19 Feb 2008 | Ref. 064/2008
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Autonomous Technology Is Cool For ‘CATS’
West Sale, Victoria, Australia. – BAE Systems’ developments in the area of unmanned ground vehicles have taken a step forward with the integration of autonomous technologies onto a Supacat vehicle.
The autonomous technology at the heart of the BAE Systems Supacat-based unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) was originally developed by BAE Systems Australia as the Vehicle Management System (VMS) and ground mission systems for the Kingfisher UAV (unmanned air vehicle) and has since been used on the Raven, Corax and HERTI UAVs. This latest milestone, which involved the BAE Systems UGV autonomously driving and navigating itself around a 100 acre paddock at the Company’s UAV Flight Test Facility in West Sale, Australia, demonstrated the ability to take the common systems / common architecture approach, already used by BAE Systems in its UAV development activities, into the land domain.
“The development of the BAE Systems UGV took less than 6 months and used lessons learnt from earlier work using an autonomous Bowler Wildcat 4x4 vehicle developed by our Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) in the UK” says Dr. Julia Sutcliffe, System Autonomy Capability Manager for BAE Systems Australia. “Bringing together technologies and capabilities from across the globe has given us the ability to develop our vehicle more rapidly and efficiently.”
The development and sharing of these technologies comes through BAE Systems’ Capability Augmentation Program (CAP), managed by the UK based Strategic Business Development department.
“This is a significant development for two reasons,” says Geoff Slater, Technology Acquisition Director for Strategic Business Development. “Firstly, it will help us examine how we can take this technology from testing and research to the battlefield and, secondly, it shows how we are working across BAE Systems to harness our collective knowledge and expertise to benefit the serving soldier. Additionally, the technology integrated onto the UGV will inform future developments in BAE Systems’ centrally funded research into autonomy and its application on the battlefield.”
The BAE Systems UGV is currently fitted with a number of sensors and software, allowing it to undertake a range of operations with little or no human input, including leader-follower support and tactical reconnaissance operations. Future developments will see the integration of collision avoidance and obstacle detection technologies, road following, navigation and data fusion technologies, further increasing the level of autonomy.
The BAE Systems UGV Ground Environment was also an adaptation of the ground environment, known as the ISR Management System, developed by BAE Systems Australia in support of the Kingfisher, Raven Corax and HERTI UAV developments, demonstrating the utility of the open architecture approach.
“The autonomous systems technologies and processes we are developing and demonstrating, particularly in relation to C4ISR networking solutions, and the integration of unmanned vehicles into the wider C2 and Information Environments, will provide significant benefit to future programs such as the Australian DoD Air 7000 Phase 1B program”, says Brad Yelland, Integrated Autonomous Systems Manager for BAE Systems Australia.
There are currently many variants of All Terrain Mobility Platforms, as the Supacat is officially known, in service with the British Army, Australian Defence Force and other armed forces, making it an ideal vehicle to explore the role of autonomy in future operations. Trials of the converted vehicle will continue throughout 2008, in parallel with other research Capability Augmentation Program trials to explore the autonomous operation of multiple unmanned platforms.
About BAE Systems
BAE Systems is the premier global defence and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With 96,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded £15 billion (US $27 billion) in 2006*.
*On a pro forma basis, assuming BAE Systems had owned Armor Holdings Inc for the whole of 2006
BAE Systems Australia is a company committed to being the Australian Defence Force’s through-life capability partner in integrated military systems and support solutions. It combines key skills in engineering and systems integration and is a leading provider of communications, electronic warfare systems, military air support, air defence, mission support systems and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It employs approximately 2,700 people and supports customers at more than 50 locations across the country.
For further information, please contact:
Heidi Fourie, BAE Systems
Tel: +61 3 9208 0902 Mob: +61 410 045 422
heidi.fourie@baesystems.com
Barney O’Kelly, BAE Systems
Tel: +44 (0)1252 384717 Mob: +44 (0) 7803 667434
barney.okelly@baesystems.com
Issued by:
BAE Systems, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 6YU, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1252 384605 Fax: +44 (0) 1252 383947
24hr media hotline: + 44 (0) 7801 717739
