Software for Coordinated Control of Multi-Vehicle Systems

NTC is developing concepts, algorithms, and demonstrations to enable 'emergent', cooperative control of vehicles in a fundamentally new way. Our Goal is to create scalable yet rigorous software modules that reside between the mission management layer, such as the Lockheed-Martin AMUST-D system, and the conventional vehicle guidance layer. The requirements and potential for a software product have been defined, simulations demonstrating their capabilities have been performed, and two-vehicle flight tests have been carried out for two candidate missions (see our November 20th, 2004 press release). These multi-vehicle flight demonstrations using derivatives of the MIT autonomous helicopter represent the culmination of our staged vertical integration path for software and algorithms for Navy and other military applications. More flight testing and demonstrations will be carried out as our capabilities continue to improve.

An example mission, driven by military doctrine, and supported by the types of algorithms being developed at MIT and transitioned to NTC through ONR-STTR support, is given below. Note that low-level flight, incorporating obstacle avoidance, aggressive maneuvering, and inter-vehicle coordination, are necessary for efficient execution of such missions.

autonomous miniature helicopter    airdrop    coordinated-control software     multi-vehicle planning interface