FIRRE

The intent of the FIRRE program was to reduce manpower requirements, enhance force protection capabilities, and reduce casualties through the use of unmanned systems. It consisted of a wide range of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) and associated Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS) to counter terrorist actions in lieu of manned operations. FIRRE's near-term objective was to provide an integrated network of unmanned systems and sensors to support physical security of high-value areas of interest. The overarching long-term goal was to develop a fully-integrated, layered force protection system of systems for our forward deployed forces that was networked with the future force C4ISR systems architecture.

Applied Perception’s responsibilities included integration of internal and external environmental sensors, computing and power systems, and all navigation software. Sensors that were integrated include six millimeter wave radar units, a single scan-line laser sensor, RTK differential GPS, a fiber optic gyro, and an absolute roll/pitch/yaw sensor. We also provided the complete, JAUS-compliant on-vehicle autonomous navigation software suite. Capabilities included basic camera-based teleoperation, high precision, high speed waypoint navigation, and fused laser/radar based obstacle detection. In addition, Applied Perception provided the protocol translation software module that allowed communication between the government-provided operation control station (JBC2S) and the JAUS-compliant on-board systems, including basic vehicle mobility and safety systems and mission payloads such as the FLIR camera and ID radar system.

For this project, Applied Perception was able to leverage past developmental work on the TAGS platform, as well as our extensive, JAUS-compliant navigation software and interface library. The latter made it possible to quickly and easily integrate new payloads such as the FLIR and ID radar as well as develop an effective translator module to enable communication between the JBC2S operator control station and the JAUS-compliant vehicle systems.