This course gives a basic introduction to the technical aspects of unmanned systems. Attendees will gain a systems engineering perspective on the conceptual design and integration of the components used in unmanned systems, including locomotion, sensors, and payloads. The course will emphasize the algorithms and architectures needed to enable control and autonomy, especially path-tracking control and high-level planning strategies. All the concepts in the course will be illustrated by fully-worked out design examples and their implementation in a real-world application. Suitable industry-standard software tools will also be introduced and used where appropriate. The course content will be generally applicable to all types of unmanned systems, but will focus on unmanned ground systems, both tele-operated and autonomous.

This course gives a comprehensive overview of path planning in autonomous systems. Attendees will gain a theoretical and practical understanding of both path planning problems and their solutions. The course will emphasize the best algorithms for solving a variety of real-world path planning problems from simple single-vehicle route planning to complex multi-vehicle area coverage. The course will discuss how to best integrate information systems into planners including GIS and vehicle constraints into static planning and real-time sensors into dynamic re-planning. All the concepts in the course will be illustrated by fully-worked out design examples and their implementation in a real-world application. The course content will be generally applicable to all types of autonomous systems, but will focus on unmanned ground systems.