scholarly journals Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS): A Delphi Study Projecting Future UAS Missions and Relevant Challenges

Drones ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Sigala ◽  
Brent Langhals
Keyword(s):  
Delphi Method ◽  
Delphi Study ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Subject Matter Experts ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Data Link ◽  
Sense And Avoid ◽  
Aerial Systems ◽  
Acquisition Professionals

Over recent decades, the world has experienced a growing demand for and reliance upon unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to perform a broad spectrum of applications to include military operations such as surveillance/reconnaissance and strike/attack. As UAS technology matures and capabilities expand, especially with respect to increased autonomy, acquisition professionals and operational decision makers must determine how best to incorporate advanced capabilities into existing and emerging mission areas. This research seeks to predict which autonomous UAS capabilities are most likely to emerge over the next 20 years as well as the key challenges for implementation for each capability. Employing the Delphi method and relying on subject matter experts from operations, acquisitions and academia, future autonomous UAS mission areas and the corresponding level of autonomy are forecasted. The study finds consensus for a broad range of increased UAS capabilities with ever increasing levels of autonomy, but found the most promising areas for research and development to include intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission areas and sense and avoid and data link technologies.

Complex Battlespaces

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Modern Warfare ◽  
Aerial Systems

The conduct of warfare is constantly shaped by forces beyond the battlefield. These forces create complexities in the battlespace for military operations. The ever-changing nature of how and where wars are fought creates challenges for the application of the unchanging body of international law that regulates armed conflicts. The term “complex” is often used to describe modern warfare, but what makes modern warfare complex? Is it the increasingly urbanized battlefield where wars are fought, which is cluttered with civilians and civilian objects? Is it the rise of State-like organized armed groups that leverage the governance vacuum created by failed or failing States? Is it the introduction of new technologies to military operations like autonomous weapons, cyber capabilities, and unmanned aerial systems? Or is it the application of multiple legal regimes to a single conflict? Collectively, these questions formed the basis for the Complex Battlespaces Workshop in which legal scholars and experts from the field of practice came together to discuss these complexities. During the workshop, there was a general consensus that the existing law was sufficient to regulate modern warfare. The challenge, however, arises in application of the law to new technologies, military operations in urban environments, and other issues related to applying international human rights law and international humanitarian law to non-international armed conflicts. This inaugural volume of the Lieber Book Series seeks to address many of the complexities that arise during the application of international law to modern warfare.

Onboard Autonomous Sense and Avoid of Non-Conforming Unmanned Aerial Systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan Duffy ◽  
Swee Balachandran ◽  
Andrew Peters ◽  
Kyle Smalling ◽  
Maria Consiglio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Sense And Avoid ◽  
Aerial Systems

scholarly journals ’Looking Through a Soda Straw’: Mediated Vision in Remote Warfare

Politik ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Queisner
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Situational Awareness ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Sensory Data ◽  
Action And Perception ◽  
Image Production ◽  
Functional Shift ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Aerial Systems

Image-guided military operations embed soldiers into a complex system of image production, transmission, and perception. These soldiers separate their bodies from the battlefield, but they also mediate between them. In particular, remote controlled operations of so-called unmanned aerial systems (UAS) require the synchronization between human actors and technical sensors in real-time, such as the knowledge of a situation. This situational awareness relies almost exclusively on the visualization of sensory data. This human-machine entanglement corresponds to a new operative modality of images which differs from previous forms of real-time imaging such as live broadcasting, as it is based on a feedback-loop that turns the observer into an actor. Images are not simply analyzed and interpreted but become agents in a socio- technological assemblage. The paper will draw upon this functional shift of images from a medium of visualization towards a medium that guides operative processes. Based on the analysis of vision, architecture, and navigation in remote warfare, it will discuss how real-time video technology and the mobilization of sensor and transmission technology produce a type of intervention, in which action and perception is increasingly organized and determined by machines. 

A Review of US Army Unmanned Aerial Systems Accidents

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-28
Author(s):  
Kathryn A. Feltman ◽  
Ian P. Curry ◽  
Amanda M. Kelley
Keyword(s):  
Human Error ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Objective Data ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Us Army ◽  
Flight Operations ◽  
Aircraft Type ◽  
Aerial Systems

Abstract. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are increasingly used in military operations. Successful operations, despite no human onboard, are heavily human-dependent. A review of Army UAS accidents was completed to evaluate the role of the human in these accidents so as to inform future research and operations. Reports of 288 accidents occurring between 2010 and 2015 were obtained. Report elements including aircraft type, accident findings, and personnel information were reviewed. About 76% of accidents were not due to human error, specifically based on contributions of air and ground crew in flight operations. No clear conclusions were identified to aid in determining the contribution of the human to the accident. Recommendations for more rigorous investigations, to include capturing objective data of personnel, are put forth.

scholarly journals Cooperative Unmanned Aerial System Reconnaissance in a Complex Urban Environment and Uneven Terrain

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (17) ◽  
pp. 3754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Stodola ◽  
Jan Drozd ◽  
Jan Mazal ◽  
Jan Hodický ◽  
Dalibor Procházka
Keyword(s):  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Complex Environment ◽  
Uneven Terrain ◽  
The Past ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Minimum Number ◽  
New Formulation ◽  
Aerial Systems

Using unmanned robotic systems in military operations such as reconnaissance or surveillance, as well as in many civil applications, is common practice. In this article, the problem of monitoring the specified area of interest by a fleet of unmanned aerial systems is examined. The monitoring is planned via the Cooperative Aerial Model, which deploys a number of waypoints in the area; these waypoints are visited successively by unmanned systems. The original model proposed in the past assumed that the area to be explored is perfectly flat. A new formulation of this model is introduced in this article so that the model can be used in a complex environment with uneven terrain and/or with many obstacles, which may occlude some parts of the area of interest. The optimization algorithm based on the simulated annealing principles is proposed for positioning of waypoints to cover as large an area as possible. A set of scenarios has been designed to verify and evaluate the proposed approach. The key experiments are aimed at finding the minimum number of waypoints needed to explore at least the minimum requested portion of the area. Furthermore, the results are compared to the algorithm based on the lawnmower pattern.

LIGHTER-THAN-AIR (LTA) UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM (UAS) CARRIER CONCEPT FOR SURVAILLANCE AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1255
Author(s):  
Ahmad Salahuddin Mohd Harithuddin ◽  
Mohd Fazri Sedan ◽  
Syaril Azrad Md Ali ◽  
Shattri Mansor ◽  
Hamid Reza Jifroudi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Disaster Management ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Unmanned Aerial System ◽  
Border Control ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Operational Safety ◽  
In Situ Methods ◽  
Aerial Systems

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has many advantages in the fields of SURVAILLANCE and disaster management compared to space-borne observation, manned missions and in situ methods. The reasons include cost effectiveness, operational safety, and mission efficiency. This has in turn underlined the importance of UAS technology and highlighted a growing need in a more robust and efficient unmanned aerial vehicles to serve specific needs in SURVAILLANCE and disaster management. This paper first gives an overview on the framework for SURVAILLANCE particularly in applications of border control and disaster management and lists several phases of SURVAILLANCE and service descriptions. Based on this overview and SURVAILLANCE phases descriptions, we show the areas and services in which UAS can have significant advantage over traditional methods.

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