A methodology for behaviour design of autonomous systems

A new methodology of behaviour design and modelling is proposed, which is based on a tree structure. The tree allows a structured design and overview of autonomous systems behaviours. A behaviour of higher abstraction level consists of a combination of one or several behaviours of lower abstraction level. The advantage of the tree becomes clear when wanting to reuse already developed behaviours. In order to reuse a behaviour of higher level of abstraction several behaviours of lower level of abstraction are required, which can easily be identified when describing a behaviour in the proposed tree structure. Lower levels of behaviour are mostly system dependant. By replacing only the behaviours of low level of abstraction behaviours can easily be transferred to other systems. Additionally, the behaviour tree enables the estimation and evaluation of resource requirements of different behaviours of different levels of abstraction.