Overview and update of the Demo III Experimental Unmanned Vehicle Program

The Demo III Experimental Unmanned Ground Vehicle program is directed at developing autonomous mobility technology, integrating it onto a number of small, agile testbed vehicles and evaluating its maturity through a series of experiments conducted with the military user community. During FY99 the program focused upon development and integration of a baseline capability into two testbed vehicles that can maneuver cross country at speeds of up to 10 mph during daylight and 5 mph in darkness, over semi- arid terrain, i.e., terrain without significant vegetation. Efforts were centered on developing a multi-mode perception capability based upon both passive and active sensor systems that included stereo vision (using both normal CCD video and FLIR sensors), a multi-line laser scanner and imaging radar, implementation of the 4-D/RCS computer architecture, and a user-friendly operator interface incorporating advanced mission planning tools. The technology was evaluated in September '99 by the troops from the Armor Center during a Battle Lab Warfighting Experiment at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD conducted by the Mounted Maneuver Battle Laboratory. During FY00, technical activities will focus on improving perception technology to permit higher speed day/night operation in obstacle-rich environments. A major technology thrust will be the introduction of object classification capabilities, e.g., the ability to differentiate between rocks and bushes or grass, into the autonomous mobility perception suite. This expanding capability is essential for future efforts directed at the development of tactical behaviors.