DAHLGREN, Va.: Navy civilian engineers teamed with the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL) to test the capabilities of unmanned autonomous vehicles under development to support a variety of Marine Corps missions during the 2010 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise held from June 23 to Aug. 1.
Engineers from Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division, a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command, evaluated the impact of multiple ground unmanned support surrogate (GUSS) vehicles – designed and built by Virginia Tech students – which support Marine Corps resupply, “follow me,” casualty evacuation and reconnaissance missions.
“Our immediate goal to showcase the GUSS technology through experimentation is a success,” said Brent Azzarelli, NSWC Dahlgren Division GUSS project manager, after the MCWL Enhanced Company Operations limited objective experiment (LOE) 4. “GUSS is pushing the envelope on small tactical vehicle autonomy and obstacle avoidance, and we are optimistic that this technology will bring a capability to the warfighter in the very near future.”
Azzarelli and his team – joining a company of Marines to work with four GUSS vehicles at RIMPAC until July 16 – demonstrated the robots’ ability to provide logistics support to the dismounted Marine in the exercise that supported command and control of units ashore from a sea base up to 100 miles away.
“GUSS proved that it can find its own path based on the environment when navigating in ‘follow me’ mode,” said Ron Colbow, NSWC Dahlgren’s engineer. “GUSS is truly autonomous and does not require a Marine to navigate the vehicle with a joystick. The Marines on patrol can continue to carry their weapon and be fully functional without having an autonomous vehicle take away their tactical readiness.”
Moreover, Marines can use a handheld device with an integrated laser range finder to send waypoints to the unmanned vehicles designed to re-supply troops and provide an immediate means for the evacuation of any casualties in combat. A single GUSS vehicle carries up to 1,800 pounds at about five miles per hour.
“GUSS lightens the load for Marines who often go on patrols with more than 100 lbs of gear on their backs,” said Elizabeth Carlson, NSWC Dahlgren Division engineer, one of three Dahlgren engineers participating in the MCWL tests coinciding with RIMPAC. “These experiments help us determine the utility a small unmanned ground vehicle can have at the squad level and help the Marines Corps determine what missions are right for GUSS.”
The LOE and two previous limited technical assessments provided the project’s Quantico, Va.-based MCWL sponsor with an analysis of the current GUSS configuration and its ability to perform the missions. The feedback of warfighters operating GUSS contributed to the analysis and a government-managed estimate of the emerging technology’s maturity level.
“The eight trained Marine operators all said that GUSS improved their tactical readiness and tactical operations for most mission areas,” said Azzarelli.
Marines on patrol can continue to carry their weapons and be fully functional without having an autonomous vehicle take away their tactical readiness. GUSS also maintains the ability for manned operation.
Built on a Polaris MVRS 700 6×6 chassis, the GUSS vehicle is outfitted with commercial off-the-shelf components, including LIDAR technology, electro-optical cameras, an inertial navigation system and a drive-by-wire system to allow for autonomous operation.
The GUSS project is one of the mutually beneficial innovative research projects and activities developed as a result of an on-going agreement between NSWC Dahlgren and Virginia Tech’s Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science. Future plans include two more GUSS experiments in fiscal years 2011 and 2012. Dahlgren will continue to lead the project for MCWL and use Virginia Tech and TORC technologies as we moved forward to enhance the system based on lessons learned from LOE 4.
