Autonomy Requirements Engineering for Unmanned Aircraft Systems During Concept Development Phase

Abstract of Autonomy Requirements Engineering for Unmanned Aircraft Systems During Concept Development Phase Designing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) for the optimal degree of autonomy that meets user requirements can be quite challenging. Researchers have focused on improving autonomy in UASs in conjunction with developing verification methods for autonomous UASs to ensure safe and reliable autonomous behavior, but little research has been conducted on requirements engineering for UASs to answer design questions and explore the trade space for using autonomy to satisfy user requirements. This dissertation introduces a method to determine an optimal set of autonomous capabilities that satisfies UAS user requirements in the early stages of concept development. The method uses a modified Autonomy Requirements Engineering (ARE) process that applies quantitative measures and statistical analysis to Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering (GORE). This method is demonstrated in a case study of a disaster robot UAS for which the autonomous requirements were optimized using a goal model developed in the Goal-oriented Requirement Language (GRL), as implemented in the modeling tool jUCMNav. The disaster robot UAS high-level goals of system performance, cost, and safety were evaluated using the formula-based GRL evaluation algorithm resident in jUCMNav Version 6.0. An autonomy trade space study was conducted through a Design and Analysis of Simulation Experiments (DASE). The designed simulation experiment inserted the number of trials (evaluation strategies) and inputs into the goal model, and evaluation data were analyzed to optimize design factors based on user weightings of the response variables. This dissertation presents results and conclusions of ARE for UASs, demonstrating how to optimize autonomous capabilities for different design conditions.

Author

• Neace, Kerry Schuster

Language

• English

Keyword

• Design of Experiments
• Simulation
• Unmanned Aircraft Systems
• Model-Based System Engineering
• Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering
• Autonomy

Date created

• 2017

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

Degree

• Ph.D.

Advisor

• Fomin, Pavel
• Roncace, Robert

Committee Member(s)

• Olson, Bill
• Etemadi, Amir
• Sarkani, Shahram
• Mazzuchi, Thomas

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/9880vr74b