System and method for operator control of heterogeneous unmanned system teams
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- assigning an objective to one or more unmanned vehicles by a user;
estimating a cost to perform the objective by one or more agents;
determining control instructions to be executed by one or more unmanned vehicles that minimizes a total cost of the objective;
transmitting the control instructions to be executed by the one or more unmanned vehicles to the one or more unmanned vehicles;
using a processor which functions as a high level optimizer to continue to estimate the cost and modify the assignment of the objective to minimize the cost during the performance of the objective;
executing the objective while minimizing the cost of the objective; and
transmitting sensor data from at least one of the one or more unmanned vehicles to the user;
wherein the cost is tunable during performing the objective by the user selecting between different cost metrics.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A control architecture and associated control methods are under development to allow a single user to control a team of multiple heterogeneous UMS as they conduct multi-faceted (i.e. multi-objective) missions in real time is disclosed. The control architecture is hierarchical, modular and layered and enables operator interaction at each layer, ensuring the human operator is in close control of the unmanned team at all times. The architecture and key data structures are introduced. Two approaches to distributed collaborative control of heterogeneous unmanned systems are described, including an extension of homogeneous swarm control and a novel application of distributed model predictive control. Initial results are presented, demonstrating heterogeneous UMS teams conducting collaborative missions.
40 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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assigning an objective to one or more unmanned vehicles by a user; estimating a cost to perform the objective by one or more agents; determining control instructions to be executed by one or more unmanned vehicles that minimizes a total cost of the objective; transmitting the control instructions to be executed by the one or more unmanned vehicles to the one or more unmanned vehicles; using a processor which functions as a high level optimizer to continue to estimate the cost and modify the assignment of the objective to minimize the cost during the performance of the objective; executing the objective while minimizing the cost of the objective; and transmitting sensor data from at least one of the one or more unmanned vehicles to the user; wherein the cost is tunable during performing the objective by the user selecting between different cost metrics. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A non-transitory machine-readable medium in communication with at least one processor, the non-transitory machine-readable medium storing a system architecture having instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor of a machine, causes one or more unmanned vehicles to perform one or more operations selected from a group consisting of moving to a location, delivering a package, and obtaining sensor data;
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wherein the system architecture comprises at least one processor which functions as a high level optimizer that receives an objective from a user and at least one processor which functions as a mid-level behavior controller that receives an assignment list from the at least one processor which functions as the high level optimizer and provides an objective cost list to the at least one processor which functions as the high level optimizer thereby optimizing the objective performed by the one or more unmanned vehicles; and wherein the at least one processor which functions as the high level optimizer continually updates the objective cost while the objective is being performed and updates the objective of one or more unmanned vehicles; and wherein the objective cost is tunable during performing the objective by the user selecting between different cost metrics. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A system, comprising:
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a user interface; at least one processor of a machine; at least one processor which functions as a high level optimizer module configured to receive an objective from the user interface; at least one processor which functions as a mid-level behavior controller configured to determine a cost associated with the one or more unmanned vehicles performing the objective; and one or more agents configured to receive the objective from the at least one processor which functions as the mid-level behavior controller; wherein the system continuously updates the cost and modifies the objective of one or more unmanned vehicles; and wherein the cost is tunable during performing the objective by the user selecting between different cost metrics. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification