A framework for modelling tactical decision-making in autonomous systems

Rick Evertsz, John Thangarajah, Nitin Yadav, Thanh Ly
2015 Journal of Systems and Software  
There is an increasing need for autonomous systems that exhibit effective decision-making in unpredictable environments. However, the design of autonomous decision-making systems presents considerable challenges, particularly when they have to achieve their goals within a dynamic context. Tactics designed to handle unexpected environmental change, or attack by an adversary, must balance the need for reactivity with that of remaining focused on the system's overall goal. The lack of a design
more » ... odology and supporting tools for representing tactics makes them difficult to understand, maintain and reuse. This is a significant problem in the design of tactical decision-making systems. We describe a methodology and accompanying tool, TDF (Tactics Development Framework), based on the BDI (Beliefs, Desires, Intentions) paradigm. TDF supports structural modelling of missions, goals, scenarios, input/output, messaging and procedures, and generates skeleton code that reflects the overall design. TDF has been evaluated through comparison with UML, indicating that it provides significant benefits to those building autonomous, tactical decision-making systems. programme has been running for nine years and is working towards the goal of routine flights of unmanned aircraft systems in all classes of airspace (Mills, 2011) . Different applications require, or are best met by, different levels of autonomy. For example, because of the high power requirements and poor levels of transmission (e.g. radio waves) in the underwater environment, UUVs cannot be remotely controlled unless they are close by. Thus the focus of UUV research and development has been on fully autonomous systems. In other domains, if human oversight is necessary, a semi-autonomous approach, where the system submits to the command authority of a human, is preferable. The objective of this research is to develop and evaluate a methodology that supports the demands of designing autonomous tactical decision-making systems. Our research is focused on supporting the design of autonomous systems that operate in dynamic domains requiring the application of sophisticated, tactical decision-making, such as that exhibited by human experts, e.g. submariners or fighter pilots. Effective performance in such domains requires capabilities such as the balancing of reactivity with proactivity. The autonomous system must not only be goal directed, but must also be able to switch focus when the environment changes in an important way, or when it discovers that one of the assumptions underlying its current tactical approach is invalid. It may also need to coordinate its activities with peers who are working towards the same goal. It has been argued that these capabilities, namely autonomy, reactivity, proactivity and http://dx.
doi:10.1016/j.jss.2015.08.046 fatcat:itzyd5mwhvavpovcba5kgmdf4q