, link and payload performance into consideration. The exchange of mission plans as defined in NATO STANAG 4586 is done by using standardized XML format and methods. This paper gives an overview about the requirements, methods and functionalities developed by IABG to provide standardized, advanced and operational mission planning functionalities for UAS.