A software control architecture for autonomous vehicles

The Strategic-Tactical-Execution Software Control Architecture (STESCA) is used to control autonomous vehicles. STESCA, a tri-level approach, uses the principle of abstraction to simplify the problems of mission and vehicle control. The three levels of STESCA, from highest to lowest degree of abstraction, are the strategic, tactical, and execution levels. Mission specification is performed in the top strategic level. The middle tactical level maintains the current state of the world, vehicle, and mission. Component and control surface manipulation is performed by the bottom execution level. In developing a mission, the user´s primary concern should be in expressing what is to be done, with minimal concern about how it should be carried out. Ideally, the user should need only a basic understanding of the vehicle´s capabilities, not how it performs any particular function. While it may take a team of scientists and engineers to design and build an autonomous vehicle, it should not take such a team to operate the vehicle.