Neya Systems has been awarded a Phase I SBIR by the Navy and Office of Naval Research (Topic N141-076) to develop a new model for biologically based UGV focus of attention.
Under this Phase I SBIR, Neya will develop technologies related to focused processing of high-priority objects and regions within a camera image. A variety of proven and novel attention cues will be exploited to determine focal objects and areas.
Neya’s Saccade system will address existing deficiencies in current autonomous systems that lack the ability to rapidly focus on critical data. These deficiencies include brittleness to changing environmental conditions that are typical in military environments; excessive computation requirements that limit deployment on rugged mil-spec platforms that have size, weight, and power constraints; and a tendency for the system to make mistakes in situations that are easily handled by human operators.
“We are drawing inspiration from recent understanding in human cognition and sensor processing to address these deficiencies,” said Dr. Mark Ollis, Director of R&D for Neya Systems.
Saccade will use a combination of Neya’s existing Mission Planning and Management System (MPMS), Advanced Modular Maneuver Planner, and novel attention cues that will be integrated into a common, extensible framework that can be easily modified for novel tactical situations.
Saccade will be JAUS and IOP V2 compliant, ensuring the ability to integrate these novel perception technologies onto upcoming DoD ground vehicle platforms.
Neya will be demonstrating Saccade on its internal UxInterceptor platform.
