Toward a Generic Model for Autonomy Levels for Unmanned Systems (ALFUS)

Abstract : Unmanned systems (UMSs) have been deployed to military and civilian operations. UMSs vary widely in their capabilities and purposes. It would be beneficial to have a set of widely recognized standard definitions on the capabilities of the UMSs. Efforts have begun in various organizations in defining autonomy levels for unmanned systems. As part of this ongoing research, we are attempting to define a generic model for the autonomy levels for unmanned systems (ALFUS). Our intention is for this model to be used to derive mission-specific ALFUS. In this paper, we describe autonomy levels in three tiers, subsystem, system, and system of systems (SoS). Within each tier, the levels of autonomy are further divided with the factors of task complexity, environmental complexity, human involvement, and a set of quality factors. The work presented is a snapshot of an ongoing process.