Northrop Grumman Demonstrates New Autonomy Framework

Northrop Grumman Demonstrates New Autonomy Framework

090114-N-4515N-151 HAMPTON, Va. (Jan. 14, 2009) The Navy, in conjunction with the Spatial Integrated Systems Incorporated, holds a demonstration of a fully autonomous unmanned surface vehicle (USV) at Fort Monroe. A harbor patrol scenario depicts how the USV uses its autonomous maritime navigation systems to patrol and scan designated areas for intruders using onboard sensors and obstacle avoidance software in order to carry out its mission and report back its findings to a command center. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Joshua Adam Nuzzo/Released)

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Northrop Grumman has demonstrated a new autonomy framework that enables multiple unrelated unmanned systems to communicate and collaborate on a mission. The demonstration took place during the cross-domain autonomous system collaboration anti-submarine warfare (ASW) detect-to-engage exercise, held during the Annual Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) at Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport, Rhode Island.

According to a statement from Northrop Grumman: “Data collected from multiple sensors arrayed across autonomous undersea, surface, and air vehicles were fused autonomously to develop a real-time tracking solution that guided a surrogate autonomous air vehicle to engage a contact for live drop of a replica torpedo, for the first time”.

Gene Cumm, director of undersea warfare systems for Northrop Grumman said: “It was really the open architecture nature of the autonomy framework that allowed us to rapidly integrate in these existing [unmanned] systems that were never designed to be integrated into a framework like this”.

The unmanned platforms were all linked back to a command centre where Northrop Grumman and US Navy personnel were able to monitor the activities, Cumm said.

As written on janes.com, during the three-day demonstration held in August, Northrop Grumman’s autonomy framework connected a Kongsberg REMUS 600 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), two Liquid Robotics’ Wave Glider unmanned surface vehicles (USV), and a manned helicopter representing a Northrop Grumman Fire Scout vertical take-off and landing tactical unmanned air vehicle (VTUAV).

Technologies demonstrated during the event included: An Advanced Mission Management and Control System (AMMCS); Wave Gliders with acoustic sensors and RF gateway; REMUS with a three dimensional bathymetric sensor and a Compact Rapid Attack Weapon (CRAW) deployed from the Fire Scout demonstrator.