Collaborative system for a team of unmanned vehicles

US7451023B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Lockheed Martin Corporation · US

Inventors

• Brent Appleby · Holliston, US
• Jerry L. Franke · Voorhees, US
• Stephen M. Jameson · Wilmington, US
• Adam Jung · Owego, US
• Robert J. Szczerba · Endicott, US
• Joel J. Tleon · Endicott, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 25, 2005
• Grant date: Nov 11, 2008
• Expiry date: Aug 6, 2026

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G05D1/0088
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A system collaboratively and autonomously plans and controls a team of unmanned vehicles within an environment. A mission planning component creates a mission plan for a plurality of members of the team of unmanned vehicles. The mission planning component creates a task plan for each member based on the mission plan. A collaboration component assigns members to the team and roles for the assigned members. The collaboration component updates membership and roles of the members based on the changing situation of the environment. A situational awareness component evaluates the changing situation of the environment based on information from the assigned members of the team. A contingency management component monitors the changing situation of the environment. The contingency management component monitors changes of capabilities of the assigned members of the team and execution of the mission plan and task plans. The contingency management component determines whether to update any of the group consisting of the mission plan and the task plans. A vehicle management component controls movement of each assigned member based on the task plan of each assigned member.