MISSION-BASED UAV SWARMS: BASE DEFENSE

Forward Operating Base (FOB) defense is a manpower-intensive mission that takes valuable resources away from the operational mission. While increasingly capable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) might perform many of the mission tasks, current doctrine does not adequately address their inclusion. In particular, the assumed one-to-one ratio of operators to vehicles does not account for increasing UAV autonomy. This thesis describes the development and testing of an autonomous FOB defense capability using the Advanced Robotic Systems Engineering Laboratory (ARSENL) swarm system. Development leveraged the Mission-based Architecture for Swarm Composability (MASC) for development of complex swarm behaviors in a mission-focused, top-down manner. This approach enabled the development of a doctrinally grounded base-defense tactic in which arbitrary mixes of fixed-wing and quadrotor UAVs autonomously assigned and performed all required FOB defense roles: perimeter surveillance, key area search, contact investigation, and threat response. The tactic was extensively tested in a software-in-the-loop simulation environment and demonstrated during live flight field exercises. Experimental results are discussed using measures of effectiveness and measures of performance that were developed over the course of this research.Captain, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. distribution is unlimite