Automation of the battlespace: An integrated air-ground, multi-vehicle, multi-sensor, autonomous UVS demonstration

The Defence Science & Technology Organisation (DSTO), which is part of Australia's Department of Defence, has embarked upon a whole-of-Defence priority initiative, known as the Automation of the Battlespace Initiative (ABSI). ABSI is directed towards achieving three interlinked and enduring objectives: leveraging the warfighter in an environment of declining skilled-human resource; avoiding attritional conflict; and, reducing the cost of Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations. The ABSI is assisting the ADF to develop an understanding of the opportunities in the autonomy, performance, and affordability of its Unmanned Vehicle Systems (UVS) programs. This paper outlines the ABSI and a trial being used to focus some of its key component technology programs on progressively harder aspects of autonomous operations. The trial is a multi-environment (air-ground), multi-vehicle, multi-sensor, autonomous target identification and prosecution trial collaborative effort between DSTO and BAe Systems (Australia). A network of distributed EW, EO, & IR sensors are mounted on two teams of UAV's and used to detect, cross-cue, and identify a target. The processed, fused, and continuously disseminated situation awareness information is then used to autonomously control and navigate a UGV, which in turn is used to remotely prosecute the target.