Autonomous Sortie Control Framework With Normalized Interfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing software frameworks for autonomous systems lack a standardized interface for managing and deploying autonomous vehicles, requiring application software to handle complex communications with multiple external systems, making it difficult to develop and maintain applications independently of system changes.
Innovation Solution
A software framework that includes a sortie controller, station controller, vehicle controller, and mission controller, which communicate with external systems via APIs, instantiate models, and provide a normalized interface for application software, allowing each capability to operate on a sortie spawn with unassigned models, thus decoupling application software from system details.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If application software directly communicates with multiple external systems, then system functionality is achieved, but development and maintenance complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a software framework as an intermediary layer between application software and external systems. This framework provides standardized interfaces and abstraction mechanisms that simplify application development while maintaining full system functionality. The framework handles complex communications and integrations, allowing applications to interact with multiple external systems through unified, manageable interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the system into distinct layers: application software, software framework, and external systems. This segmentation isolates complexity into the framework layer, allowing application software to remain simple while the framework handles complex communications, data management, and system integrations with multiple external systems.
2Reliability
If application software is tightly coupled with system details, then precise control is achieved, but independent development becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The software framework acts as a mediator that provides controlled access to system details through standardized interfaces. Application software can achieve precise control over autonomous system operations while maintaining independent development capability, as the framework manages the coupling between applications and underlying system details.
Solution Approach 2:
The framework provides universal interfaces that work across different external systems and configurations. This allows application software to maintain precise control through standardized mechanisms while being able to operate independently across various system implementations and changes.
3Ease of manufacture
If a standardized interface is introduced, then development independence is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The standardized interface framework provides multi-functional capabilities that serve multiple purposes: enabling development independence, managing external system communications, providing data abstraction, and supporting various autonomous system operations. This universality justifies the framework complexity by delivering multiple benefits through a single structured layer.
Data Source
AI summary
A software framework for an autonomous system can include a sortie controller that receives a sortie spawn request from at least one of a station controller, a vehicle controller and a mission controller that are each in communication with at least one of a plurality external systems. The sortie controller can instantiate a given sortie spawn with a reference to a given station model in a set of station models, a given vehicle model in a set of vehicle models and a given mission model in the set of the mission models. The software framework can also include a plurality of functions defined by the station controller, the vehicle controller and the mission controller. Each function can be configured to operate on the sortie spawn. The software frame work can further include a plurality of capabilities. Each capability can includes a plurality of properties.