A concept on the shared use of unmanned assets by multiple users in a manned-unmanned-teaming application

Abstract

In this work, we describe a concept of how multiple users can be given coordinated access to a limited number of unmanned assets. Previous research efforts studied concepts of controlling multiple unmanned vehicles in manned-unmanned-teams. However, these studies imply that the unmanned assets are at one user’s exclusive command. Due to their utility however, it is plausible that additional users will have interest in using these assets. To this end, we assign the users to different roles with associated access rights. Derived from established definitions in computer science, we use the terms “host” and “client.” To meet variable requirements of users, we define multiple levels of resource sharing that can be requested by the client. Over these levels, control is increasingly transferred from host to client. We then applied this concept to our application and identified additional requirements for the request and the provision of unmanned assets. We furthermore discuss the integration of an assistant system to support the host’s decision-making concerning the processing of requests. Mission-planning capabilities allow the assistant system to generate suitable implementations. Based on our concept and the identified requirements, we present our approaches to enable the interaction between host, client, and the assistant system in our application.