Challenges to autonomous navigation in complex urban terrain

In the field of military Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV), military units are adapting their concept of operations to focus on their mission capabilities within populated cities and towns. These types of operations are referred to as MOUT (Military Operations on Urban Terrain). As more Soldiers seek to incorporate technology to enhance their mission capabilities, there then becomes a need for UGV systems to encompass an ability to autonomously navigate through urban terrains. Autonomous systems have the potential to increase Soldier safety by mitigating the risk of unnecessary enemy exposure during routine urban reconnaissance. This paper presents the development and methodology that the military has sought to increase mission capabilities by incorporating autonomy into manned/unmanned ground vehicles. The presented solution that has been developed through the Safe Operations of Unmanned systems for Reconnaissance in Complex Environments (SOURCE) Army Technology Objective (ATO) has the ability and has been tested to safely navigate through complex urban environments. This paper will also focus on the challenges the military has faced to develop the presented autonomous UGV.