Engineer-in-the-Loop Simulation for Cooperative Operations in Urban Environment
Steven Rasmussen, David C. Gross, Nidal M. Jodeh, Gregory Feitshans, Stanley Pruett · 2007
In this paper we discuss the development and utilization of a simulation that was designed to enable engineers to investigate and exercise prototypical cooperative control algorithms and user interfaces for a system that will allow a single operator to control a team of unmanned aerial vehicles in an urban area. One such operational scenario is that of a small unmanned aerial vehicle flying over an urban area, dispensing micro-aerial vehicles to examine points of interest from a close distance. The Air Force Research Laboratory is currently conducting a research program entitled Cooperative Operations in UrbaN TERrain (COUNTER) designed to develop and investigate cooperative control algorithms, software, and hardware needed to perform such a mission. The type of simulation discussed in this paper is one of four different simulation types that are being used to develop and test the COUNTER systems. These simulations include an engineering simulation, an Engineerin-the-Loop Simulation (EILSIM), an operator interface development simulation, and an operator-in-the-loop simulation. While the COUNTER-EILSIM is the focus of this paper, we briefly describe the other simulations and how they fit into the development and testing process.