THE WHOLE SYSTEM TRADES ANALYSIS TOOL FOR AUTONOMOUS GROUND SYSTEMS

An important aspect of any new ground vehicle acquisition program is an analytic understanding of the key performance, cost, risk and growth tradeoffs inherent with the system design. The Whole System Trades Analysis Tool (WSTAT) provides a holistic framework for modeling and understanding these tradeoffs. In this paper, we present the overarching WSTAT methodology and then consider a specific implementation for the Army’s Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET) autonomous ground vehicle. Emerging results regarding high-level SMET design considerations are provided to demonstrate the types of decision support enabled by the WSTAT capability.