The 4D/RCS reference model architecture will evolve as technology and standards advance. Over the past five years, it has been implemented on the Demo III experimental unmanned ground vehicles with great success. However, the implementation lags behind architecture specification. Not all of the features described in this document have been implemented. The architecture is most fully implemented in the Behavior Generation hierarchy. Multi-level, multi-resolution, real-time planning has been implemented very successfully at the vehicle level and below. The world model consists mainly of terrain elevation maps with labeled pixels. Map pixels have been classified as road, grass, water, and obstacles with attributes of slope and roughness. A priori maps contain information about roads, streams, buildings, and wooded areas. As yet, little has been done in grouping pixels into entities or signals into events, and no significant relationships have been established that describe situations. Work has begun on the representation of moving objects. Very little has been implemented that corresponds to the section level or above. It is expected that as work continues, some features may be added to the architecture, while others may be modified or deleted. However, the work on Demo III to date suggests that the 4D/RCS architecture is fundamentally sound and a reliable roadmap for system development and integration.

The 4D/RCS reference model architecture is naturally adaptable to the DoD/Army standards in a combined domain of vehicle systems, combat support, and software engineering. 4D/RCS provides an architectural framework to facilitate component and interface standards development, including command and control, sensors, communication, mapping, operating environments, safety, security, software engineering, user interface, data interchange, and graphics. As such, the 4D/RCS reference model architecture forms an architectural framework for standards.

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