Mission-based Architecture for Swarm Composability

Abstract

This research introduces the Mission-based Architecture for Swarm Composability (MASC) and methodology. This dissertation applies a mission engineering approach with model-based systems engineering foundations to formalize a swarm architecture, which is an example of a complex adaptive system. This architectural framework and methodology extend current swarm system design methods, which are primarily bottom-up approaches focused on the behavior of individual agents. MASC introduces a top-down, hierarchical approach with an overarching mission decomposed into phases, tactics, plays, and algorithms. MASC is applied to three unmanned aerial vehicle swarm case studies and assessed for incorporating mission doctrine, enhancing architecture reusability, and improving user accessibility. The assessment of these three factors indicates that MASC improves the state-of-the art methods in complex adaptive system architecture design.