Army tests remote warfare, Soldier performance
By Ashley John
Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center Public Communic
August 16, 2006
WARREN, Mich. (Army News Service, Aug. 16, 2006) – In a six-week experiment at Fort Knox, Ky., the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command measured how science and technology implemented in Future Combat Systems’ unmanned vehicles enhances Soldiers’ capabilities and performance.
"This gave us (Army) an opportunity to see how computer-automated tools can assist with tasks that are conventionally performed by Soldiers," said Lt. Col. John Janiszewski, chief of experimentation and analysis directorate for the Army's Unit of Action Maneuver Battle Lab. "It's important that our Soldiers become capable of using unmanned vehicles efficiently because their use means fewer Soldiers being exposed to dangers of the battlefield."
The experiment centered on two key metrics: autonomous mobility and Crew Aiding Behaviors (CABS) software, which automates such common tasks as route planning and the selection of observation and fire positions in crew stations developed by RDECOM’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), Army Research Laboratory (ARL). The experiments showed that the use of automated software significantly reduced threat-engagement time and improved the way Soldiers controls the robot.
"We are intentionally overloading Soldiers," Janiszewski said. "We want to see how many tasks they can handle without interfering with their performance in combat situations."
The TARDEC-ARL touch-screen crew station allows Soldiers to create robot behaviors that maximize efficiency in choosing enemy targets. Forward robots detect enemy positions and present targets to Soldiers via situational awareness maps. The crew station takes in the information, prioritizes it and recommends a weapon to engage the target. The entire task is completed while Soldiers simultaneously control the follow-vehicle and search the screens for "red-force" enemies.
When multiple targets are spotted, the crew station's automated technology prioritizes the enemies and tells Soldiers which weapon would most effectively defeat the threat. After the threat is destroyed, the next priority threat moves to the top of the screen for disengagement.
Soldiers use the crew station to give the follower vehicle a manually-specific path, but they may also use automated planning tools to automatically create the follower route.
"The crew-station vehicles have given me better visualization of the battlefield," said Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Dose, who operated and tested the vehicles. "The best part is that my workload hasn't increased very much, and now I am keeping myself and other Soldiers out of enemy fire."
The experiment validates seven years of robotic follower and crew-station technology research, according to Patrick Nunez, TARDEC research scientist and test manager.
"We are trying to make it easier for Soldiers to operate manned and unmanned assets simultaneously, while reducing the number of Soldiers inside the vehicle," he said
"Remote warfare technologies could reach Soldiers’ hands as early as 2008," Janiszewski added. "The Army has developed a baseline of technologies for future systems that have the potential to be spun-out into current military platforms."
TARDEC will now focus on integrating and improving Solider-robot interaction. "We need to find ways to improve how Soldiers communicate with unmanned assets. We want to be able to let Soldiers know what the robot is thinking,” said Nunez.
TARDEC is headquartered at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Mich. Its mission is to research, develop, engineer, leverage and integrate advanced technology into ground systems and support equipment throughout the life cycle. Its technical staff leads research in ground-vehicle survivability, mobility, intelligent systems, and maneuver support and sustainment.
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