This document discusses the UK's progress in developing autonomous resupply capabilities for the military. It outlines a coalition challenge with the US to accelerate autonomous technologies for last-mile logistics. The challenge will involve demonstrations of autonomous vehicles and systems to resupply frontline forces. It aims to expedite transition of technologies between partners and inform development of tactics and procedures. A competition is launching to develop prototype autonomous last-mile delivery systems through testing at a 2018 Army experiment. The goal is to harness advances in commercial logistics and demonstrate integrated autonomous resupply capabilities.
Introduction to innovation and network event hosted by the Centre for Defence Enterprise. This presentation outlines CDE's role and signposts the future direction of the project.
Introduction to innovation and network event hosted by the Centre for Defence Enterprise. This presentation outlines CDE's role and signposts the future direction of the project.
DASA Innovation Partner, Tony Collins, discusses International Outreach.
DASA Senior Exploitation Manager, Eleanor Rice, discusses exploitation of innovation.
DASA Access to Mentoring and Finance Lead, Alan Scrase, discusses how his support will add value
Role of dual-use programmes to accelerate innovation and competitivenessHeather-Fiona Egan
Presentation given by Dr Lucy Mason, Head of Defence and Security Accelerator
4 April 2017
Maritime Dual use maritime conference, Southampton University.
Launch of the Accelerator Enduring Challenge Competition
26 January 2017, Chelsea Harbour Hotel, London UK
Includes
- Introduction to the Defence and Security Accelerator
- What's the difference between CDE and the Accelerator
- How the Accelerator will stimulate small and medium size enterprise.
Defence and Security Accelerator
Part 2 - Finding, funding and exploiting innovations for the benefit of defence and security
Challenge and Opportunity
Jim Pennycook, Innovation Partner
DSEI 2017
ISCF Subsea Autonomous Systems: Next Generation Technologies - Competition Br...KTN
The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s Robotics and AI challenge, through Innovate UK, (as part of UK Research and Innovation), is collaborating with The Royal Navy, Oil & Gas Technology Centre, BP, and the Oil & Gas Authority. Together they will invest up to £6 million, from a cross government and industry joint fund, in collaborative business led projects.
Individuals can apply to join a 5-day collaborative workshop to develop proposals for autonomous subsea systems that can significantly improve mission duration, sensing and communications.
Participants are sought to develop collaborative projects in next generation autonomous subsea systems which improve levels of autonomy, sensor miniaturisation, mission planning, monitoring, communications, navigation, data management, and operations together with improved endurance in the water column up to 3000 metres deep.
The challenge is to develop Next Generation Subsea Autonomous System technologies which are modular in design with common interfaces and open architectures that make trusted unmanned operations the standard approach in areas such as off-shore energy, aquafarming, deep sea mineral exploration and maritime defensive security operations.
Find out more: https://ktn-uk.co.uk/news/webcast-subsea-autonomous-systems-next-generation-technologies-iscf-competition-briefing-event
DASA Innovation Partner, Tony Collins, discusses International Outreach.
DASA Senior Exploitation Manager, Eleanor Rice, discusses exploitation of innovation.
DASA Access to Mentoring and Finance Lead, Alan Scrase, discusses how his support will add value
Role of dual-use programmes to accelerate innovation and competitivenessHeather-Fiona Egan
Presentation given by Dr Lucy Mason, Head of Defence and Security Accelerator
4 April 2017
Maritime Dual use maritime conference, Southampton University.
Launch of the Accelerator Enduring Challenge Competition
26 January 2017, Chelsea Harbour Hotel, London UK
Includes
- Introduction to the Defence and Security Accelerator
- What's the difference between CDE and the Accelerator
- How the Accelerator will stimulate small and medium size enterprise.
Defence and Security Accelerator
Part 2 - Finding, funding and exploiting innovations for the benefit of defence and security
Challenge and Opportunity
Jim Pennycook, Innovation Partner
DSEI 2017
ISCF Subsea Autonomous Systems: Next Generation Technologies - Competition Br...KTN
The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s Robotics and AI challenge, through Innovate UK, (as part of UK Research and Innovation), is collaborating with The Royal Navy, Oil & Gas Technology Centre, BP, and the Oil & Gas Authority. Together they will invest up to £6 million, from a cross government and industry joint fund, in collaborative business led projects.
Individuals can apply to join a 5-day collaborative workshop to develop proposals for autonomous subsea systems that can significantly improve mission duration, sensing and communications.
Participants are sought to develop collaborative projects in next generation autonomous subsea systems which improve levels of autonomy, sensor miniaturisation, mission planning, monitoring, communications, navigation, data management, and operations together with improved endurance in the water column up to 3000 metres deep.
The challenge is to develop Next Generation Subsea Autonomous System technologies which are modular in design with common interfaces and open architectures that make trusted unmanned operations the standard approach in areas such as off-shore energy, aquafarming, deep sea mineral exploration and maritime defensive security operations.
Find out more: https://ktn-uk.co.uk/news/webcast-subsea-autonomous-systems-next-generation-technologies-iscf-competition-briefing-event
In the highly competitive maintenance, repair, and maintenance (MRO) industry, leaders stand out due to their ability to achieve faster turnaround times (tat), customer satisfaction, service level compliance, on-time delivery, and handling of complex business agreements. Conversely, MROs face numerous challenges such as labor-intensive manual scheduling, imprecise task estimations, insufficient resource visibility, inventory leakage, and fragmented legacy systems. There is an immediate need for a one-stop MRO solution that can handle complex contracts, facilitate paperless operations, and be easily accessed. It's predicted that the digital maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) sector will grow thrice. and the market for air platforms defence maintenance, repair, and upgrade is expanding.https://aviationanddefensemarketreports.com/product/global-defense-mro-air-platforms-market/
An Update on the Royal Australian Air Force's Plan Jericho: March 2016ICSA, LLC
During the Airpower Conference hosted by the Chief of Staff of the Royal Australian Air Force, the co-leaders of the Plan Jericho project, Group Captains Andrew “Jake” Campbell and Peter Mitchell, provided an update on the Plan Jericho effort. And the approach permeated the discussion at the Williams Foundation seminar on new approaches to air-land integration, notably because there has been a significant effort to better align the airlift and support sector with the evolving approach of the Army and its approach to ground maneuver warfare.
But what highlighted in many ways the approach and the way ahead was seen on Friday after the Airpower Conference and the Williams Seminar, namely in a Jericho Dawn exercise which focused on ways to provide better situational awareness for the ground maneuver force.
Airport Cargo Rack and Roller Deck Market Competitive Research And Precise Ou...subishsam
The research firm Contrive Datum Insights has just recently added to its database a report with the heading global Airport Cargo Rack and Roller Deck Market .Both primary and secondary research methodologies have been utilised in order to conduct an analysis of the worldwide Airport Cargo Rack and Roller Deck Market . In order to provide a comprehensive comprehension of the topic at hand, it has been summed up using appropriate and accurate market insights. According to Contrive Datum Insights, this worldwide comprehensive report is broken up into several categories in order to present the data in a way that is understandable, succinct, and presented in a professional manner.
DASA: FASS 2: How to submit an excellent accelerator proposal Heather-Fiona Egan
Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA)
Future Aviation Security Solutions - competition 2 (FASS 2)
Finding explosives hidden in electrical items
Innovation Network Event
How to create a great proposal presentation
London, 28 November 2017
DASA: FASS 2 Innovation Network Event: How the competition will work Heather-Fiona Egan
Defence and Security Accelerator
Future Aviation Security Solutions - competition 2
Finding explosives hidden in electrical items themed competition
How the competition will work
London, 28 November 2017
Defence and Security Accelerator
Finding, funding and exploiting innovative ideas to meet UK defence and security challenges
Lucy Mason, Head of Defence and Security Accelerator
DSEI 2017
Accelerator Enduring Competition Challenge - Session 2
Security and defence perspectives of what the Enduring Challenge will bring to the front line.
Includes views from -
* UK security engagement expert
* Navy military adviser
* Maritime technology expert
* Army military adviser
* Land technology expert
* RAF military adviser
* air technology expert
Hybrid optimization of pumped hydro system and solar- Engr. Abdul-Azeez.pdffxintegritypublishin
Advancements in technology unveil a myriad of electrical and electronic breakthroughs geared towards efficiently harnessing limited resources to meet human energy demands. The optimization of hybrid solar PV panels and pumped hydro energy supply systems plays a pivotal role in utilizing natural resources effectively. This initiative not only benefits humanity but also fosters environmental sustainability. The study investigated the design optimization of these hybrid systems, focusing on understanding solar radiation patterns, identifying geographical influences on solar radiation, formulating a mathematical model for system optimization, and determining the optimal configuration of PV panels and pumped hydro storage. Through a comparative analysis approach and eight weeks of data collection, the study addressed key research questions related to solar radiation patterns and optimal system design. The findings highlighted regions with heightened solar radiation levels, showcasing substantial potential for power generation and emphasizing the system's efficiency. Optimizing system design significantly boosted power generation, promoted renewable energy utilization, and enhanced energy storage capacity. The study underscored the benefits of optimizing hybrid solar PV panels and pumped hydro energy supply systems for sustainable energy usage. Optimizing the design of solar PV panels and pumped hydro energy supply systems as examined across diverse climatic conditions in a developing country, not only enhances power generation but also improves the integration of renewable energy sources and boosts energy storage capacities, particularly beneficial for less economically prosperous regions. Additionally, the study provides valuable insights for advancing energy research in economically viable areas. Recommendations included conducting site-specific assessments, utilizing advanced modeling tools, implementing regular maintenance protocols, and enhancing communication among system components.
Automobile Management System Project Report.pdfKamal Acharya
The proposed project is developed to manage the automobile in the automobile dealer company. The main module in this project is login, automobile management, customer management, sales, complaints and reports. The first module is the login. The automobile showroom owner should login to the project for usage. The username and password are verified and if it is correct, next form opens. If the username and password are not correct, it shows the error message.
When a customer search for a automobile, if the automobile is available, they will be taken to a page that shows the details of the automobile including automobile name, automobile ID, quantity, price etc. “Automobile Management System” is useful for maintaining automobiles, customers effectively and hence helps for establishing good relation between customer and automobile organization. It contains various customized modules for effectively maintaining automobiles and stock information accurately and safely.
When the automobile is sold to the customer, stock will be reduced automatically. When a new purchase is made, stock will be increased automatically. While selecting automobiles for sale, the proposed software will automatically check for total number of available stock of that particular item, if the total stock of that particular item is less than 5, software will notify the user to purchase the particular item.
Also when the user tries to sale items which are not in stock, the system will prompt the user that the stock is not enough. Customers of this system can search for a automobile; can purchase a automobile easily by selecting fast. On the other hand the stock of automobiles can be maintained perfectly by the automobile shop manager overcoming the drawbacks of existing system.
Cosmetic shop management system project report.pdfKamal Acharya
Buying new cosmetic products is difficult. It can even be scary for those who have sensitive skin and are prone to skin trouble. The information needed to alleviate this problem is on the back of each product, but it's thought to interpret those ingredient lists unless you have a background in chemistry.
Instead of buying and hoping for the best, we can use data science to help us predict which products may be good fits for us. It includes various function programs to do the above mentioned tasks.
Data file handling has been effectively used in the program.
The automated cosmetic shop management system should deal with the automation of general workflow and administration process of the shop. The main processes of the system focus on customer's request where the system is able to search the most appropriate products and deliver it to the customers. It should help the employees to quickly identify the list of cosmetic product that have reached the minimum quantity and also keep a track of expired date for each cosmetic product. It should help the employees to find the rack number in which the product is placed.It is also Faster and more efficient way.
Final project report on grocery store management system..pdfKamal Acharya
In today’s fast-changing business environment, it’s extremely important to be able to respond to client needs in the most effective and timely manner. If your customers wish to see your business online and have instant access to your products or services.
Online Grocery Store is an e-commerce website, which retails various grocery products. This project allows viewing various products available enables registered users to purchase desired products instantly using Paytm, UPI payment processor (Instant Pay) and also can place order by using Cash on Delivery (Pay Later) option. This project provides an easy access to Administrators and Managers to view orders placed using Pay Later and Instant Pay options.
In order to develop an e-commerce website, a number of Technologies must be studied and understood. These include multi-tiered architecture, server and client-side scripting techniques, implementation technologies, programming language (such as PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and MySQL relational databases. This is a project with the objective to develop a basic website where a consumer is provided with a shopping cart website and also to know about the technologies used to develop such a website.
This document will discuss each of the underlying technologies to create and implement an e- commerce website.
Industrial Training at Shahjalal Fertilizer Company Limited (SFCL)MdTanvirMahtab2
This presentation is about the working procedure of Shahjalal Fertilizer Company Limited (SFCL). A Govt. owned Company of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation under Ministry of Industries.
Water scarcity is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two type of water scarcity. One is physical. The other is economic water scarcity.
Event Management System Vb Net Project Report.pdfKamal Acharya
In present era, the scopes of information technology growing with a very fast .We do not see any are untouched from this industry. The scope of information technology has become wider includes: Business and industry. Household Business, Communication, Education, Entertainment, Science, Medicine, Engineering, Distance Learning, Weather Forecasting. Carrier Searching and so on.
My project named “Event Management System” is software that store and maintained all events coordinated in college. It also helpful to print related reports. My project will help to record the events coordinated by faculties with their Name, Event subject, date & details in an efficient & effective ways.
In my system we have to make a system by which a user can record all events coordinated by a particular faculty. In our proposed system some more featured are added which differs it from the existing system such as security.
Welcome to WIPAC Monthly the magazine brought to you by the LinkedIn Group Water Industry Process Automation & Control.
In this month's edition, along with this month's industry news to celebrate the 13 years since the group was created we have articles including
A case study of the used of Advanced Process Control at the Wastewater Treatment works at Lleida in Spain
A look back on an article on smart wastewater networks in order to see how the industry has measured up in the interim around the adoption of Digital Transformation in the Water Industry.
Quality defects in TMT Bars, Possible causes and Potential Solutions.PrashantGoswami42
Maintaining high-quality standards in the production of TMT bars is crucial for ensuring structural integrity in construction. Addressing common defects through careful monitoring, standardized processes, and advanced technology can significantly improve the quality of TMT bars. Continuous training and adherence to quality control measures will also play a pivotal role in minimizing these defects.
Democratizing Fuzzing at Scale by Abhishek Aryaabh.arya
Presented at NUS: Fuzzing and Software Security Summer School 2024
This keynote talks about the democratization of fuzzing at scale, highlighting the collaboration between open source communities, academia, and industry to advance the field of fuzzing. It delves into the history of fuzzing, the development of scalable fuzzing platforms, and the empowerment of community-driven research. The talk will further discuss recent advancements leveraging AI/ML and offer insights into the future evolution of the fuzzing landscape.
5. The importance to the Army?
The UK government considers it important
Defence thinks its important
Our Allies think its important
Industry thinks its important
Our current adversaries think it is important
Our potential adversaries think it is important……..
And most argue that it will change society and the
world
The key is comparative advantage
6. The shifting dynamic
• We need a more robust dialogue with industry
• We need to present industry with opportunities to
come forward with novel technology
• We must tell industry what we need and be clear
about our priorities, then commit
• We must integrate ideas together and not be
constrained by process – we must breakdown
barriers and unlock innovation (AUSA Oct 16)
The Hon Mr Eric Fanning,
22nd Secretary of the US Army:
7. Progress:
21 Nov 16 - Land Capability Industry Day.
19 Jan 17 - Terms of Reference endorsed.
Feb 17 - DSEI Land Environment Capability
Conference (11 Sep 17) agreed. Theme: The future
of Robotics and Autonomous Systems in the Land
Environment:
12 May 17 – Executive Committee of the Army Board
(ECAB) endorses Army Warfighting Experiment (AWE)
18 be focused as major RAS event.
Objectives:
● Review military, government and wider
industrial RAS research and development to
inform and baseline an Army capability
development agenda.
● Establish the requirement for underpinning
RAS frameworks and architectures forming the
basis of future coherent capability
development.
● Create a Land Environment RAS development
roadmap detailing.
● Determine and shape RAS legal and ethical
freedoms and constraints for the LE within a
wider Defence and Government context.
● Run a RAS Experiment in 2018.
● Determine ROM capability costs and potential
insertion Decision Points within the Capability
Investment Plan.
● Develop a coherent LE RAS strategic narrative
for internal / external communication.
Aim: The RAS Spotlight aims to identify how the
Army can exploit developments in RAS
technology through focused analysis, capability
integration and experimentation to deliver
affordable operational capability in the short-
medium term (5-15 years).
The Capability Spotlight
8. The way forward
Capstone Experimentation
Army Warfighting Experiment (AWE) (Autumn 18)
ECAB
Endorsement
(12 May 17)
Industry Engagement(s)
(Jun – Aug 17)
User
Workshops
DSEI Strategic
Conference
(11 Sep 17)
Requirements
Development
2016
2018
2019+
Exploitation
2017
RAS Capability
Spotlight
(Autumn 16)
Generation of Evidence
(Spring 18)
12. OFFICIAL
LAUNCHED - assured autonomous resupply
Innovation Autonomy Challenge
LAUNCHED - autonomous hazardous scene
assessment
Three core themes were agreed to address
International, cross-Whitehall and technology
opportunity perspectives:
DEFINED - intelligent autonomous counter-UAS
16. OFFICIAL
Aims to collaboratively accelerate, demonstrate and evaluate effective use of
autonomous systems for coalition land tactical logistics applications
• sequential demonstrations of the ‘state of the
art’ technologies for tactical logistic operations
‘from the deployed base to front line forces’
• user evaluation and assessment of concepts
and technologies for the development of
coalition and national tactics, training and
procedures (TTPs)
• expedite transition of autonomous systems
technologies from developers, labs and R&D
centres and between coalition partners
US/UK Coalition Assured Autonomous
Resupply (CAAR) Challenge
Image copyright of TARDEC / US DOD
(C) Tardec & DOD
17. OFFICIAL
US/UK Coalition Assured Autonomous
Resupply (CAAR) Challenge
US Convoy and Autonomous Last
Mile (ALM) projects
(TARDEC & ARDEC)
UK Autonomous Last Mile
Resupply (ALMRS) project
2017 2018 2019
CAAR2 Experiment
Enhanced convoy
capability &
multiple UAS/UGVs
CAAR Capstone
Experiment (Planned)
Integrated tactical
resupply capability
October
2018
October
2017
UK
AWE18
CAAR1 Initial
Experiment
8 vehicle
coalition convoy
October
2019
19. OFFICIAL
The competition is on!
• funding ~ £3M over 2 years
• open networking launch event 23 May 2017
• competition closes 21 June 2017 12 noon
• 6 month Phase 1 contracts placed mid-August 2017
• 12 month Phase 2 from April 2018
• substantive user demonstration and assessment in realistic
operational environments through Army Warfighting
Experimentation - AWE18
• ‘Phase 3’ – pull-through planning in on-going dialogue with
Army HQ capability staffs
20. OFFICIAL
Phased capability development timeline
Phase 1 Phase 2 Potential Phase 3
Challenge 1
Unmanned delivery
platforms
Challenge 2
Vehicle autonomy systems
and technologies
Challenge 3
Logistics management
systems and technologies
Integrated Autonomous Last Mile
Delivery Systems
Down-selected Phase 3 System
Demonstrator
Key Outputs
• Collaboration events -presenting
aims, capabilities and challenges
• Demonstration and assessment
• Phase 2 proposal
Key Outputs
• System integration and test
• Rigorous testing and evaluation
• Demonstration (inc VIP)
• (Potential) US DoD collaboration
Key Outputs
• System refinement
• Test and evaluation in hands of user
community
• International Collaboration
• Tests and evaluation in further
environments
Develop, build, demonstrate and
evaluate prototype Systems
Technology de-risk and
collaboration to create system
proposition
Fielded system prototype
opportunities for forward spiral
development?
2017 2018 2019
AWE18
CAAR
Capstone
(Planned)
CAAR 2CAAR 1
Demonstrated Systems
Capability Prototype
(min TRL6)
March
2018
April
2019
Editor's Notes
Good morning everybody. You’ve just heard from Lt Col Peter Hale about the British Army’s emerging direction on robotic and autonomous systems; their growing importance to the Army and the focus areas for forward direction. This includes planning to conduct substantive demonstration and experimentation to understand and realise the potential opportunities, with a view to de-risking their early adoption.
I’m Peter Stockel, from MOD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. I am the overall lead in the Lab for the Innovation Autonomy Challenge project delivered through our new Autonomy science and technology (S&T) programme, a part of the MOD’s S&T portfolio.
The Innovation Autonomy challenge was deliberately started in early 2016 as part of the SDSR Innovation Initiative by MOD’s then Chief Scientific Advisor Prof Vernon Gibson. Largely resourced through MOD S&T funding, this was to specifically take on technology opportunities in the RAS sector, through promoting wider reach out and collaboration; to move with pace to engage innovative thinking and developers with real and ‘meaty’ Defence and security challenges.
In so doing, we would act as a pilot for the Defence and Security Accelerator and try to tackle some of issues identified for the Accelerator to try to change to the way we have been doing business.
This started in February last year with dialogue with colleagues across Government and with our significant Allies and partners in the US, who were also pursuing their innovation agenda informed by their ‘3rd Offset strategy’. For both nations, Robotic and Autonomous technologies featured highly in the thinking.
From these discussions, three promising themes were agreed for the challenge which would address different parts of the operational space, varied drivers and constraints and offer meaningful practical foci for the collaboration partners and technology developers, in addition to exposing lessons from the non-traditional cultures and ways of working. These were:
Exploring the potential to reduce the human and equipment burden and enhancing operational flexibility for military logistics – cogniscent of the huge investment and growth in the commercial logistics sector;
Exploring the potential to reduce the risk and human burden in addressing security and military operations from hazardous material use and incidents – jointly funded through MOD and the Home Office;
Both of which are now well underway,
And finally, but yet to begin in anger, the potential role for using ‘friendly’ autonomy to tackle the increasingly widespread and advancing threat from the use of autonomous technology as drones for nefarious purposes against us, at home and abroad.
The Innovation Autonomy challenge was deliberately started in early 2016 as part of the SDSR Innovation Initiative by MOD’s then Chief Scientific Advisor Prof Vernon Gibson. Largely resourced through MOD S&T funding, this was to specifically take on technology opportunities in the RAS sector, through promoting wider reach out and collaboration; to move with pace to engage innovative thinking and developers with real and ‘meaty’ Defence and security challenges.
In so doing, we would act as a pilot for the Defence and Security Accelerator and try to tackle some of issues identified for the Accelerator to try to change to the way we have been doing business.
This started in February last year with dialogue with colleagues across Government and with our significant Allies and partners in the US, who were also pursuing their innovation agenda informed by their ‘3rd Offset strategy’. For both nations, Robotic and Autonomous technologies featured highly in the thinking.
From these discussions, three promising themes were agreed for the challenge which would address different parts of the operational space, varied drivers and constraints and offer meaningful practical foci for the collaboration partners and technology developers, in addition to exposing lessons from the non-traditional cultures and ways of working. These were:
Exploring the potential to reduce the human and equipment burden and enhancing operational flexibility for military logistics – cogniscent of the huge investment and growth in the commercial logistics sector;
Exploring the potential to reduce the risk and human burden in addressing security and military operations from hazardous material use and incidents – jointly funded through MOD and the Home Office;
Both of which are now well underway,
And finally, but yet to begin in anger, the potential role for using ‘friendly’ autonomy to tackle the increasingly widespread and advancing threat from the use of autonomous technology as drones for nefarious purposes against us, at home and abroad.
Both the two themes we have underway have been already heralded with public statements.
I don’t intend saying any more today about what we doing on ‘Autonomous Hazardous Scene Assessment’, being conducted jointly with the Home Office, having been launched as a competition through the Centre for Defence Enterprise on it’s way to becoming the Accelerator last Autumn; other than it is making excellent progress and is already more than halfway through phase 1. Details are online, and anybody who isn’t involved, but feels they may have something exciting to offer as we move to phase 2, should feel free to discuss with me or the team during breaks today or offline. I welcome you folks taking the opportunity to enquire from our 17 developers (and their supporting suppliers) how they think this is working so far for them – we’ve had some positive feedback and good learning points which we’re incorporating into this later competition.
Turning to the topic of the day though, it was at the Farnborough Airshow last year when the then MinDP, Philip Dunne and the US Under Secretary for Defense Frank Kendall unveiled our intent to collaborate with the US DoD in the field of autonomous tactical logistics. This is the overarching framework within which the competition we are discussing today sits and I’ll spend a little more time explaining now the interactions and outcomes we seek.
Firstly, what’s the UK start point in this space? As we discussed the potential opportunities and challenges across MOD last year, it was clear that there is real appetite to understand the benefits (and the constraints) that the advances in the commercial sector in robotic and autonomous systems for logistics might offer us, both within the Frontline Commands and the Joint Defence logistics authority (Gen Angus Fay).
We have focused for this project into the deployed operations space – this cartoon captured a simple way of exposing and identifying the areas of interest. Whilst in the real world obviously the physical movement of real materiel requires something to ‘lift and shift’ what’s going to be used at the front line (be it fuel, equipment, food, water and ammunition – just to name the most immediately obvious), - i.e. a platform vehicle; we fundamentally recognised that the real overall transformation we sought could only probably come from augmenting and relieving the human endeavour involved in the management of supply and demand that governs the physical movement of ‘stuff’ from a to b. So, this is equally important to us (and you’ll see this reflected in the challenge components of the Autonomous Last Mile Resupply competition).
Now with only a few million pounds of science and technology budget, we couldn’t afford to try and solve all of the complexity of modern Defence logistics (better people than me certainly have tried with far more resources at their disposal), but, we thought we might be able to have a good go at something tangible and help the military user get to grips with the ‘state of the art’ for a focused, but challenging, operational task. Simultaneously, our US colleagues have been wrestling with this in a far bigger way and evidenced real interest in undertaking something useful in partnership in the tactical logistics area.
Firstly, what’s the UK start point in this space? As we discussed the potential opportunities and challenges across MOD last year, it was clear that there is real appetite to understand the benefits (and the constraints) that the advances in the commercial sector in robotic and autonomous systems for logistics might offer us, both within the Frontline Commands and the Joint Defence logistics authority (Gen Angus Fay).
We have focused for this project into the deployed operations space – this cartoon captured a simple way of exposing and identifying the areas of interest. Whilst in the real world obviously the physical movement of real materiel requires something to ‘lift and shift’ what’s going to be used at the front line (be it fuel, equipment, food, water and ammunition – just to name the most immediately obvious), - i.e. a platform vehicle; we fundamentally recognised that the real overall transformation we sought could only probably come from augmenting and relieving the human endeavour involved in the management of supply and demand that governs the physical movement of ‘stuff’ from a to b. So, this is equally important to us (and you’ll see this reflected in the challenge components of the Autonomous Last Mile Resupply competition).
Now with only a few million pounds of science and technology budget, we couldn’t afford to try and solve all of the complexity of modern Defence logistics (better people than me certainly have tried with far more resources at their disposal), but, we thought we might be able to have a good go at something tangible and help the military user get to grips with the ‘state of the art’ for a focused, but challenging, operational task. Simultaneously, our US colleagues have been wrestling with this in a far bigger way and evidenced real interest in undertaking something useful in partnership in the tactical logistics area.
Accordingly, we have agreed with the DOD a multi-year collaborative endeavour for Autonomy in Land tactical logistics, as set out at the Farnborough Airshow and the first phase is well underway.
The aim is really to do these three things:
Understand the potential and limitations of ‘the state of the art’ through rolling and regular practical demonstration and experimentation with the user in operationally representative environments;
as a result, help the frontline user understand and evolve and concepts of operation and tactics to reap the potential benefit (or manage their expectations) about the likely art of the possible – for the UK this is a fundamental and highly important output;
and, for those systems and technologies that prove to have utility, help expedite more rapid pull-through.
This is an experiment in itself of course. Why’s it different to other S&T-led challenges – because we have worked strong partnership and engagement directly with the relevant military user community to ensure this isn’t an isolated ‘science project’ – as you’ll hear shortly.
The rolling experiment is built around initially around a semi-autonomous logistic truck convoy for ‘trunk haul’ demonstration, to which we will add ‘Last mile’ delivery capability from both nations progressively, with the aim being to rapidly add increasing practical levels of autonomy, working towards a capstone event in which will attempt to demonstrate an integrated tactical end-end capability. It is expected that the outcomes from the ALMRS competition will contribute to that capstone event in due course.
Alongside this, in the UK, we are also putting in place suitable analysis and assessment activity to build appropriate levels of evidence which might support early phase acquisition decision-making.
We have established an excellent collaborative partnership with our colleagues in the US DOD – notably TARDEC and ARDEC, who are continuing to undertake the research and development that they have been pursuing for sometime in this area. We are also working on dialogue with the USMC who are also very active in this space. Indeed, it’s not the first time in the UK MOD that we have conducted R&D in this area either, some of you in the audience will have been involved in this – that’s why you’re here, I think !
So, this is an opportunity to re-baseline our understanding, build on previous and current investments (such as previous research and competitions), but also much more to reach out beyond the normal defence and security boundaries to learn, and benefit from, the strides being made in the commercial logistics (and other) sectors, whilst pushing on an open door with our military colleagues, who are hungry for new opportunities to affordably deliver operational benefit and rebalance to reduce the human burden in the force structure.
We have been able to undertake the first steps with reasonable pace since last July – the current UK contribution to the initial coalition semi-autonomous convoy trial includes two British Army SV HX60s, which were released by the Army last October and are now in a Lockheed-Martin facility in Forth Worth being fitted with the AMAS (spell out) leader-follower system to allow us to conduct a first coalition convoy demonstration trial this October in the US. Alongside this will be other US UGV and UAS elements from the US Air/Ground ‘Last Mile’ projects.
Alongside this we have launched the UK Last Mile competition we are here to discuss today.
Some of you may be wondering about IPR implications – I’ll come to this in a bit.
You have, of course, all read the competition documents, so I’ll just pull out a few a key points as my colleague Mark Emerton will shortly go through the salient details
We don’t envisage that the human will be redundant – but we do envisage that we can offer the Chief of the General Staff (Head of the British Army) opportunities to balance and maximise the human endeavour in the Army against operational outcome through potentially improving ‘combat mass’, whilst also providing operational flexibility and reducing risk to personnel.
We’ve thought around some useful operational vignettes that we would look towards as ‘use cases’ for testing the utility, viability and practicality of prototype system capabilities – the ‘two Marks’ will talk to different aspects of these shortly.
So, we’re here. This slide outlines the programmatic basics of the competition as in the competition document.
Becky Varney will reinforce the point about the submission timeline – it’s very important that you hit this – please don’t leave it to the last minute to go online with your submission – set your alarm clock for the day before!
You’ve heard about the important role of AWE18 from Col Peter.
Although it’s not part of this 2-phase competition, we’re already looking forward on the basis that we get some really great proposals from you that we take forward and we have a real, genuine appetite (planning for success) to de-risk and plan for pull-through with Army and MOD Acquisition colleagues. It’s one of the key (and identified and well-worn) challenges that the innovation initiative is seeking to take head-on with you – there will be challenges for all of us in this.
This sets out what we laid out for the components of the competition and how we see it fitting together as we go forward. Mark Emerton will talk in more detail about the component parts and drivers we’ve set out in the competition document.
The key point I really want you to focus on is the (ambitious) outcome we’re shooting for at the end of phase 2 – a system capability prototype that we’ve done some demo and trials on in operationally representative environments – if we can get to this, it will open the door to the next step (if it works!) – potentially some low number early fieldable capability demonstrators we can really work up in the hands of the user community to provide capability evaluation and opportunity for further spiral development and de-risk potential acquisition – this is the in-depth discussion we are having with the Army’s capability planning staff and how it locks with the Army’s innovation strategy and RAS capability spotlight. Additionally how it fits as part of the overall UK-US collaboration and how we see things coming together. Early days, but so far we’re making encouraging progress with good support within MOD, but for the Last Mile element, this is where the rubber really ‘hits the road’ (or the ‘drones take to the air’!) and you become part of the endeavour.
