Boeing flies multiple UAVs

Boeing has demonstrated the simultaneous command and control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) by a single operator. This was achieved using autonomous control software, three ScanEagle aircraft and an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) console.

According to Boeing, this next-generation capability will enhance interoperability with current and future command and control systems through an open, standards-based system and significantly reduce the workload of unmanned vehicle operators.

‘Lessening the workload allows a single operator to manage a group of UAVs as a cooperative, coordinated system,’ said Ed Froese, vice president, Boeing Advanced Anti-Submarine Warfare and Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems. ‘Mission operators are freed from micro-managing the routes and other activities. Instead, they describe their high-level goals and objectives to the system, and the advanced autonomous control software manages the UAVs to achieve a coordinated effect.’

During the exercises at Boeing's Boardman, Oregon, test facility, a single operator used the Boeing-developed Distributed Information-Centralized Decision (DI-CD) autonomous mission control software to manage three ScanEagles simultaneously. The operator also used Stalker target-tracking software to command one UAV to follow a moving vehicle without constant oversight and Open Mission Management (OMM) software to ensure NATO standard 4586 interoperability.