K-MAX to demonstrate new mission-specific interface

A planned trial will see a new advanced task-based mission management and control system, known as VERTI, integrated with the K-MAX aircraft under a Phase III SBIR demonstration.

The system has been developed by Neya Systems as an extension of its Mission Planning and Management System (MPMS) - a system tailored towards providing heterogeneous platform behaviour orchestration, while allowing for combined off-line and tactical mission management.

VERTI will focus more specifically on the areas of casualty evacuation and cargo resupply missions. It allows for pre-mission planning using an interface that is familiar to mission planners who are already familiar with Air Tasking Orders and existing planning tactics, techniques, and procedures. The pre-mission planning phase is intended to allow an in-field medic or other soldier to rapidly call up a desired mission (e.g. Cargo Resupply), and populate mission parameters such as drop-off location, landing zone conditions, and any flight restrictions.

VERTI moves away from traditional ‘functional’ user interfaces, which focus on direct control of specific payloads, platforms, and sensors. Instead, it presents a context-aware, mission-specific interface that walks the user through the steps required for a particular mission, while allowing him to make changes to critical parameters as the tactical situation changes in real time.

Parag Batavia, president, Neya Systems, said: ‘We are very happy to be partnered with Lockheed on this effort, and feel that the K-MAX, with its successful history of providing autonomous cargo delivery support in Afghanistan, is the ideal demonstrator platform for our new C2 capability.’

The hope is that the optionally-piloted K-MAX, with an open architecture on-board autonomy suite, will provide a framework for integrating, maturing and proving next-generation control systems and technologies such as VERTI to rapidly deploy capability in a cost-efficient manner.