Technologies for reliable autonomous control (TRAC) of UAVs

Abstract

A means for enabling UAVs (unmanned air vehicles) to achieve and eventually exceed the capabilities of a human pilot must be developed before UAVs can achieve their potential. The safety, reliability, and capability exhibited by UAVs require an enormous amount of improvement to match that of manned aircraft. An approach towards achieving this goal is presented. The approach is centered on the concept of the "active state." Active state provides a framework for an air vehicle to acquire information about itself (e.g. dynamic states, subsystem data, etc.) and it's operational environment (e.g. weather, terrain, air traffic, targets, threats, etc.), analyze the data for pertinent information (subsystem health status, system resources such as fuel, weather hazards, traffic conflicts, etc.), and produce rational decisions resulting in robust, successful, and safe pursuit of mission goals.