Identification and listing of operation research problems in the framework of heterogeneous robotic swarms in System-of-Systems: a path for consistent research targets

Recent events in Ukraine revealed the progression of robotic systems on battlefield, both aerial and ground systems that answer various capabilities. Heterogeneous unmanned systems acting in swarms are being tested on field and are evaluated through defense challenges. The capabilities and system views are exposed using a set of NATO Architecture Framework (NAF) 3.1 views. Based on field experience, we expose a selection of interconnected views of our systems, capabilities and operational activities in unstructured environment. The core idea of this paper is to introduce operation research (OR) problems that could be tackled to our views generation, so that any heterogeneous robotic swarm (HRS) architecture can be seen as a system-of-systems. Finally, by introducing those system-of-system architecting activities, we share insight on how HRS design is a highly multi-physical compromise to reach, that can only be improved over time if all multi-physical aspects of the system are considered.