A new drone swarm piloting program from L3Harris, released on October 18, 2023, allows a single operator to control multiple drones across various vehicle types in different domains during government-managed tests. Company officials expressed confidence in the program’s scalability, anticipating its potential to manage thousands of drones in the future. This development comes as the Pentagon grapples with managing drone swarms in conflict scenarios that involve electromagnetic attacks on communications.
To facilitate this scale, L3Harris employs an approach that minimizes data exchange between the operator and the swarm, shifting the operational burden to the drones’ onboard intelligence capabilities. Toby Magsig, Vice President and General Manager for Enterprise Autonomous Solutions at L3Harris, highlighted that the approach used in their program, Amorphous, allows highly autonomous drones to collaborate with minimal input from the operator. The design is informed by feedback from the Army, Navy, and the Defense Secretary’s office, focusing on enabling one operator to manage a large number of drones without requiring them to process extensive amounts of data.
This innovative software architecture reduces the data exchange to a size comparable to an SMS text message, allowing the swarm to operate closer to the battlefield without reliance on long-distance communication methods. Magsig emphasized the need for efficient messaging that requires minimal bandwidth and processing power, ensuring that even low-cost drones can effectively communicate and operate with each other.
The drones are designed to autonomously execute different mission aspects based on limited instructions. They effectively “bid” on tasks according to their location, capabilities, and knowledge of other swarm members. This process allows drones to determine their actions independently after receiving a broad instruction, such as searching a designated area.
Magsig pointed out that the low-bandwidth communication still provides crucial data back to the operator, such as swarm health indicators and predictive insights into drone behavior. This feedback allows operators to monitor the swarm and make real-time adjustments based on mission requirements.
L3Harris is not alone in this pursuit; several companies are developing drone technologies and open-architecture software platforms for swarm management. In November 2022, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit awarded prototype contracts to Anduril, L3Harris, and Swarm Aero as part of the Autonomous Collaborative Teaming (ACT) program, emphasizing the need for compatibility with swarm piloting software across various hardware systems.
The Amorphous approach represents a shift from the more traditional operator control seen in past U.S. operations, where analysts monitored extensive drone footage for hours. Magsig indicated that future drone operations may operate in disconnected or low-bandwidth environments but emphasized that practical management of thousands of drones requires a transition from “in the loop” to “on the loop,” reducing actual human control in favor of automated systems.
Despite the increased autonomy, the system maintains an emergency stop function that ensures a human operator can halt automated processes that deviate from mission intent, preserving essential control over the swarm’s actions.
