8th - 10th July 2022 - Bangalore.
Title: “Adding AI into Military Aircraft”
Abstract: Modern technology has increased the sophistication of military aircraft and aerial warfare to a point where, without assistance, human participation in complex systems could become counterproductive. Today’s systems are capable of saturating a human's intellectual and motor skills, forcing him to take suboptimal or incorrect decisions. The very systems created to help the pilot are now threatening to limit his effectiveness unless other ways to complement his skills are developed. Pilot's role in modern weapon system is currently being re-examined with the objective of improving system operational effectiveness through a more intelligent approach to system design.
Artificial intelligence based algorithms and techniques can offer good solutions to many of the problems faced by pilots in military operations. Pilots need to perform different types of tasks as tactical situations unfold during missions and they use multiple sensors to take intelligent decisions in the evolving situation. Each of these tasks can be performed more effectively if only pertinent information from the mass of data generated by sensors is extracted and presented to the pilot, and intelligent algorithms onboard help the pilot in taking good decisions. A rich suite of these algorithms is generally termed as an electronic pilot or a pilot associate. Primary goal of EP is to enhance pilots’ effectiveness by increasing their situational awareness and decreasing their workload. The EP acts as an electronic assistant by filtering data, fusing redundant information, helping with time critical decisions, and assisting with numerous complex aircraft systems. Usually, EP acts as an electronic aid that is intended to provide decision support to amplify "the human decision process rather than replace the human decision maker".
This talk discusses multiple tasks performed by pilots during tactical missions and presents the different kinds of AI based algorithms that need to be developed for the electronic pilot. The talk is intended to expose academia and industries to various open problems in this field and invite collaborative research and development in future.
Speaker’s Profile: Technology Director, Dr Amitabh Saraf, ADA, Bangalore
Amitabh Saraf completed his BTech in Mechanical Engineering in 1990 and MTech in Systems and Control Engineering in 1992 from IITBombay, PhD in Aerospace Engineering from IISc Bangalore in 2001 and was at University of California, Irvine, USA for post-doctoral research in 2001-2003. He is presently at Aeronautical Development Agency, Ministry of Defence and holds the post of Technology Director for Integrated Flight Control Systems and Advance Technology Directorates. He is a lead designer for flight control laws for all variants of Indian Light Combat Aircraft. He designed the special control law modes for ski jump, landing and bolter of LCA Navy to operate from carrier ships. He also lead the airdata systems algorithm design and parameter identification activities for LCA. Presently he is leading design activities to increase autonomy levels of military aircraft including the capabilities for automatic take-off and landing and design of electronic pilot modes.