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Deploying a world wide force that is strategically responsive and dominant at every point on the spectrum of conflict involves the cooperative system development and use of advanced technologies that yield revolutionary capabilities to support the war-fighters needs. This presentation describes an agent based control architecture and prototype implementation developed by ARDEC that enables command and control of multiple unmanned platforms and associated mission packages for collaborative target hand-off/engagement. Current prototypes provide the ability to remotely locate, track and predict the movement of enemy targets on the battlefield using a variety of sensor systems hosted on multiple, non-homogeneous SUAVs and UGVs.

A new approach to MET data extraction is formulated and validated using trajectory simulation data. The projectile dynamics and measurement model are presented. In addition to presenting experimental results of the new MET data extraction methodology and aim-setting optimization for both spin-stabilized and fin-stabilized projectiles, the real-time MET implementation for actual fire control systems based on a componentized decision aid system architecture is also discussed.

related issues include: automation, mission safety, flexible task level control,. multi-manipulator coordination associated with fuzing ammunition in a mobile -resupply vehicle, optimized path planning, a failure tolerant manmachine interface, and a rapid development and prototyping control system environment. These are challenging topics for automated material handing. This paper presents and demonstrates a graphical automated materiel handling approach for the Smart Crane Ammunition Transfer System (SCATS). The Smart Crane Ammunition Transfer System is designed to handle, deliver, and reload missiles/ammunition in the battlefield. This approach facilitates the recycling of resources and speeds up various system development cycles. An intelligent trajectory planner is developed to generate an optimal motion and collision avoidance trajectory for the end-effector and grapple in maneuvering the materiel to its final destination. A Graph Object (GO) is created for each control object. The developed graphical materiel handling system has been successfully tested and demonstrated through on-site experiments. Modern engineering technology is leading to increasingly complex military payloads with even more demanding performance requirements’“. A safer and more efficient advanced smart crane design requires testing and analyzing the environment for predicting and understanding the complex crane response under the simultaneous influence of the hydraulic dynamics, the control system, and the operator’s commands. It also requires the capability to perform materiel identification, obstacle detection and collision avoidance during mission execution.

In this paper, the problem of estimation and prediction of the projectile trajectory, MET data, and the impact point is formulated within the extended Kalman filtering framework. Factorized implementations of extended Kalman filtering, smoothing, and prediction algorithms are presented. Different wind models are discussed. The algorithms are demonstrated through simulation.

A reference architecture model of a typical fire control system has been established with the Realtime Object-Oriented Modeling (ROOM) environment, ObjecTime. An external graphics user interface (GUI) has also been developed to communicate with the reference architecture, thus making the reference architecture an ideal tool to test a specific design based on the architecture implementation. The GUI also communicates with an independent ballistics calculation program to send the target parameters and receive the ballistics calculation results. The ObjecTime model, the GUI, and the external ballistics calculation program constitute a demonstration system for the fire control reference architecture.

The Smart Crane Ammunition Transfer System (SCATS) is designed to handle, deliver, and reload missiles/ammunitions in the battlefield. The system objectives are as follow: faster missile reloading, decreased utilization of manpower, increased operator safety, reduced missile/munitions damage, reduced operator skills and training, and increased material flow. In this paper, the smart crane ammunition transfer system is introduced and discussed, including the crane, the hydraulic system, the control system, and the development environment. The emphasis is on the design, analysis, and implementation of the SCATS control system. State-of-the-art engineering techniques, such as robotic control, trajectory generation, sensory processing and task planning, are also addressed as to the way in which they will enhance the SCATS system performance and functionality as applied to the automation of complex material handling and resupply

For a fire control system with a GPS sensor, an inertial measurement unit, and a range laser, two different nonlinear implementations of the target tracking filter, namely the Sigma Eta filter and the square root filter, have been investigated. The filter estimates the position and velocity of a moving target relative to the reticle platform, based on which the reticle commands to engage the target are determined. The Sigma Eta filter is computationally efficient, while the square root filter is inherently robust. The square root filter is proposed to compensate for the numerical instability of the Sigma Eta filter. The performance of these filters is compared through a simulation example.

This paper investigates the application of intelligent control to the XTE spacecraft. Specifically, an intelligent controller, the neural network controller, is studied and designed for the XTE spacecraft. The advantages of intelligent controllers over conventional controllers are analyzed. The simulation results show that the designed intelligent controllers provide a great improvement of the attitude control accuracy under the torque disturbance and achieve an accuracy of 4 arc-sec while the accuracy of the baseline controller is 20 arc- sec and the accuracy requirement is 30 arc-sec (1).

For the system with unmodeled dynamics, a recursive robust identification algorithm is proposed in the frequency-domain. The algorithm outputs the estimates

Fast high-precision control is essential for flexible pointing systems, such as gun turret systems, which will be required to perform their mission in the presence of disturbances, parametric uncertainties and malfunctions. To control such complex systems requires advanced computer control systems and control methods due to numerous data processing and robustness requirements. A powerful control system integrating the state of the art in computer hardware and software, which is developed for a testbed of the flexible pointing system: gun turret system located at ARDEC, is presented in this paper. The hardware configuration, specifications and interfaces as well as the software environment are described in detail. The modeling, identification and robust control design of the testbed are investigated and discussed. The implementation procedure of advanced control algorithms is presented executing the real-time control of the gun turret testbed; and the experimental results are also presented and analysed.

Hematologists will play an important role in the management of radiation accident victims. In 2005, an EBMT (European group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation) International Consensus Meeting defined a unified basis for the medical management of radiation accident victims (Gorin NC et al, Ann Hematol.2006;85(10):671–9). The core of this consensus was the 2001 “METREPOL” (Medical Treatment Protocols for Radiation Accident) clinical grading of irradiated victims, based on data from 800 victims in 70 previous accidents. The “METREPOL approach” to triage concentrates on the medical examination of the patient in order to assess the “severity of effect” and the “indicators of repair” of the 4 most important organ systems: hematopoietic, neurovascular, gastrointestinal and skin. A report of the medical preparedness was recently published by the US Radiation Injury Treatment Network (RITN) (Weinstock et al, Blood2008; 111(12):5440–5; Fliedner et al, Blood2008; 111(12):5757–8) and supplemented by the EBMT. In addition, the US Department of Health and Human Services REMM (Radiation Event Medical Management; http://remm.nlm.gov) web-based system allows for the continual up-date of medical management and provides information for medical personnel. A workshop including experts from both sides of the Atlantic was organised to take forward a consensus on management of radiation victims, including appropriateness and indications for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). What is achievable following a radiation event will be dictated by the size and scope of the event. It is not expected that hematologists will be involved in the primary triage of victims. Instead, the primary aims for medical management by hematologists include: reducing short and long term morbidity using available supportive care and medical countermeasures, providing expertise to non-hematologists who may be called upon to manage victims with cytopenias, collecting clinical data and potentially biospecimens from radiation victims and 4) reassuring those who have not received significant doses of irradiation (i.e.”worried well”). Also, the clinical triage would determine whether an autologous recovery of hemopoiesis is possible or not. If the hemopoiesis is irreversibly damaged, then reconstitution of hemopoiesis through HSCT may be the only possibility. All other cases are likely to restore hemopoiesis on their own but may require bridging of the pancytopenic phases. The consensus for the use of cytokines was that: G-CSF is to be commenced in all patients with peripheral blood absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of 300cGy or >200cGy with combined injury, then G-CSF is to be commenced independent of ANC. As the supplies of G-CSF may be limited after a mass event, G-CSF should NOT be given to patients who do not meet these criteria. Evidence for the use of pegylated G-CSF does not favour its use if G-CSF is available. Erythropoiesis stimulating agents are not to be used routinely. Victims who require transfusions should receive irradiated, leukodepleted products, if possible. It is expected that only a small fraction of victims would be candidates for allogeneic HSCT. Indications, timing and guidance for considering an allogeneic HSCT will be presented. There was also discussion on the importance of harmonizing European and US medical education curriculum on medical response to catastrophic radiological incidents where it will be very important that medical specialists in many countries will need to work together in the response.

in The rotor Z/N per rev disturbance and the firing disturbance represent major periodic disturbances, whereas wind gusts represent major stochastic disturbances. Compensation for body motion and target motion are also considered as measured disturbances for pointing control. The particular tests reported here were conducted at the Ware Simulation Laboratory, Rock Island Arsenal. The single barrel weapon was mounted in a specially fabricated saddle and placed in the Universal Turret System (UTSI which was originally designed for a gatling gun. The UTS was mounted on the front-end of a helicopter. This frontend was mounted on a six-degree-of-freedom fixed simulator controlled by a hydraulic actuation system. The simulator was capable of creating body motion torques typical of various flight conditions. Objectives for the test were as follows: Demonstrate the lowest possible dispersion with Design and demonstrate linearizing controller, Establish guidelines for successful flight tests, and Evaluate requirements for adaptive control. multiple rounds

A new dynamic model which represents an exact linearization scheme with a simplified nonlinear feedback is presented in this paper. To realize this model for robotic systems, the output function should be chosen so that a special decomposition of the total inertial matrix is satisfied. The concept of an imaginary robot is introduced to achieve the formulation and to solve the realization problem. Two illustrative examples are given in the paper, one for the Stanford arm and the other for a PUMA type of robots.