Unmanned Ground Combat Research Articles

Unmanned ground weapon target assignment based on deep Q-learning network with an improved multi-objective artificial bee colony algorithm

Various objective functions in the operation process of unmanned ground combat vehicles (UGVs) have an important impact on the equilibrium of the system. Unbalanced scheduling of unmanned ground combat vehicles and poor target strikes exist in complex urban battlefields. A new multi-weapon target assignment architecture and a multi-objective artificial bee colony (MOABC) algorithm with an elite strategy are proposed to solve these problems. Considering the influence of mutation operator on multi-objective assignment, by introducing the action mechanism of the self-adaptive variation operator and combining the state representation of the nectar source with the overall allocation scheme, the deep Q-learning network with improved multi-objective artificial bee colony (MOADQN) algorithm is proposed. Through comparative analysis with multi-objective artificial bee colony algorithm, non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II), multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), the multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition with electronic countermeasure (ECM-MOEA/D) and the deep Q-learning network with multi-objective artificial bee colony (MOAIQL) algorithm, the proposed MOADQN algorithm can solve the problems such as poor allocation effectiveness and low gain of traditional algorithms. The proposed MOADQN algorithm has significant advantages in solving multi-objective optimization problems and strong expansion performance in the complex urban environment.

Safety Diagnostics and Degraded Operational Modes

Unmanned ground combat vehicles (UGCV) promise numerous ultimate military, civilian, and space applications. The focus of this research mainly deals with how a non-geometric hazard scenario may potentially lead to a mission ending situation and a non geometric hazard can be considered as any terrain feature or object that is adjudged to be non-traversable by virtue of its physical properties. The novelty of this research lies in how a UGCV in a military applications can overcome the challenges of traversing through ever changing natural obstacles when compared to the reinforcing obstacles which are encountered by autonomous vehicle in a conventional structured scenario (see Figure 1).Figure 1. Traversal across an off-road terrain facing uneven terrain and obstacles.An operational design domain (ODD) can help specify potential unsafe situations and restrict the vehicle’s operation within them. A complete ODD will guarantee that the safety arguments can be dealt in a streamlined manner and in scenarios of restricting the ODD, the overall availability of the system gets reduced. With a semantic ODD structure for the UGVC, the standard development of the safety process for an automotive system is achieved and with the already created safety protocols, the overall situation space is reduced during critical situations.DISTRIBUTION A. Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. OPSEC5045The process of identifying reduced operational domain (ROD) starts with the quantificationand analysis of maneuvers and further leads to the identification of critical situations. Criticalareas are conditions of the environment that cause unintentional behaviour which eventuallyleads to an accident. A state machine constituting nominal behaviour will form the basis for acomponent fault tree (CFT) which is used to identify conditions that cause critical situations.Subsequently, the corresponding risk of an identified critical situation is assessed as a part ofthis process.The safety diagnostics mainly depends on a probabilistic model-based controller examining adynamic environment in which the stochastic evolution depends on the input of observationsand the current behaviour of the UGCV. In order to model the real-life performance of safetycritical systems realistically and accurately, Markov chain and Bayesian filters are highlyuseful. The finite state essence of the discrete controller may possibly lead to incorrectbehaviour of the complete system if an unforeseen situation occurs and for which there is alack of any predefined contingency. For this purpose, it becomes important to have a sense ofa complete set of admissible scenarios and also to develop a structured decision-making processfor each of the previously mentioned scenarios. State machine and failure propagation treescan help in determining the failure probabilities which keep updating based on changes incircumstances and this would help define if a mission should continue. As a part of thisresearch, Markov decision process which forms the basis for decision making process isemployed to identify and compare a set of state sequences and this in turn would help inrealizing better maneuverability of the vehicle.The assignment of ROD can be accomplished with the complete risk assessment of the criticalsituations. By assigning the ROD, the aim of increasing the overall availability of the systemwhich degraded from the nominal driving behaviour is fulfilled and this would allow for thesafe operation of UGCV.

Design and Implementation of Unmanned Ground Combat and Surveillance Vehicle

Combat and Surveillance based UGV is “Remote Control” as it provides real time control of the vehicle to the end user. The person controlling the vehicle shall decide what to do next after examining the surrounding environment of the vehicle. Powered with rechargeable batteries, motors will provide the required torque and power to drive the prototype vehicle. For the Combat purpose, Pistol is mounted on front side which will give aim to the position in XY plane as well as trigger the pistol the target area. For the surveillance, two cameras are mounted on the top which transmits real time video feed to the controller unit. Fabrication of the project was done successfully and it completed its stated objectives by providing gun firing mechanism, step climbing as well as live video feed. The final year project is to design and implementation of Unmanned Ground Combat vehicle. There are three parts of project, first base of Robot, 2nd gun firing mechanism and other vision/camera based system. The gun firing mechanism is mounted over the base of Robot. The firing mechanism would rotate in Up and down direction. Secondly, two digital cameras would be placed on its base for surveillance purpose. Live video of two cameras will be received using transmitter and receiver module at base station. The operator at base station will monitor the area around the vehicle and controls the robotic vehicle. This project includes control of Unmanned Ground Vehicle and gun firing mechanism using radio frequency (RF). The operator can control firing mechanism and robotic base by remote controller/joystick. LCD screen would be placed in the base station and live video will be displayed on LCD, the operator will send command based on video received to Arduino. Arduino module will be used to control the robotic base and mechanisms. All the module would be designed and analyzed, to implement the unmanned ground combat vehicle.

M&S기반 무인지상전투차량 설계를 위한 통합모의실험환경 아키텍처모델

M&S (Modeling & Simulation) based design is widely accepted for the development of the future weapon system with better performance in a cheaper and faster way. Integrated simulation environment (ISE) is needed for the M&S based design. On the ISE, system engineers can not only verify design options but also validate system requirements. In this paper, we propose architectural models of the integrated simulation environment (ISE) which incorporates mission effectiveness M&S (Modeling & Simulation), system performance M&S, the optimization model of integrated performances, digital mockup and virtual prototype. The ISE architectural models may be used to implement the ISE for the development of the future unmanned ground combat vehicle.

지상무인전투차량 자율주행 기술 동향분석 및 발전방향

To strategically select the technology priority based on the understanding of technology development trends and prospects is very important. To provide such guidance for autonomous driving technology in unmanned ground combat vehicles, this report deals with followings; 1) The core technologies for autonomous driving are reviewed. 2) And domestic and foreign policies for relevant technology development are investigated. 3) Then, to estimate the technology development trend, the published patents and research papers are analyzed. 4) Based on those analyses, domestic technology level and development prospects are expected.

무인전투차량 기술개발 동향조사 및 분석

지상무인 전투체계에서 요구되는 원천, 핵심기술은 해외 선진 국가들과의 치열한 경쟁이 예상된다. 따라서 주요 국가의 무인체계 기술개발현황을 분석하였으며, 분석 대상은 1998년부터 2008년까지 미국, 일본, 유럽, 캐나다, 이스라엘 등에 출원된 현황을 기준하였다. 주요 선진국의 특허맵과 전문가 의견을 수렴하여 국가별 기술 수준, 역점분야와 공백기술, 시장력 등을 분석하였으며, 앞으로 발전 가능성이 예상되는 기술과 우리나라가 중점 개발하여야할 분야 등을 제시하였다. The keen global competition is expected among foreign advanced nations for source, key technologies required by unmanned combat ground vehicle. Therefore, the trend of technologies for unmanned ground combat vehicle was analyzed in this research. It was based on the submitted patents from 1988 to 2008 in Korea, U.S.A, Japan, Europe, Canada and Israel. This analysis was focused on finding the technical level, the challenge area and breakthrough technologies and the growth of technologies of each nations considering opinions of experts. This report suggested the field of key technology development

Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center unveils futuristic unmanned ground combat vehicles

Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center unveils futuristic unmanned ground combat vehicles

Performance analysis according to the combination of energy storage system for fuel cell hybrid vehicle

The need for the unmanned ground combat vehicle (UGCV), which is used for the surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting during extremely dangerous condition on the battlefield, has steadily increased, and the transition from manned ground combat vehicles to unmanned ground combat vehicles is expected to reduce the loss of lives during battle. The UGCV needs many types of capabilities to achieve satisfactory performance. This paper focuses on the modeling and control of the power system of the UGCV, and proposes the fuel cell hybrid system (FCHS) for the power system of the UGCV. The fuel cell hybrid system has many advantages in stealth drive and the system efficiency. In addition, the FCHS is much quieter than the engine generator and generates much less heat. The benefits of the FCHS are advantageous for use in Army operations, which require ‘silent watch’ capability and the ability to operate without showing up on an enemy’s radar screen. The FCHS has a fuel cell and uses an energy storage system (ESS) as a power source. The ESS (e.g., batteries or ultracapacitors) helps the fuel cell supply power to the electric drive system and also recovers energy during deceleration. The ESS makes it possible to improve the efficiency and dynamic characteristic of the power system. In this paper, the FCHS is composed of different combinations of component models. The component sizes are chosen to satisfy performance requirements. In order to determine the power distribution between the fuel cell and the ESS, a power management strategy based on the required power and the SOC (state of charge) of the ESS is proposed. Batteries and ultracapacitor, components of the ESS, have different characteristics. Accordingly, varying the combination of ESS components can change the performance of the power system. The performance of the FCHS with respect to different combinations of ESS is analyzed using simulated results.

Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center to unveil futuristic unmanned ground combat vehicles

Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center to unveil futuristic unmanned ground combat vehicles