Course of Action (COA) Generation for Robotic Military Ground Vehicles

2025-01-8338

4/1/2025

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Abstract
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Course of action (COA) generation for robotic military ground vehicles is required to support autonomous operations in well-structured and non-structured environments. Traditional pathing algorithms such as Dijkstra, A*, Hybrid A*, or D* are exhaustive and well structured, and as a result, a single COA may be derived if one exists. Traditional path-planning algorithms have been optimized to identify paths that achieve a single scalar objective (duration, distance, energy, etc.). The algorithms are not natively able to account for multi-objective cost considerations. Military operations represent multi-objective optimization problems, impacted by time, space, and atmospherics. The battlefield is dynamic and ever-changing, thus pathing algorithms must incorporate multi-objective costs and constraints and be provided in near-real-time or real-time. For this reason, the use of a genetic algorithm (GA) and Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning (AI/ML) were investigated for COA generation. Genetic algorithms can be used to solve globally optimal multi-objective optimization problems given sufficient time and computational resources; the GA may also be used to identify a potential solution space of COAs. AI/ML is well-versed in solving linear and non-linear problems and is well-suited for diverse predictive analytics ranging from time series forecasting, image analysis, classification, and contextual analysis and recognition. Training AI/ML is computationally intensive; however, the implementation can be accomplished with reduced computational requirements. Depending on the complexity, both methods can be implemented in near-real-time or real-time, making the algorithms ideal for mission planning, and near-real-time and real-time course of action generation. This manuscript generates multiple COAs for military ground vehicles, producing thousands of options with varying optimality regarding energy consumption and multi-variable objectives (energy, time, or detection). Traditionally, COA generation for autonomous mission planning relies on graph-based methods, reinforcement learning, or Q-learning. Non-traditional approaches, such as LSTMNs and CNNs, require the use of transformers to be effective.
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/2025-01-8338
Citation
Jane, R., Ferrying, Z., Janat, T., and James, C., "Course of Action (COA) Generation for Robotic Military Ground Vehicles," WCX SAE World Congress Experience, Detroit, Michigan, United States, April 8, 2025, https://doi.org/10.4271/2025-01-8338.
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Published
4/1/2025
Product Code
2025-01-8338
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English