Unmanned Tactical Autonomous Control and Collaboration (UTACC) campaign of experimentation

Abstract

This thesis defines a campaign of experimentation to guide UTACC development from concept to reality. It also applies design methodologies to reduce costs and increase the quality, effectiveness, and speed of UTACC's development. UTACC is a system of systems that teams Marines with unmanned robotic systems to reduce the Marine's cognitive load and enhance mission accomplishment. Bringing UTACC from concept to reality requires extensive experimentation, but prior to this thesis no experimentation plan has existed. A series of UTACC theses have been written starting with a CONOPS. Then theses red-celled the CONOPS, explored Coactive Design methodology, analyzed UAV alternatives, and generated measures of effectiveness and performance for the system. Using information learned from the previous theses, the campaign of experimentation described in this thesis identifies key developmental relationships, associates measures with them, and organizes them in an incremental order. This thesis also emphasizes Coactive Design and Model Driven Software Development to reduce cost and improve the quality and flexibility of the system. The goal of the campaign is to provide a plan to develop a robust, cost-efficient system that Marines can use as a part of their team to increase victory on the battlefield.