One for all: DoD seeks a common controller for many unmanned systems

摘要

After decades of experimentation and development, the variety and deployment of unmanned military systems mushroomed during the global war on terrorism. But with this massive growth came an array of noninteroperable, proprietary controllers that are used to remotely operate unmanned air and ground vehicles and their sensors. In response, the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics has been trying to corral these disparate systems into a common controller. A single system that could be used to control a variety of vehicles would save money while simplifying training and operations. Industry has approached the problem from different directions, including service-oriented architecture, "black box" hardware and plug-and-play software interfaces. Still, companies contend that the Defense Department will also need to change how it develops unmanned systems, which are now under the authority of siloed program offices.