PATH - Pathways for modern UGVs into military practice

The central objective of the PATH project is to pave the way for highly automated UGVs to enter everyday military use in the medium term, focusing here on direct support of military units such as light infantry in difficult terrain and adverse environmental conditions. Support activities include logistics and reconnaissance. PATH primarily addresses capabilities in automated navigation (moving from A to B, navigating predetermined routes) and is fundamentally agnostic to the higher-level mission. For the military user, the focus is on the enhancement of military capabilities through modern technology in a dynamic environment, while for the business and scientific partners, the focus is clearly on the further development of technology in niche areas of vehicle automation in Austria. The PATH project is based on the following 4 pillars: (1) Use cases, integration and evaluation: A central objective of the participation of the customer BMLV is the development of additional use cases and possible uses of UGVs with highly automated capabilities as well as concepts for the integration of these systems into everyday military life. This results in requirements in the areas of UGV mobility, UGV navigation, environmental conditions and tactics. Test scenarios and corresponding objective evaluation criteria (KPI) and methods for determining them must be developed for a well-founded review of these concepts with regard to the available status of the platforms and their capabilities. The use cases, integration concepts and evaluation methods will be developed in workshops with military experts. For a few selected use cases (e.g. escort or logistics on mule trails in the mountains), dedicated field trials are then to be defined and practically conducted with troop units. (2) Extension mobility UGV: The aim in the project is to transmit a predictive view to the platform to enable timely adjustment of the steering, height compensation and driving profile. This is intended to increase speed, while energy optimization by minimizing unnecessary movements while reducing load peaks should also support sustainability in addition to increasing range and running time. Difficult terrain and tight driving situations will thus become surmountable in the first place. It is also to be investigated how a UGV can use sensors to protect itself against damage caused by suboptimal driving conditions. Last but not least, team cooperation should be supported in such a way that humans can understand and predict the movements of the UGV, which should be made possible by finely defined driving behavior and advance signaling.