Agenda

Welcome

Prof. Bogdan Epureanu
Director
Automotive Research Center

Dr. David Gorsich
Chief Scientist
U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC)

Keynote:

TBA

Keynote:

An Integrated Decision-Based Approach for Autonomous Vehicle Mission Planning Incorporating Remotely Sensed Terrain Parameters

Autonomous ground vehicles are increasingly being deployed in both military and commercial applications. The optimal operation of these vehicles is a challenging endeavor and requires a confluence of many disparate factors. One must accurately model the environmental conditions under limited information, such as terrain parameters, reconcile them with vehicle capabilities, while simultaneously addressing mission requirements. Mission requirements typically involve attributes such as time to completion, vehicle speed, energy consumption, among others – and are what the operator generally cares about. For military operations, obtaining terrain parameters can be hard or impossible in war-zones, and inaccessible territories using traditional ground data collection methods. Even when accessible, the data collected by the traditional approach can be sparse, leading to significant uncertainty. This case study presentation provides an integrated decision-based approach to accomplish this. Terrain information is acquired remotely using hyperspectral and thermal sensors that can be placed on an unmanned aerial vehicle or other similar platforms. Based on this information, predictions of soil properties such as soil gradation and strength are made. This information is then passed to a novel path planner that provides an optimal path through specified waypoints, under various sensor configurations. Mission attributes are then calculated, which is followed by the calculation of the multi-attribute utility function so that optimal decisions can be made. This decision-based approach further allows for analyses such as, finding optimal parameters for the cost function used in path planning, and also the value of information acquired on the terrain using remote sensing. Results will be presented on data collected from the Keweenaw Research Center (KRC) site located in Upper Peninsula, Michigan, and for a Husky rover testbed. Future research directions will also be identified.

Case Study:

TBA

Spearheading Solutions for the Warfighter

Presenters from U.S. Army CCDC Ground Vehicle Systems Center

ARC research is leading the way in developing cutting edge attainable solutions for the Warfighter. This presentation illustrates how ARC projects collectively push the state of the art to address key technical challenges in autonomy for high-priority military ground systems.

Group Photo & Lunch

Technical Session 1

Matrix of talks TBA

Poster Session

Researchers will give in-depth exposition of their research by their posters. We expect an exciting exchange of ideas.

Panel:

TBA

Technical Session 2

Matrix of talks TBA

Closing Remarks and Award Presentation

Prof. Bogdan Epureanu
Director
Automotive Research Center

Dr. David Gorsich
Chief Scientist
U.S. Army Combat CCDC GVSC