Using Agent-Based Modeling to Evaluate UAS Behaviors in a Target-Rich Environment

Abstract : The trade-off between accuracy and speed is a re-occurring dilemma in many facets of military performance evaluation. This is an especially important issue in the world of ISR. One of the most progressive areas of ISR capabilities has been the utilization of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Many people believe that the future of UAS lies in smaller vehicles flying in swarms. We use the agent-based System Effectiveness and Analysis Simulation (SEAS) to create a simulation environment where different configurations of UAS vehicles can process targets and provide output that allows us to gain insight into the benefits and drawbacks of each configuration. Our evaluation on the performance of the different configurations is based on probability of correct identification, average time to identify a target after it has deployed in the area of interest, and average time to identify all targets in an area.