Autonomous software demo for U.S. Army linked satellites, UAS, says Scientific Systems
NewsFebruary 07, 2024
WOBURN, Mass. Autonomous-system company Scientific Systems reports a successful demonstration for the U.S. Army of an autonomous, peer-to-peer collaboration and orchestration of commercial satellites and uncrewed aerial systems (UASs) that included closed-loop control of all associated multidomain sensors and exploitation services.
According to the company's report, the series of demos supported the Army Responsive Tactical ISR Technology (ARTIST) program, which is aimed at promulgating software for the U.S. Army that is capable of sensing, deciding, and acting with speed and scale across the battlespace.
In a series of tests, Scientific Systems demonstrated how autonomy can increase warfighter battlefield situational awareness through a dynamic network of multidomain collaborative platforms. In the most recent demo, a dismounted tactical user in the middle of an operationally relevant scenario used a smart tablet running the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) software suite to request and receive time-critical and actionable battlefield intelligence. The company reports that the tactical user specifically requested real-time information on the location of all vehicles within a defined area of interest on a map; accurate answers were returned in fractions of the time it would take in a typical approach not enabled with space queuing or onboard UAS autonomy.
Dr. Owen Brown, Vice President of Solutions Development at Scientific Systems, stated: “The recent ARTIST demo is a major achievement, displaying how our edge-based collaborative mission autonomy (CMA) software can become the ‘glue’ to coordinate and orchestrate multidomain autonomous platforms, all spawned by a simple ‘ride-share app like’ request for ISR services. It’s significant that we have shown how easily an uncrewed platform with edge processing can be instantly transformed with CMA into a tactically controlled, multidomain resource, operating in challenged or denied environments.”
