Collaborative Unmanned Aircraft Systems -- CUAS
- Reference number
- RIT10-0047
- Start and end dates
- 110901-160831
- Amount granted
- 14 467 297 SEK
- Administrative organization
- Linköping University
- Research area
- Information, Communication and Systems Technology
Summary
Software Intensive Systems are rapidly becoming the prevalent paradigmatic form of software system in society. A Cyber-Physical System (CPS) is a software intensive system characterized by a tight coupling between the system's computational and physical elements. An Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) is an excellent example of a CPS. It consists of one or more unmanned aircraft (UA), a control system and control link and one or more ground control stations. There is an increasing trend in academia and industry to develop technologies consisting of multiple robotic systems which seamlessly interact with human operators and where mixed-initiative interaction, adjustable autonomy, delegation and cooperation are the key concepts used to achieve robust and reliable performance. The main topic in this proposal is the principled design and development of software infrastructures for collaborative UAS's where many human operators and heterogeneous UA's may be involved. The demonstrator will consist of mid-sized helicopter systems collaborating with micro-aerial vehicles operating both indoors and outdoors in urban environments. Focus will be placed on emergency services and security applications. A theory - system building - demonstration - application loop will be used with an evolutionary prototyping methodology. We expect state-of-the-art solutions to many of the challenging generic research problems associated with the theory, design and development of these complex systems.
Popular science description
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS's) are a key future technology. These aircraft systems are intended to operate autonomously in civil airspace in the future. There are many areas of application such as emergency services assistance, homeland security and environmental monitoring. There are many different types of UAS's, both small and large, fixed-wing and rotor-based. The missions they participate in are often associated with the three D's: dull, dirty and dangerous. Currently, there is great interest in developing software systems which support collaboration among many different UAS's and human operators. These systems are characterized by a combination of software and hardware with multi-modal interfaces to simplify human interaction with many collaborating UAS's. An important part of any UAS mission is to acquire as much information about salient objects of interest through the use of different sensors such as CCD cameras, infrared cameras and laser range-finders. The task is to collaboratively generate situation awareness for human users that supports the decision making process. Good decisions can save lives in natural or man-made catastrophes. The major topic in this proposal is the principled design and development of software infrastructures for collaborative UAS's where many human operators and many heterogeneous UAS's may be involved. The demonstrator will consist of mid-sized helicopter systems collaborating with micro-aerial vehicles operating both indoors and outdoors in urban environments. Focus will be placed on emergency services and security applications. A theory - system building - demonstration - application loop will be used with an evolutionary prototyping methodology. We expect state-of-the-art solutions to many of the challenging generic research problems associated with the theory, design and development of these complex systems.