Developments and Challenges for Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles: A Compendium (Intelligent Systems Reference Library Book 3)

It is widely anticipated that autonomous vehicles will have a transformational impact on military forces and will play a key role in many future force structures. As a result, many tasks have already been identified that unmanned systems could undertake more readily than humans. However, for this to occur, such systems will need to be agile, versatile, persistent, reliable, survivable and lethal. This will require many of the vehicles ‘cognitive’ or higher order functions to be more fully developed, whereas to date only the ‘component’ or physical functions have been successfully automated and deployed. The book draws upon a broad range of others’ work with a view to providing a product that is greater than the sum of its parts. The discussion is intentionally approached from the perspective of improving understanding rather than providing solutions or drawing firm conclusions. Consequently, researchers reading this book with the hope of uncovering some novel theory or approach to automating an unmanned vehicle will be as disappointed as the capability planner who anticipates a catalogue of technical risks and feasibility options against his favoured list of component technologies and potential applications. Nevertheless, it is hoped that both will at least learn something of the other’s world and that progress will ensue as a result. __For the defence policy and decision maker, this is a "must-read" book which brings together an important technology summary with a considered analysis of future doctrinal, legal and ethical issues in unmanned and autonomous systems. For research engineers and developers of robotics, this book provides a unique perspective on the implications and consequences of our craft; connecting what we do to the deployment and use of the technology in current and future defence systems.__Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte Cover 1 Developments and Challenges for Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (Springer, 2010) 4 ISBN 978-3-642-10703-0 5 Foreword 7 Preface 9 Contents 12 Table of Figures 14 Introduction 15 Background 19 Early UVS 19 Modern UVS 29 Looking Forward 39 Autonomous UVS 48 UVS Components 48 UVS Architectures 52 Human-UVS Interaction 54 Human-Machine Interfaces 62 Supervisory Workloads 63 UVS Technology Issues 68 Technology Challenges 68 Contextual Decision-Making 72 Planning in Dynamic Environments 78 Verification and Validation 81 Trust and Reliability in UVS 82 Systems V&V for Autonomous UVS 85 Simulation-Based V&V 91 Health and Usage Monitoring 93 Multi-vehicle Systems 95 Multi-UAV ISTAR Example 100 Multi-UVS Coordination 104 Autonomous Multi-UVS Task Allocation 107 Multi-UVS Navigation, Localisation and Mapping 112 Capability and Systems Integration 115 Force-Integration of UVS 117 Capability Challenges 117 Policy Considerations 120 Training and Maintenance 121 A Systems Approach to UVS Analysis 124 Simulating UVS 130 Interactive Simulation 136 Measuring the Effectiveness of UVS 140 Measuring the Force Effectiveness of UVS 141 Measuring the Systems Performance of UVS 150 Measuring UVS Performance 158 Legal Issues for UVS 167 Legal Issues for UVS Platforms 168 Maritime Vehicles 169 The Legal Status of UMVs 169 Operations in Ocean Areas 171 Navigation Environment 171 Air Vehicles 173 Ground Vehicles 176 UVS and Tort Law 177 UVS and the Law of Armed Conflict 180 The Law of Armed Conflict 183 UVS and Jus ad Bellum 188 Autonomous Weapons 190 Accountability and Liability 192 Legal Personality for UVS 196 UVS as Tools 197 Human Intervention 198 Technical Equivalence 198 UVS as Agents 199 Separate Legal Personality 200 Impediments to Artificial Agency 201 Technical Impediments to Agency 203 Is the UVS the Real Decision-Maker? 204 Ethical Control of UVS 206 Could UVS Ethically Out-Perform Humans 208 Implementation Issues 210 Architectural Considerations 214 Concluding Remarks 220 References 223 Acronymns 238 Springer,2010,ISBN 978-3-642-10703-0,Compiled by MP@GP It is widely anticipated that autonomous vehicles will have a transformational impact on military forces and will play a key role in many future force structures. As a result, many tasks have already been identified that unmanned systems could undertake more readily than humans. However, for this to occur, such systems will need to be agile, versatile, persistent, reliable, survivable and lethal. This will require many of the vehicles ‘cognitive’ or higher order functions to be more fully developed, whereas to date only the ‘component’ or physical functions have been successfully automated and deployed. The book draws upon a broad range of others’ work with a view to providing a product that is greater than the sum of its parts. The discussion is intentionally approached from the perspective of improving understanding rather than providing solutions or drawing firm conclusions. Consequently, researchers reading this book with the hope of uncovering some novel theory or approach to automating an unmanned vehicle will be as disappointed as the capability planner who anticipates a catalogue of technical risks and feasibility options against his favoured list of component technologies and potential applications. Nevertheless, it is hoped that both will at least learn something of the other’s world and that progress will ensue as a result. For the defence policy and decision maker, this is a "must-read" book which brings together an important technology summary with a considered analysis of future doctrinal, legal and ethical issues in unmanned and autonomous systems. For research engineers and developers of robotics, this book provides a unique perspective on the implications and consequences of our craft; connecting what we do to the deployment and use of the technology in current and future defence systems. Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte This book draws upon a broad range of research with a view to creating a product greater than the sum of its parts. The topic is intentionally approached from the perspective of improving understanding rather than providing solutions or firm conclusions. Front Matter....Pages - Introduction....Pages 1-4 Background....Pages 5-33 Autonomous UVS....Pages 35-54 UVS Technology Issues....Pages 55-103 Force-Integration of UVS....Pages 105-154 Legal Issues for UVS....Pages 155-207 Back Matter....Pages - Anthony Finn And Steve Scheding. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [214]-227)