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OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET)Dr. Timothy H. Chung, Program Manager

Tactical Technology Office

Briefing Prepared for OFFSET Proposers Day

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Why are Swarms Hard: Complexity of Swarms

10

100

1000

Agent Complexity

Simple platform with one mission

system

Highly capable platform with multiple mission

systems, able to make complex decisions in

unstructured environments

Leader-follower formations

Fluid, distributed maneuvers

Static comms Dynamic, resilient networking

Scripted, rule-based behaviors

Adaptive collaboration, flexible coordination

Identical platforms and payloads in a

single domain

Heterogeneous platforms and payloads

in multiple domains

Simple, fixed functions or remotely operated

Freestyle intuitive human-swarm interactions

Collective Complexity

Number

Human-Swarm InteractionHeterogeneity

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OFFSET Program Vision, Goal, and Objective

OFFSET seeks to inspire the generation of innovative swarm tactics that disruptively create new opportunities for future swarm system capabilities to assert and maintain superiority of the urban operating environment.

OFFSET aims to design, develop, and demonstrate a swarm system architecture – encoded in a realistic game-based environment and

embodied in physical swarm autonomous platforms – to advance the innovation, interaction, and integration of novel swarm tactics.

OFFSET seeks to create highly capable, heterogeneous swarm systems with upwards of 250 collaborating autonomous swarm elements, across

multiple spatial and temporal scales of tactical interest, e.g., conducting urban operations in built-up areas up to eight city blocks in size over mission

durations of up to six hours.

Vision

Goal

Objective

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• Embrace Complexity of Swarms

• Discover Disruptive Swarm Capabilities

• Overcome Challenges of Urban Operations

OFFSET Motivations

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• Urban environments are complex, dynamic, and unpredictable

• Channelized• Vertical• Occluded

• Urban operations doctrine dictates:

Challenges of Urban Combat Operations

Source: U.S. Army RDECOM-TARDEC

Small Unit Needs Potential Swarm ImpactsImproved force protection Expanded standoff distance

More fire power More assets and weaponsImproved precision effects Multi-resolution sensing/targeting, BDA

Expanded ISR Distributed, dispersed sensors

UAS – unmanned aerial systemISR – intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance BDA – battle damage assessment

Centralized planning Decentralized execution Artist’s Concept

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Tactics provide an ideal level of abstraction for capturing commander’s intent

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Swarm Tactics Informing Swarm Technologies

SwarmMission

“Game”

SwarmTactics

“Plays”

SwarmPrimitives

“Behaviors”

SwarmAlgorithms

“Skills”Technology Push

gap

Current Approach

Warfighting Needs

Bottom-up technology development leads to gap between technologies and warfighting needs

SwarmMission

“Game”

SwarmTactics

“Plays”

SwarmPrimitives

“Behaviors”

SwarmAlgorithms

“Skills”

Technology Push

OFFSET Focus

Warfighting Needs

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Representative OFFSET Swarm Operational Thread

Mission: Seize a block or group of buildings

SLAM – simultaneous localization and mappingRF – radio frequency

Tactics:Maneuver down

streets

Assault and clear building

Maintain flank security

Suppress enemy fires

Misdirect enemy with decoys

Algorithms:

Indoor SLAM

Map merging Coverage RF source

localizationChemical detection

Primitives:

Build map of building

Find ingress points

Maintain comms

Defend perimeter

Locate occupants

Build map of building

Assault and clear building

Artist’s Concept

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Towards Autonomous Swarm Capabilities

OFFSETAbility to interact with, influence, and infer swarm system behaviors

Large-scale distributed and dispersed sensing, fusion, and distillation of information

Adaptive, resilient, fragmented sharing and

storage of distributed information

Deployment, support, and maintenance of

large-scale hardware and software systems

Adaptive, complex, collective behaviors for intelligent

movement, decisions, and interactions with the

environment

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Core Elements of the OFFSET Swarm System

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Discover and Develop Novel Swarm Tactics

Goal: Design a tactics-focused game to rapidly explore, evolve, and evaluate swarm tactics

• Extensible architecture for end user-generated swarm tactics• Community cultivation and harvesting of most successful swarm tactics• Rapid integration into physical swarm systems for field test and validation

Swarm Tactics Exchange

Artist’s Concept

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Design Advanced Human-Swarm Interfaces

Goal: Create a novel swarm tactics-focused command interface

• Leverage rapidly emerging technologies in immersive technologies • Enable real-time tactics updates with automated deployment technologies• Design a swarm interaction grammar for intuitive swarm operations

Artist’s Concept

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Demonstrate Advanced Swarm System Capabilities

Goal: Accelerate realization of new swarm tactics and technologiesevery six months via agile swarm experimentation

• Imagine novel operating concepts for swarm system employment• Integrate baseline and modular swarm technologies for field tests• Address real-world challenges and considerations impacting swarms

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OperationalContext Vignette 1 Vignette 2 Vignette 3

Representative Mission

Isolate an urban objective

Conduct an urban raid

Seize key urban terrain

Mission Duration 15-30 minutes 1-2 hours 4-6 hours

Area of Operations Approx. two square city blocks

Approx. four square city blocks

Approx. eight square city blocks

Swarm Size 50 100 250

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OFFSET Ecosystem

Swarm System Integrators Swarm Sprinters

OFFSET Government Team

OFFSET User Community

Focus of this BAA

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• Conduct capability-based experiments every six months• Red team (warfighter) injects and assessments

• Integrate quarterly prototype deliveries • Minimum Viable Products: OFFSET demonstration swarm tactics and technologies

• Focus on offensive tactical missions at company level and below

OFFSET Capability-Based Experimentation

MOUT – military operations in urban terrainROS – robot operating system

Notional range: USMC Twenty-Nine Palms Combined Arms MOUT

Notional OFFSET robotic platforms, approximately to scale

Notional surrogate platform characteristics:• Expendable• Affordable• Robot Operating System-compatible

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OFFSET Swarm System Architecture

OFFSET = VirtualWorld

PhysicalTestbed Community++

Agent Architecture• Open middleware (e.g.,

Robot Operating System)• Offer modular autonomy• Streamline hardware,

software deployment

Swarm Architecture• Open messaging definitions• Use realistic/demonstrated

networking solutions• Support flexible operating

concepts

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Desired OFFSET Goals and Metrics

Design operationally relevant swarm tactics in game-based environment Number created per calendar quarter > 10 tactics

Perform swarm tactics assessment in game-based swarm mission Time to assess new tactic < 15 minutes

Integrate swarm tactics architecture on physical swarm platforms Integration time per 100 platforms < 24 hours

Perform secure, over-the-air tactics updates to deployed swarms Time to deploy new tactic < 1 minute

Construct viable swarm tactics-based courses-of-action (COAs) in 1 minute Number of alternate COAs > 3 COAs

Enable scalable swarm operations that adapt with addition or attrition Percentage deviation in swarm size +/- 50%

Human-Swarm Teaming: Demonstrate dynamic, real-time interactions with swarm sizes >100

Swarm Autonomy: Generate and assess 100+ swarm tactics

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OFFSET Notional Program Structure

Program structured for agile development cycles enabling rapid integration and tech off-ramps for transition

Sprinters perform focused tasks for 6-9 months and deliver products to integrate with systems integrators

Potential subsequent solicitations in specific tactics

areas

BAA released and remains open throughout

lifetime of OFFSET

System integrators create OFFSET architecture, interfaces, and the Swarm Tactics Exchange

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DARPA OFFSET is interested in:

• Strong, multi-faceted teams across all OFFSET functional areas

• “Test early, test often” philosophy, especially for field experiments

• Open technology development* best practices

Additional OFFSET Things-to-Consider

*Ref: DoD Chief Information Officer (CIO), “Open Technology Development (OTD): Lessons Learned and Best Practices for Military Software”, Washington, D.C., 2011

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www.darpa.mil

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