From Automation to Autonomy-Trends Towards Autonomous Combat Systems

摘要

The development, procurement and utilization of defense systems will in future be strongly influenced by affordability. A considerable potential for cost reduction is seen in the extended use of automation reaching as far as autonomous unmanned systems. Starting with conventional and intelligent automation issues, this paper will describe important enabling techniques and technologies as a prerequisite for the implementation of future autonomous systems with goal- and behavior-oriented features. Main emphasis is being placed on information technology with its computational and machine intelligence (CMI) techniques. The treatment of conceptional system approaches will be followed by design considerations and then a global methodology for the engineering of future autonomous systems will be dealt with. Critical experiments for technology evaluation and validation will be mentioned together with a brief description of the main focus in future research.