Autonomous Tasking System Allows Mid-Flight Assignments for Uncrewed Aircraft using OMS

A longtime sci-fi fantasy is nearing fruition after Boeing demonstrated their new "open autonomy architecture" for the uncrewed MQ-25 that allows a combination manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) capability. 

The architecture is non-proprietary, based on the government's Open Mission System for maximum interoperability. The end result is that crewed aircraft can task autonomous MQ-25 aircraft to carry out new directives in-air. Boeing's test aircraft included Northrop Grumman’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeye C&C aircraft, Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, and Boeing’s F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet fighter. The planes used existing operational flight programming, software, and data links to task 4 virtual, autonomous MQ-25s with ISR missions.

Boeing was particularly proud of their Super Hornet demonstrator sporting their new conceptual "Black Ice" crew vehicle interface, alleviating some aircrew workload for the duration. As for what else the system can accommodate, Boeing says the MQ-25 could quickly become a catch-all, autonomous gofer for a swath of carrier-based assets. 

“Large swaths of ocean could be surveilled, identified and targeted when MQ-25 is teamed with carrier-based assets such as the E-2D or the land-based P-8A patrol aircraft,” said Don Gaddis, director of the MQ-25 advanced design department. “Through this demonstration, our customers saw how this digital, open approach to MUM-T is key to fielding critical warfighting capability at much lower cost and with greater speed and agility.”

The demo's P-8 and E-2D were able to push tasks to the MQ-25 with an ISR mission while specifying a given search area and no-fly zones, allowing the autonomous aircraft to validate the command against previously given operational constraints, plan its route, and conduct a search pattern with minimal oversight. Boeing's software structure, Aurora, allows for a 'decoupling' of the MQ-25's flight safety and critical components from mission software and sensor hardware. Eventually, Boeing intends for Aurora to enable 3rd party software for the aircraft, opening up an ecosystem similar to phone applications in common use. In their testing, the Naval Air Warfare Center's Aircraft Division created a new radar search app for the MQ-25 that saw use during the demonstration. 

“Aurora's robust software development kit enables our Navy teammates to rapidly integrate new capabilities,” said Graham Drozeski, vice president of Government Programs for Aurora Flight Sciences. “The platform abstraction demonstration met test objectives for resource sharing between multiple onboard systems and supervisors, and these efforts will greatly reduce government test and certification costs as new capabilities are added over time.”

FMI: www.Boeing.com