ROBOTIC VEHICLE MESSAGE FORMAT

The digital message format described in this report will be used in the following robotic vehicles/systems: 1) Robotic Command Center (RCC), 2) Tech-base Enhancements for Autonomous Machines (TEAM), 3) Robotic Wiesels, and 4) The United Kingdom's Mobile Advanced Research & Development Initiative (MARDI). Robotic vehicle systems requiring or desiring compatability with Army assets should consider using the robotic vehicle message format (RVMF). For the past decade, different agencies throughout the Department of Defense (DoD) and industry have been involved in the development of unmanned ground-vehicle systems. Most of these vehicle systems were designed to meet certain requirements. Communications interoperability between systems was not one of these requirements. As the effort to develop unmanned vehicle systems matures and increases in magnitude, communications interoperability between the different systems has become very desirable. This is because systems which can talk to each other have the potential to allow flexible testing in the development phase, and to make possible more effective deployment of these systems once they are mature enough to be fielded.