Total cost of ownership (TOC): An approach for estimating UMAS costs

This chapter provides a method that attempts to account for how cost estimating for autonomy is different than current methodologies and suggests ways it can be addressed through the integration and adaptation of existing cost models. When designing a product the recommended practice is to consider design decisions and their impact throughout the life cycle. For purposes of discussing the realm of unmanned autonomous systems (UMAS), the chapter focuses on two life cycle standards, namely department of defense (DoD) 5000 and ISO/IEC 15288 Systems Engineering System Life Cycle Processes. It explores various types of costs into their respective phases to demonstrate total cost of ownership. The life cycle models help structure cost estimates, existing cost estimation methods, product work breakdown structure (P-WBS), and parametric models. These led to a case study that described an army unmanned vehicle and a recommended approach for estimating the per unit life cycle cost.