Joint Architecture For Unmanned Systems Research Articles

Demonstrating interoperability between unmanned ground systems and command and control systems

This paper describes the research and experiment efforts of the NATO STO group IST-149-RTG capability concept demonstrator for interoperability within unmanned ground systems and C2 and the NAAG team of experts on UGV. The main purpose of the group was to investigate possible standards for controlling UGVs and tests them in a real world scenario. The efforts have been two folded, where the first effort was two NATO groups having an experiment demonstrating interoperability between the UGVs and OCUs available within the group. The Belgium contribution is done in the EU project ICARUS. Both efforts used the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) with the interoperability profile (IOP) to successfully enable interoperability between the systems. The trials showed that it is possible to extend the systems quite easily and achieve compliance with parts of the standard in a relatively short time.

Communication and Collaboration Among Heterogeneous Unmanned Systems Using SAE JAUS Standard Formats and Protocols

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport (NUWCDIVNPT) and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) completed a successful at-sea exercise with autonomous UAS and UUV systems demonstrating communication and collaboration. The exercise represented for the first time the use of standard protocols and formats that effectively support cross-domain unmanned system operations. Four man-portable Iver2 UUVs operating in coordinated missions autonomously collected environmental data, which was compressed in-stride, re-formatted, and exfiltrated via UAS relay for display and tactical decision making. Two UAS with autonomous flight take-off and mission execution were sequenced to serve as ISR platforms and to support communications as RF relays for the UUVs performing Intelligence Preparation of the Environment missions. Two Command and Control nodes ashore provided unmanned system tasking and re-tasking, and they served to host and display both geo-positional data and status for UAS and UUV vehicles during the operational scenarios run during the exercise. The SAE Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) standards were used for all message traffic between shore-based C2 nodes, UAS, and UUVs active in the exercise area. Development for this project highlighted both the strengths and shortfalls of JAUS and captured the requirements for moving forward in effective cross-domain communications that support distributed, agile C2 nodes to meet evolving CONOPS for growing unmanned system presence and mission roles. The JAUS architecture was introduced to the NUWC and GTRI unmanned systems though an instantiation of the Mission Oriented Operating Suite (MOOS) autonomy framework on secondary CPUs integrated into the Iver2 UUVs and the GTRI UAS. This work represents a critical step in communications for networking of heterogeneous unmanned systems and establishes a solid platform for alignment of development and ongoing programs.

JAUS to EtherCAT Bridge: Toward Real-Time and Deterministic Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems

The Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) is a communication standard that allows for interoperability between Unmanned Vehicles (UVs). Current research indicates that JAUS-compliant systems do not meet real-time performance guidelines necessary for internal systems in UVs. However, there is a lack of quantitative data illustrating the performance shortcomings of JAUS or clear explanations on what causes these performance issues or comparisons with existing internal communication systems. In this research, we first develop a basic C++ implementation of JAUS and evaluate its performance with quantitative data and compare the results with published performance data of Controller Area Network (CAN) to determine the feasibility of the JAUS standard. Our results indicate that the main reason of JAUS’s poor performance lies in the latency inherent in the hierarchical structure of JAUS and the overhead of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) messages, which has been used with JAUS and is slower than the high-speed CAN. Additionally, UDP has no scheduling mechanism, which makes it virtually impossible to guarantee messages meeting their deadlines. Considering the slow and nondeterministic JAUS communication from subsystems to components, which is JAUS Level 3 compliance, we then propose a solution by bringing Ethernet for Control Automation Technology (EtherCAT) to add speed, deterministic feature, and security. The JAUS-EtherCAT mapping, which we called a JEBridge, is implemented into nodes and components. Both quantitative and qualitative results are provided to show that JEBridge and JAUS Level 3 compliance can bring not only interoperability but also reasonable performance to UVs.

Odin: Team VictorTango's entry in the DARPA Urban Challenge

AbstractThe DARPA Urban Challenge required robotic vehicles to travel more than 90 km through an urban environment without human intervention and included situations such as stop intersections, traffic merges, parking, and roadblocks. Team VictorTango separated the problem into three parts: base vehicle, perception, and planning. A Ford Escape outfitted with a custom drive‐by‐wire system and computers formed the basis for Odin. Perception used laser scanners, global positioning system, and a priori knowledge to identify obstacles, cars, and roads. Planning relied on a hybrid deliberative/reactive architecture to analyze the situation, select the appropriate behavior, and plan a safe path. All vehicle modules communicated using the JAUS (Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems) standard. The performance of these components in the Urban Challenge is discussed and successes noted. The result of VictorTango's work was successful completion of the Urban Challenge and a third‐place finish. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Team Gator Nation's Autonomous Vehicle Development for the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge

This paper describes the system design developed for Team Gator Nation’s submission to the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. A hybrid Toyota Highlander has been automated and instrumented with pose estimation (GPS and inertial) and object detection (vision and ladar) sensors. The control architecture consists of four primary elements, i.e. Planning Element, Perception Element, Intelligence Element, and Control Element. The Intelligence Element implements the Adaptive Planning Framework developed by researchers at the University of Florida. This framework provides a means for situation assessment, behavior mode evaluation, and behavior selection and execution. The architecture is implemented on a system distributed over ten dual-core computers that intercommunicate via the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) version 3.2 protocol. This work’s primary contribution addresses the technical challenges of (a) the reconciliation of differences in estimated global pose, a priori data, and sensed information, (b) the determination of the appropriate behavior mode, and (c) the smooth transition of vehicle control between behavior modes. The processes that perform these tasks as well as the other necessary processes that perform perception, data integration, planning, and control are described in detail together with their design rationale. Finally, testing results accomplished to date are presented.

Team CIMAR's NaviGator: An unmanned ground vehicle for the 2005 DARPA grand challenge

AbstractThis paper describes the development of an autonomous vehicle system that participated in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge event. After a brief description of the event, the architecture, based on version 3.2 of the Department of Defense Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems, and the design of the system are presented in detail. In particular, the “smart sensor” concept is introduced which provided a standardized means for each sensor to present data for rapid integration and arbitration. Information about the vehicle design, system localization, perception sensors, and the dynamic planning algorithms that were used is then presented in detail. Subsequently, testing results and performance results are presented. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Industry / research news

Approximately 30 industry, research, and military robot specialists met for five days in Alton, Virginia, in August 2004 to test their communication software in the second of three scheduled experiments named OPC. The messaging framework is the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS). JAUS is sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.