U.S. Army TARDEC R&D program on intelligent subsystems for enhanced mobility

The U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) has iniliated a systems engineering program to develop mutually compatible and complementary components and subsystems for enhanced Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) mobility. UGV have historically lacked the mobility of manned tracked vehicles, especially in obstacle-crossing and off-road maneuver. To achieve comparable mobility, UGV require supervised navigation with enhanced locomotion subsystems and complementary, mutually adapted machine perception, routing and driving control. The TARDEC program is funding technology development, maturation and packaging to produce NonDevelopmental Items that can be scaled and configured for different UGV. The TARDEC is also developing a Systems Integration Laboratory (SIL) to evaluate compatibility and system-level performance of component technologies. This TARDEC program complements and extends the UGV Technology Exchange and Exploitation (UGVTEE) DEMO III program. It fills unfunded gaps in the Army Research Laboratory's Concerted Technology Thrust (CU) projects in machine perception and supervised navigation. It fills technology gaps in the integration of "smart" mobility subsystems with supervised navigation. It specifically addresses semi-autonomous navigation deficiencies in obstacle crossing, other wheeled UGV mobility issues not being addressed in UGVTEE or other UGV programs. As part of the systems engineedng activity to ensure that the ND! components will be scaleable across a wide range of UGV, TARDEC is developing modular concepts for UGV across a range ofweight classes and functions. Keywords: Supervised navigation, obstacle crossing, non-developmental items, systems integration laboratory, unmanned ground vehicles, locomotion