Swarm Autonomously Selects Aircraft to Prosecute Target
Pursuing its goal of developing advanced unmanned autonomy, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) recently used a company-owned Avenger UAS and five hardware-in-the-loop synthetic Avengers to autonomously search and follow an artificially-generated adversary. The live-virtual swarm used a simulated Infrared Search and Track (IRST) sensor network, in addition to the government-furnished CODE autonomy engine, to accomplish the mission.
In a two-hour flight on 28 January, the Avenger flew over southern California, directed into a search mission with the five simulated Avengers. Once the simulated adversary entered the designated search area, the team of Avengers decided, using an AI/ML algorithm, which aircraft would autonomously break from the search-loiter pattern and perform complex behaviours to show closed loop, air-to-air tactics.
“The flight demonstrated GA-ASI’s unique ability to deploy autonomy using a blend of simulated threats, real-world sensors, and live aircraft. GA-ASI’s robust autonomy pipeline provided seamless digital environments, UAV digital twins and machine learning to validate unmanned aircraft closing complex kill chains. This framework allows the DoD to rapidly transition next-generation, operationally relevant air-to-air warfare technology from the lab to the battlespace,” commented the company’s Senior Director of Advanced Programs, Michael Atwood.
The Avenger UAS integrated a ZPX-R ADS-B and Mode 5 Level 2 receiver provided by uAvionix. The low size, weight, and power (SWaP) sensor allowed the platform to track active aircraft within the local airspace. In addition to the live ADS-B/Mode 5 L2 sensor tracks being downlinked, the Advanced Framework for Simulation, Integration, and Modeling (AFSIM) software simulated two separate types of IRST sensors – situational and long-range. This allowed the multi-physics sensor network to downlink into the Common Operating Picture running on a government standard human-machine interface. To complement the live-flying sensor suite, the Avenger also operated with All-Source Track and Identity Fuser (ATIF), a government-owned Multi-Physics Fusion engine.
