SBIR-STTR Award

In this SBIR project Daniel H. Wagner Associates will develop a Decentralized and Autonomous Data Fusion Service (DADFS) for heterogeneous Unmanned Vehicles (UVs) that, when incorporated into existing and future UV platforms and UV command and control systems, will (1) create a Common Operational Picture (COP) on each UV node using sensor data from all communicating UV nodes and any other available relevant additional data; (2) synchronize this COP across all UV nodes within the constraints of the available limited and intermittent communications links by making optimal use of available bandwidth; and (3) (when human operators are available) provide alerts, requests for assistance, and the relevant COP information to UV operators in an intuitive and quickly/accurately comprehended manner. We will design and implement DADFS so that it (1) can be easily integrated into existing and future UV platform and command and control architectures, and (2) minimizes the processing and bandwidth necessary to generate and synchronize the COP, and also minimizes the operator time spent interacting with the COP.

Benefit:
In Phase II we will develop full-scale prototype DADFS that obtains contact/track data from real-world UVs. This will allow the effectiveness of the DADFS and any other data fusion and information flow optimization approaches to be compared; it will also significantly simplify the eventual transition of DADFSs into production UVs. This Phase II system will allow us to demonstrate how powerful data fusion and information flow optimization techniques can significantly improve the ability of United States forces to conduct naval UV missions. Improved data fusion and information flow technologies such as these are particularly necessary at a time when the United States is facing a sophisticated threat in difficult littoral environments with reduced resources. More effective UV operations, and a much more accurate and complete COP; will produce more effective operations, conducted at lower risk, resulting in fewer casualties to friendly forces and improved overall US Navy and Joint Forces effectiveness.

Keywords:
data fusion, data fusion, Common Operational Picture, Autonomous Vehicles, Distributed system, USV

In this Phase II SBIR project Daniel H. Wagner Associates will develop a full-scale prototype Decentralized and Autonomous Data Fusion Service (DADFS) for heterogeneous Unmanned Vehicles (UVs) that obtains contact/track data from real-world UVs and (1) creates a Common Operational Picture (COP) on each UV node using sensor data from all communicating UV nodes and any other available relevant additional data; (2) synchronizes this COP across all UV nodes within the constraints of the available limited and intermittent communications links by making optimal use of available bandwidth; and (3) (when human operators are available) provides alerts, requests for assistance, and the relevant COP information to UV operators in an intuitive and quickly/accurately comprehended manner. We will design and implement DADFS so that it (1) can be easily integrated into existing and future UV platform and command and control architectures, and (2) minimizes the processing and bandwidth necessary to generate and synchronize the COP, and also minimizes the operator time spent interacting with the COP.

Benefit:
The Phase II full-scale prototype DADFS will allow the effectiveness of the DADFS and any other data fusion and information flow optimization approaches to be compared; it will also significantly simplify the eventual transition of DADFSs into production UVs. This Phase II system will allow us to demonstrate how powerful data fusion and information flow optimization techniques can significantly improve the ability of United States forces to conduct naval UV missions. Improved data fusion and information flow technologies such as these are particularly necessary at a time when the United States is facing a sophisticated threat in difficult littoral environments with reduced resources. More effective UV operations, and a much more accurate and complete COP; will produce more effective operations, conducted at lower risk, resulting in fewer casualties to friendly forces and improved overall US Navy and Joint Forces effectiveness.

Keywords:
Autonomous Vehicles, Common Operational Picture, USV, data fusion, Distributed system