Purpose

The purpose of this SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) is two-fold: to inform the reader of the extent of effort that went into the development of the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS); and to capture for posterity the domain analysis that provides the underpinnings for the work by the AS-4 Committee (Unmanned Systems).

Extent of Effort to Develop JAUS

This history visits the important milestones in the development of JAUS. From its beginnings in the Joint Project Office for Unmanned Ground Vehicles/Systems (UGV/S JPO) in 1995 to its adoption by SAE Aerospace Avionics Systems Division (ASD) as the Unmanned Systems Committee (AS-4) in 2004, JAUS has gained wide acceptance by government agencies, industry and academia, and has benefited from direct involvement in its development by those same organizations. Figure 1 shows the major events in the development of JAUS.

Capture Domain Analysis

The research and analysis performed early in the life of JAUS was captured and distilled in the Domain Model (DM), a document that describes the domain in which JAUS was to be applied. The Domain Model includes analysis of previous work, details the important constraints on JAUS and provides common vocabulary for unmanned systems. The DM includes a domain analysis that defined the scope of JAUS and described its rationale. As the JAUS transitions to the SAE AS-4 Committee, this domain analysis was not being transferred to any particular AS-4 technical document. Therefore, this AIR was prepared to capture that analysis. The text of the JAUS Domain Model version 3.2 appears as Appendix A.