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National Robotics Initiative (NRI) Opens BAA Solicitation

Innovative robotics research and applications emphasizing the realization of such co-robots acting in direct support of and in a symbiotic relationship with human partners is supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

T3I Connects Autonomous Car Tech Decision Makers

This week, the Transportation Technology Transfer Initiative, or T3I, kicked off a series of efforts by AUVSI to further the state of ground robotics relating to autonomous driving and vehicle connectivity.

Co-sponsored by NDIA, the two-day conference, held in Arlington, Va., brought together leaders from government, associations, military and car companies for an idea exchange on how the separate areas could come together to create an eventually driverless future.

That vision’s initial steps are currently in the works, according to many speakers. Representatives from Toyota Motor North America, Volkswagen’s Electronics Research Lab and General Motors discussed their companies’ many autonomous and vehicle-to-vehicle communication concepts, like using wireless media to allow communication between cars or infrastructure, an autonomous parking valet that drives your car through a smart phone app or Segway-style urban electric vehicle concepts.

The Department of Transportation said it is working on enabling vehicle-to-vehicle communication, with a test study it said will be complete in 2013. President of the Connected Vehicle Trade Association Scott McCormick echoed those numbers, adding that the 2013 data should enable rulemaking by 2015-2016, with the added possibility of automakers using driver correction technology to make unintentional crashes or off-road driving an impossibility by 2040.

Chris Urmson, the technology lead for Internet giant Google’s self-driving car initiative, showed how much advancement could be achieved in a two and a half-year cycle given the dedicated money and staff, sharing lessons learned on driving seven modified Toyota Priuses more than 100,000 miles along West Coast roadways — with a man behind the wheel as a safety measure. Urmson, one of the participants in Carnegie Mellon’s entries in the DARPA Urban and Grand challenges, admitted that when Google initially approached him, he was skeptical why an Internet company would want to dip its toe into driverless cars.

“They really honestly are about solving big, important problems,” he said.

Big important problems were also drivers for many other speakers at the event: TARDEC and NASA discussed how they leveraged ground vehicle technology to overcome massive challenges, namely anti-ordnance measures in Afghanistan and far-away data collection on the surface of Mars.

Though all these areas are disparate, an overarching theme of cultural acceptance was a battle for nearly every area involved.

Jose Gonzalez, deputy director for land warfare and munitions under the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said that the cultural shift necessary inside the Department of Defense to use autonomous systems is likely even larger than the chasm of public acceptance, with the exception of anti-IED work.

“The stand off it provides the human to do that function is tremendous,” he said. “This is an area where no one will dispute you.”

Technical challenges, he said, like perceiving and understanding the situation under all conditions, power issues, communications and predicting behavior, are prime for the T3I conference and future T3I work to overcome.

“This is the area where we have an opportunity as a new T3I community to work with you all and find ways to share information, share challenges.”

To push the technology further and also drive up the social awareness of driverless cars, Christopher Frangione from the X-PRIZE Foundation said a $10 million autonomous car challenge is in the works.

“We want to make this the most worthwhile to this community but also the general public,” he said.

Though X-PRIZE has this concept, Frangione said that the organization prefers to define the problems related to a technology versus create a singular idea of what the solution is. For their prize competitions, they’re “really pulling guys out of the garage that are not tied to the community,” he said.

Though this year’s conference is over, AUVSI is committed to continuing its work with driverless cars, leveraging the knowledge from these different communities and allowing them a forum to work together to solve common problems.

“I have seen nothing but tremendous professional acts and endeavors to make sure we advance this technology,” said Michael Toscano, president and CEO of AUVSI. “This is a revolutionary technology with an evolutionary approach and that’s what we’re trying to put in place.”

AUVSI plans on having more sessions on driverless car technology at this year’s Unmanned Systems North America Conference, held in Washington, D.C., 16-19 Aug.

For more information on driverless car technology, click on the issue of Mission Critical magazine located on the top left side of AUVSI’s homepage, www.auvsi.org.

U.S. Officials Confirm Use of Sentinel in bin Laden Raid

Anonymous U.S. officials have confirmed the use of stealth unmanned aerial systems in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden earlier this month.

The UAS were used “because they needed to see more about what was going on” a former U.S. official told The Washington Post.

The aircraft used was the Lockheed Martin-made RQ-170, also known as the Beast of Kandahar, according to the Post’s sources. Initially, the National Journal reported the use of the Sentinel on its Twitter page.

The imagery from the Sentinel was used by President Barack Obama and his national security team to watch the U.S. Navy SEALS raid the Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound. The now famous photograph of Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a slew of other high powered national security officials in the Situation Room depicts them looking at imagery from the Sentinel, says the Post.

The Sentinel, unlike the high-profile Predator and Reaper UAS used to monitor Pakistan, is incapable of being detected by radar.

“It’s not like you can just park a Predator overhead — the Pakistanis would know,” said a second official, who spoke to the Post anonymously.

Gray Eagle Flies at Night Under First Sense and Avoid COA

The U.S. Army has begun night flights of its Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft using a ground-based sense and avoid system, says Viva Austin, product director, U.S. Army Unmanned Systems Airspace Integration Concepts.

Flights began on 25 April at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' El Mirage, Calif., location, under a year-long certificate of authorization from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which is working with the Army and the company to collect data from the flights. The flights involve coordination between the FAA, the Army Airthworthiness Authority and General Atomics, builder of the Gray Eagle.

It's the first COA granted for a sense and avoid system and allows for night flights without a chase plane, something that Austin says hasn't been done in years. Flying at night helps ease the time burden for testing and training, which previously all had to occur in the daytime.

“What we wanted to do was give them [the Army] the ability to do some of that testing and training at night time,” she tells Unmanned Systems. “We proposed this ground-based sense and avoid system, a series of ground based sensors that feed information back into a computer that does the math for detecting [aircraft] tracks and tells the operator when it's safe to fly in that airspace.”

The COA allows for dusk-to-dawn flights of Block 0 or Block I Gray Eagle aircraft, although so far the flights have started at midnight and gone until 5 a.m. The skies above El Mirage are generally clear at night, so the first night of flying the Army had 67 percent “green light time,” she says, which climbed to 95 percent the second night.

FAA officials are closely monitoring the flights for the first 40 hours, after which the Army will be responsible for most of the monitoring.

“We've had an average of over 80 percent operational time,” she says. “On the safety side of things, the system performed as it was designed.”

So far, the only glitch was in a self-test system which didn't affect safety, she says. As part of the shutdown procedures, the operators introduce fake aircraft tracks to verify that the alarm would go off if a real aircraft were detected. On the second night of the flights, that system double-checked with the radar, saw the tracks weren't real and wouldn't sound the alarm.

The Army is currently not flying as it works to address that issue, Austin says, but the COA is still in place.

Austin says plans are underway to expand the operations there, including creating a “tunnel” of airspace where a Gray Eagle could fly from El Mirage to protected airspace at nearby Edwards Air Force Base, expanding the testing and training envelope even further.

UAE Unmanned Systems Rodeo Winning Team Heading to AUVSI Symposium

Eleven teams faced off in the first Unmanned Systems Rodeo in the United Arab Emirates in early May, with Team Robotics from Dubai Men’s College taking the top prize, an all-expense paid trip to AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America 2011 in Washington, D.C., courtesy lead sponsor Northrop Grumman.

The AUVSI Foundation will host the students at AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America 2011, where the team will discuss its system design.

Northrop Grumman aerospace engineers traveled to UAE and served as mentors to the teams from the Higher Colleges of Technology, which included two teams from the Abu Dhabi Women’s Campus. AUVSI Foundation Executive Director Daryl Davidson served as a judge for the competition, along with representatives from Higher Colleges of Technology, Northrop Grumman and Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investment.

“Northrop Grumman is honored to sponsor this competition that fosters new types of innovation in the UAE,” Wes Bush, CEO and president of Northrop Grumman, said in presenting the award. “The rodeo provides an opportunity to transfer knowledge and technology to the younger generation, which is an important element of the strategic vision established by UAE leadership. I’m confident that the enthusiasm we saw at this year’s rodeo competition will inspire its expansion and will further encourage tomorrow’s generation of Emirati scientists and engineers to develop similar ground-breaking technologies for the future.”

The competition, scheduled to become an annual event, was organized by the Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis and hosted by Higher Colleges of Technology.

Arlington, Texas Police Department Set to Utilize Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

The Arlington police department will soon be utilizing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to provide an extra level of security to the city. The UAV was acquired with grant money from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for Super Bowl XLV.

Arlington is the first U.S. city to receive a certificate of authorization (COA) from the FAA to fly over an urban area.

According to City Councilman Robert Rivera, the hope of the UAV is to provide an extra level of public safety and to help traffic-crash investigations and search-and-rescue-missions.

"Anytime that we can utilize progressive methods to increase our level of public safety, that's what we're doing and that's what we're looking at," said Rivera.

But the use of unmanned systems has raised questions about privacy across the country. Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said, ""The police chief thinks they will be a huge advancement in public safety that will allow officers to view the entire city through aerial surveillance."

"With terrorist attacks and everything else going on, I don't think it's a bad idea," said Arlington resident Eric Vandervoort, who lives near Cowboys Stadium.

According to Mayor Cluck, the city is currently looking into finding funding to operate the drone.

Click here to read more.

Sentinel UAV spied on bin Laden prior to successful mission

A Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel stealth unmanned aerial system spied on Osama bin Laden the night before the special operations unit raid that successfully killed bin Laden at his mansion compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, according to an initial report by the National Journal.

The U.S. Air Force has never released a photograph of the Sentinel, developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, but it does acknowledge its existence, earning it the nickname the “Beast of Kandahar,” after the airfield it operates out of in Afghanistan.

The fatal attack was made by U.S. soldiers operating through Joint Special Operations Command, which is comprised of special forces from multiple U.S. military organizations. The Sentinel’s stealth nighttime spy mission was in conjunction with JSOC ground spotters, according to the National Journal.

A senior intelligence official, speaking 2 May at the Pentagon, said there were "multiple sources of intelligence, you know, that led us to where we are today with respect to this compound." Aside from information from detainees, "we had other sources — I can't describe those — that helped with the final intelligence picture," he said.

Though its capabilities have never been formally outlined, the mission suggests the Sentinel is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, whose multiple secretive missions might have consistently been related to bin Laden. The RQ UAV designation indicates that the system did not carry any weapons. The stealth body of the aircraft lead experts to speculate that the system was being used either over Iran or Pakistan, since the Afghanistan Taliban, according to a 2009 AFP news agency report, does not use radar systems.

Initial reports of bin Laden’s death speculated that bin Laden might have been killed through an armed Predator UAS strike. Though the aircraft didn’t ultimately take part in Sunday’s mission, Predator was initially sent to Afghanistan during a 60-day trial mission in 2000 dubbed “Afghan Eyes,” in anticipation that the unmanned system had the potential to target bin Laden with cruise missiles.

UAS attacks more than tripled under the Obama administration and the leadership of Leon Panetta in the CIA, particularly along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, since experts initially theorized bin Laden’s hideout was in that mountainous region.

Obama recently nominated Panetta to become the next Secretary of Defense. Gen. David Petraeus, current commander of U.S. Afghanistan forces, has been nominated to replace Panetta.

AUVSI Congratulates Military Forces on Bin Laden Operation

AUVSI congratulates the U.S. military forces who pursued and killed the number one target in the war on terror, Osama Bin Laden. The killing of Osama bin Laden is an enormously significant moment in the global fight against al Qaeda terrorism.

AUVSI is proud of the role that unmanned systems continue to play in the fight against al Qaeda and other terrorist groups in the global war on terrorism.

"AUVSI will continue to support and work with the unmanned systems community to develop the technologies to help our armed forces pursue and win the global war on terrorism," said AUVSI President/CEO Michael Toscano.

Oregon House Urges Congress to Allow for UAS Test Flights over Rural Areas

In an effort to kick-start a flagging aviation economy by setting aside airspace above the high desert to flight-test unmanned aerial systems (UAS), on 27 April the Oregon House passed Joint Memorial 20, which urges the U.S. Congress to enact legislation requiring the FAA to expedite the approval process for unmanned aircraft testing in rural areas.

The goal of bill is to attract developers and manufacturers to the region by creating a remote testing area by carving out some of the military airspace where the Oregon Air National Guard and other combat pilots currently train.

"It's about drones and jobs. ... The important part for us is jobs," said Rep. Jason Conger, a Bend Republican who presented the memorial for a floor vote.

But there are hurdles in the way. UAS designed for commercial applications are prohibited in general aviation airspace, and testing can be done only in restricted military airspace or via special certificates issued by the FAA.

Though private pilots and hang gliders have questioned the idea, the memorial passed unanimously without debate. It now moves to the Oregon Senate.

AUVSI Joins Coalition to Protest Threat to GPS

AUVSI recently joined the Coalition to Save Our GPS to resolve a serious threat to the global positioning system. Lightsquared has been granted a conditional waiver by the FCC to build 40,000 ground stations in the U.S. that could cause widespread interference to GPS signals — endangering a national utility which millions of Americans rely on every day.

AUVSI President Michael Toscano sent a letter to FCC Chairman Hon. Julius Genachowski expressing the industry's concern about the decision to grant Lightsquared a conditional waiver to build its high-powered terestrial transmitters and use a radio frequency adjacent to the lower-powered Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite frequency.

"Because these frequencies are in the same radio spectrum range, the high-powered, terrestrial-based transmitters will drown out or significantly interfere with the weaker GPS signals, rendering GPS receivers unusable.

"All around the world, unmanned systems (air, ground, and maritime) rely on accurate, dependable GPS signals. The lack of a reliable GPS signal poses a serious threat to our public safety and national defense, and the potential cost of retrofitting or replacing affected GPS receivers would be an undue burden. For this reason, AUVSI has joined the Coalition to Save Our GPS in order to emphasize the importance of protecting our GPS."

AUVSI is encouraged that the Federal Communications Commission has decided to establish a working group with industry and federal agencies to study the potential interference concerns. Such a significant change to the frequency spectrum should always be open for a full public comment period. It is our hope that any potentially harmful interference issues will be fully resolved before LightSquared, or any other similar applicant, is allowed to move forward with building terrestrial transmitters and operating on a frequency that could render GPS useless.

For more information on the Save Our GPS Coalition, visit http://www.saveourgps.org.

Homegrown Unmanned Systems Increasing at LAAD 2011

RIO DE JANEIRO — An increasing number of indigenous Brazilian unmanned aircraft designs are popping up at this year’s Latin American Aerospace and Defense (LAAD) show here, as manufacturers move to boost their hold on the Brazilian market and begin to eye export possibilities.

Flight Technologies, based in Sao Jose dos Campos, introduced its new Horus 100, a smaller member of the Horus family of vehicles. The hand-launched Horus has a flight time of one hour and a “fly-by-payload” capability.

The company’s co-founder and executive director, Nei Brasil, says the Flight Technologies has increased its presence in the unmanned systems market in the last few years and is thinking about exporting into other Latin American markets, as well as forming partnerships with larger companies in Europe and North America.

The company also manufactures the Horus 200, a larger UAS with a duration of three hours and a typical operational altitude of up to 1,500 meters.

Brasil says the company is also active in the Avibras Falcao program, which is developing a still larger UAS, one closer in size to a Predator. Brasil says Flight Technologies developed the software for that system and it’s “ready to go.”

Renato Bastos Tovar, general manager of international business development for Avibras, says the Falcao is in the second stage of its development and should be ready for flight testing this summer.

“The main point here is that we have a tactical UAV” that can carry electro-optical and infrared payloads, as well as synthetic aperture radar, and which has a long range and 15-hour endurance.

Falcao has been developed in cooperation with the Brazilian armed services and the science and technology ministry, but moving to the third stage of development, which would lead to a production aircraft, will require a contract, Tovar says.

Falcao has a range of 2,500 kilometers when operated via satellite, an endurance of 15 hours and has automated takeoff and landing capability.

New smaller systems are represented at the show as well. Gyrofly Innovations is showing a small quadrotor, the Gyro 500, which has carbon fiber arms and propellers and silent brushless motors. It can fly up to 500 meters in altitude and has an endurance of up to 25 minutes.

There is a lot of choice and competition in the quadrotor UAS market and Gyrofly isn’t the only one at the show. There are also international competitors, including from California-based Datron, which has demonstrated its Datron Scout extensively overseas and is exhibiting at LAAD 2011.

Flight Technologies’ Brasil says that while interest in unmanned systems is increasing in Brazil, he’d still like to see more energy in the market.

“There is a lot of energy, there are a lot of players, but it’s not enough energy,” he says. “I’d like to see more.”

Robots/AUVSI take over Capitol Hill

As part of National Robotics Week, AUVSI and AUVSI Foundation took over Capitol Hill. While university students demonstrated their team-built unmanned ground vehicle systems (UGVs) in front of the Capitol from 9-11 April, AUVSI members visited Congressional offices and exhibited their wares in the Rayburn House Office Building Foyer on 11 April.

AUVSI members and exhibitors met with more than 100 Congressional staffers to discuss issues of national and international importance while raising awareness of unmanned systems.

In front of the Reflecting Pool outside the hallowed halls on Congress, teams from Bob Jones University, City College of New York, Fordham University, University of Central Florida (UCF), University of Delaware, University of Massachusetts Lowell — Mass., and U.S. Naval Academy showed off their UGVs, many of which will be in competing this June at the annual Intelligent Ground Vehicles Competition in Michigan.

Reflecting on the day, AUVSI President/CEO Michael Toscano said, “This was an outstanding event where we were able to raise awareness of unmanned systems and their potential among Congressional staffers. We also were able to show our support for National Robotics Week, which has strong support on the Hill.

“Events like our Hill Day with the exhibit hall and the student demonstrations in front of the Capitol give our members and students a great opportunity to expose their products and capabilities to a wide influential community in Congress.”

Rep. McKeon: "2015 for NAS integration may be too slow"

The Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, approved last week by the House of Representatives, calls for the FAA to come up with a plan to fly unmanned aicraft in the National Airspace System by 2015, among other unmanned systems-related provisions.

Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee and co-chairs the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus, says “that was a good effort” but more needs to be done. “Passing it here doesn't make it law,” he tells AUVSI in an exclusive interview. “We need to focus and get it done in the Senate.” The 2015 date should be an “outside” date, he says, adding, “I would like to see it done as soon as possible. The whole industry is moving so rapidly that we shouldn't get in their way.”

The caucus hosted a briefing in 2010 that included government and business leaders as well as AUVSI and other stakeholders. Rep. McKeon says it may be time for another.

“I felt that was productive, but I've had some feedback since then that indicates everytrhing we heard at the meeting hasn't been forthcoming. That would probably be a good one, to line up another one of those as a follow-up. And then maybe we might have to do some oversight hearings … FAA doesn't come under our jurisdiction but we're all interested in the same thing, and that's progress. … And if you've got airspace tied up it ends up costing more for testing. We don't want to do that. I think that would be another good follow up meeting.”

See the complete interview with Rep. McKeon, and an update on AUVSI's advocacy efforts, in the May issue of Unmanned Systems magazine.

FAA to Continue Processing Emergency COAs in Event of Government Shutdown

The Federal Aviation Administration will continue processing unmanned aircraft certificates of authorization with a limited staff in the event of a federal government shutdown.

However, all normal COA and special airworthiness certificates will be put on hold.

The FAA has outlined the following necessities for obtaining an emergency disaster UAS COA request:

1. A situation exists that is defined as a condition of distress or urgency where there is, or has the extreme possibility of loss of life
2. Manned flight is not possible due to a hazard, or the operation cannot be conducted safely with manned flight
3. The proposed UAS is operating under a current approved COA.

The governor of a state or the president must also declare a disaster request.

Federal Aviation Administration Re-Authorization Bill

Congressman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), Chairman of the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus (CUSC) is pleased with the advancement of unmanned systems in H.R. 658, The Federal Aviation Administration Re-Authorization Bill.

“The language contained within this bill promotes the safe integration of unmanned systems into the national airspace. Carefully integrating these systems by 2015 will improve our border defenses, public safety, and emergency response systems,” stated McKeon.

H.R. 658 requires the FAA to develop a safe, detailed plan to integrate Unmanned Systems in the national within 270 days from its date of enactment. The bill further advances unmanned systems integration by requiring the FAA to define both equipment airworthiness and pilot requirements.

“Although this bill is a step in the right direction, I have concerns with the FAA’s languid Certificate of Authorization requirement for public unmanned systems. Our state and local law enforcement agencies need a faster, more responsive process. Our neighborhoods deserve safer streets, and these systems can help provide that.”

McKeon added, “I am confident we can continue to work with John Mica, Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and the Federal Aviation Administration as they develop a safe, thorough and detailed plan to assist our state and local public safety organizations.”

“I’m pleased that the UAV language in the FAA reauthorization would help unmanned systems provide the information needed to protect our borders and our communities. I will continue to work to provide resources, equipment and technology to protect and secure the United States of America,” said Congressman Henry Cuellar, co-chairman of the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus.

The goal of the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus is to educate members of Congress, stakeholders, and the public on the strategic, tactical, law enforcement and scientific value of unmanned systems.

The Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus recognizes the overwhelming value of unmanned systems in the scientific, intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security communities. The members of the bipartisan caucus are committed to the growth and expansion of these systems in all sectors. More information is available at http://uavc.mckeon.house.gov/.

AUVSI Applauds Passage of House FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) applauds the House of Representatives for passing Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 (H.R. 658), by a vote of 223 to 196. The bill includes important language on integrating unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into the national airspace system (NAS).

Working with House leaders, AUVSI was successful in making a number of changes to the UAS provisions in the bill. Specifically, the bill would:

1) Set a deadline of 30 Sept. 2015 for integration of commercial UAS into the NAS;

2) Require a comprehensive plan for integration into the NAS within nine months, after consulting with the unmanned aircraft systems industry;

3) Require the FAA to simplify its application process for law enforcement and public safety agencies within three months;
a. Once the application process is simplified, law enforcement and public safety agencies will be able to operate UAS weighing less than 4.4 pounds, within the line-of- sight of the operator, less than 400 feet in the air, during daylight hours, within Class G airspace, and outside five miles from any airport.

4) Create four UAS test sites;

5) Define small unmanned aircraft as weighing less than 55 pounds;

6) Require annual reports to Congress on UAS activities; and

7) Start the official rulemaking process within two and a half years.

AUVSI President/CEO Michael Toscano praised the UAS sections of the bill saying, “UAS have the potential to revolutionize the aviation and aerospace industry globally. These systems play a vital role in our nation's security and defense; however, recently, the potential benefits of civilian use of UAS in the United States have been hampered due to a lack of standards and consistent regulation. "On behalf of our community, AUVSI applauds Congress for passing this Bill and providing a timeline to more expeditiously and safely integrate UAS into the National Airspace System thus allowing for the increased use of UAS for beneficial civilian uses such as border surveillance, law enforcement surveillance, search and rescue, disaster response, weather research, wildlife monitoring, agricultural applications, power line surveillance, and wildfire monitoring, among others.”

The Senate passed its FAA bill (S. 223) earlier this year.

In the coming weeks, AUVSI will be working with House and Senate leaders to come up with a compromise bill that expedites the safe integration of UAS into the NAS.

Business Opportunity: Japan asks world for robots, unmanned vehicles to help during crisis

The Japanese government has asked for assistance specifically for the crisis at its nuclear plant.

AUVSI has been working with the U.S. State Department about this specific request. We have received the following requirements on UAS capabilities to support reactor cooling operations. The Japanese government has requested:

• Remote-controlled equipment and other remote-controlled transport machinery designed for countermeasures against radiation disaster (including their specification).

• Remote-controlled equipment refers to small-sized, lightweight, unmanned monitoring robots or aircraft survey systems which could be utilized, in cases of nuclear disasters, to gather monitoring information by remote control in a speedy and safe manner without the risks of radiation exposure.

• Other remote-controlled transport machinery refers to unmanned trucks or helicopters that are capable of delivering goods and equipment needed in areas highly contaminated with radiation without the risks of radiation exposure.

Potential solutions packages should be routed to NITOPS@nnsa.doe.gov, LIA07.HOC@nrc.gov. Please cc taskforce-1@state.gov.

If you would like to offer other assistance, such as search and rescue equipment, email taskforce-1@state.gov.

For members outside the US who have not been contacted by their governments, the State Department will also coordinate with your host country.

AUVSI is tracking member companies who have sent equipment to Japan. If you have participated in either the nuclear site program or have sent search and rescue equipment to Japan, please email details of your assistance to Melanie Hinton, MHinton@auvsi.org.

Japanese Rescue Robots at Work in Japan, CRASAR on Standby

Japan's leading experts in rescue robotics are deploying wheeled and caterpillar-like robots to assist emergency responders in the search for survivors of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the country last Friday.
 
Dr. Robin Murphy, director of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) at Texas A&M University, in College Station, and one of the world's top experts in rescue robotics, confirms that a team led by Satoshi Tadokoro from Tohoku University has deployed to Sendai and one led by Eiji Koyanagi from Chiba Institute of Technology's Future Robotics Technology Center has deployed to Tokyo.

Ironically, these top Japanese robotic-assisted rescue researchers were in Texas attending a CRASAR-organized exercise when the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, just hours before they were scheduled to depart. They quickly returned home. Murphy reports that their family members are all safe.
 
Like most search and rescue robots, the systems the Japanese are deploying are designed to go where humans can't easily reach. Quince, for example, is a mobile robot equipped with four sets of tracked wheels, some of which can move up and down to allow the robot to negotiate obstacles. It carries cameras as well as infrared and carbon-dioxide sensors for detecting the presence of survivors trapped under rubble.
 
In post-disaster scenarios such as in Japan, CRASAR recommends using:
 
• small unmanned aerial vehicles like robotic helicopters and quadrotors for inspection of upper levels of buildings and lower altitude checks;
• snake robots capable of entering collapsed buildings and slithering through rubble;
• small underwater ROVs for bridge inspection and underwater recovery;
• tether-based unmanned ground vehicles like sensor-packed wheeled robots that operators can drive remotely to search for survivors.
 
This is not the first time unmanned systems have used in an earthquake search and rescue. In 2010, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used a Seabotix ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) to investigate bridge and seawall damage as part of the U.S. assistance to the Haitian government. U.S.-operated Predator, Global Hawk and a private Skylark unmanned aircraft carried out surveillance of Haiti.
 
Murphy, who leads the volunteer search-and-rescue robotics group Roboticists Without Borders, part of CRASAR, says Japan has welcomed her group's assistance; she's now on standby awaiting for a formal request. Her group has standing agreements with the International Rescue Systems Institute and has conducted joint exercises and demonstrations in Japan.

Mesa County Sheriff's Office Gets County-Wide COA

The Mesa County, Colo, Sheriff's Office recently announced that it has been granted a county-wide Certificate of Authorization by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly its small unmanned aerial system throughout the county with some restrictions.

The COA makes Mesa County one of the few local law enforcement agencies in the country with permission to fly UAS, in their case a Draganflyer X6 quadrotor. The Sheriff's Office applied for the county-wide COA in June 2010. They had previously received a one-year COA to fly within one mile of the Mesa County Landfill for day-time flights only.

Mesa County Sheriff's Office says the next step for them is working with the FAA to allow for night operations with their unmanned copter system and expand current operations by also using a fixed-wing UAS.

"The Sheriff's Office recognizes UAS as the next emerging technology in law enforcement," stated a Mesa County press release. "Realizing the scope of our most recent approval, we are excited for the future of UAS in law enforcement and are committed to the responsible progression of this project."

HRI 2011: Easier Controls Wanted, but not so Easy to Do

While most robotics users agree that common controllers — and easier ones — are desirable for robots and unmanned systems, actually creating them may not be so easy.

High-level roboticists from around the world are attending the Human-Robot Interaction 2011 in Lausanne, Switzerland, and said their work shows that simplicity can sometimes be a difficult thing to achieve.

Sotara Kita of the University of Birmingham kicked off the first conference day by discussing his work on gestures and how they seem inextricably linked to human communication. People gesture while talking on the telephone, which is pointless, and even children blind from birth, who have never seen a gesture, use them, he said. There is no human culture that doesn't.

Military and civilian robot users alike have worked for easier ways of controlling robots than using joysticks, including speech-based and gesture-based commands. However, Kita's work shows that gestures, like language, may sometimes need translating.

For instance, he showed test subjects a cartoon of Sylvester the cat rolling down a street after ingesting a bowling ball. In English, the sentence "he rolls down the street" uses just one verb to show how the naughty cat is moving along. In Japanese and Turkish, however, such a sentence would use two verbs, one to show that he's rolling and one to indicate that he's descending.

Kita showed the cartoon to an English speaker, a Japanese speaker and a Turkish speaker. The English speaker used one hand gesture to indicate both rolling and movement. The Japanese and Turkish speakers, by contrast, used separate hand gestures to indicate rolling and movement. So a gesture-based robotic command structure, when created, would likely not be universal.

Mario Munich is the vice president of research and development of Evolution Robotics, which markets a floor-cleaning robot. He said his company has boiled down the controls to make them as simple as possible, but sometimes that' s not enough.

For instance, the robot uses a blinking light to signal that it has finished its work. That was enough to confuse some users, who thought the robot was malfunctioning.

"We still have work to do on designing interfaces that are simple enough," said Henrik Christensen of Georgia Tech. "We're not even there on flipping one bit of information and communicating with humans."

Joe Dyer, the chief operating officer of iRobot, who said his company's Roomba has also perplexed some users, cited Apple computer's penchant for simple operating systems as an example.

"Steve Jobs decided that simpler is better. And that's something that we must find."

Predator XP, Export Variant, Headed to the UAE

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced at last week’s International Defense Exhibition and Conference 2011 that it will begin production of a modified Predator for the United Arab Emirates markets, called Predator XP.

Sort for export, the XP will feature all of the same capabilities as the RQ-1 except it will not be weaponized. The system will be delivered through a memorandum of understanding to the UAE’s International Golden Group.

Sales of the XP are possible through U.S. government approval as a Category 2 aircraft under the Missile Technology Control Regime, an informal partnership among 34 countries that controls missile and UAV proliferation. The original Predator is considered a Category 1 by the group — a class that carries harsher export restrictions.

It is not the first time General Atomics has paired up with the UAE for a technology transfer — the two worked together to export the company’s manned ISR capability Griffin Eye. Very few countries were considered good candidates for the contract, said Jim Thomson, manager of international strategic development for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.

“We were very comfortable with the country and the leadership,” said Thomson.

The company’s state-side Predator upgrade, Reaper, clearly falls under Category 1 guidelines, so for now it is not being reviewed as a possible capability for the UAE in the future, though five years from now, it could be, he continued.

The system has the same dimensions and endurance as the MQ-1 Predator and will also feature electro-optical infrared cameras and the company’s Lynx radar as sensor options.

Abu Dhabi Gains UAS Student Competition, Winners to Attend AUVSI Conference

Abu Dhabi, UAE — Through a partnership with a Middle Eastern think tank and local defense company, Northrop Grumman is starting an unmanned aerial system student competition for the region, the winners of which will receive the opportunity to attend AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America 2011.

With Northrop Grumman acting as the major funder, the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA) and Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investment (ADASI) will hold the Unmanned Systems Rodeo 4-5 May at a yet to be decided location.

With the competition fast approaching, Northrop Grumman will provide competing teams with a parts kit, which will include the body, power source and sensors. Company employees are holding.

The winners will best perform tasks such as autonomous takeoff and landing and waypoint navigation. The second and third place teams will win scholarships.

Nathan Drevna, manager of international communications for Northrop Grumman, said the company is prioritizing science, technology and math learning in the Middle East region, where they have been a consistent defense presence.

The company will bring its local engineers out to students to teach them in one-on-one classes how to optimize the parts the students will get in their kits.

AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America will be held in Washington, D.C., from 16-19 Aug.

Rockwell Collins Opens Abu Dhabi, Dubai Offices

Abu Dhabi, UAE — Cedar Rapids, Iowa, company Rockwell Collins revealed at the International Defence Exhibition and Conference 2011 that it will open new Middle East offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

“Where there’s a hub for aviation or defense, we have a presence,” says Greg Churchill, executive vice president of international business and service solutions.

The move reflects the steady and growing interest the company is experiencing from the Middle East and North African markets, according to Churchill.

“It’s critical for us to be here,” he says. Rockwell currently has roughly 250 employees serving the local market here, and additional employees are currently moving to the new office locations.

Rockwell sees Dubai as a commercial market opportunity, while Abu Dhabi’s offices will focus on military and defense capabilities, including UAV communications. UAVs are bound to have applications in both, says Churchill.

“Our belief is that overwhelmingly the capability a UAV provides outweighs” any sort of cultural or process problems standing in the technology’s way, says Churchill.

The “aha moment” that made Rockwell Collins come to the Middle East surrounded the success of its navigation GPS, made by child company Athena Technology, says Churchill.

The company has gained more than 1 million flight hours of its GPS on four separate UAV platforms, AAI’s Shadow, General Atomic’s Gray Eagle, Thales’ Watchkeeper and EMT Penzberg’s Luna.

iRobot Partners With UAE Company for Middle East Market Expansion

Abu Dhabi, UAE — IRobot has recently signed a cooperative agreement with United Arab Emirates defense company ADASI to use the Massachusetts-based company’s unmanned systems in defense and civil applications.

IRobot, whose presence at this year’s International Defence Exhibition and Conference 2011 spans multiple booths throughout the hall including the collocated Naval Defence Exhibition, will lend both its ground and maritime systems to the effort.

ADASI (Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments), a subsidiary of major defense company Tawazun, plans on using the systems to explore markets such as security, oil and gas, environmental monitoring, and the military. Through the ITAR-controlled partnership, ADASI has access to a wide range of iRobot’s robotics platforms.

In addition to iRobot’s Seaglider and its smaller man-portable Ranger UUV, ADASI is exploring making an unmanned surface vehicle via an iRobot appliqué kit using a ridged hull inflatable boat as a platform.

Jim Rymarcsuk, iRobot senior vice president of business development, says the partnership came about mutually.

“This is a core growth area for us,” he says. “We see a lot of opportunity here.”

Tawazun also has a complementary UAV it will couple with iRobot’s ground robotics systems. While there is currently not a common controller, there is potential for its development, says Rymarcsuk.

Visit AUVSI at booth 12-C02 at IDEX 2011 through 24 Feb.

2012 Budget Request for the Department of Defense

On 16 Feb. 2011, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) held a hearing to discuss the fiscal year 2012 Department of Defense budget. The Honorable Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense, and Adm. Michael G. Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provided testimony to discuss DODs base budget request of $553 billion. Although Gates’ testimony focused on reform/efficiencies, modernization, personnel and overseas contingency operations, Gates was concerned that DOD could end up with a year-long continuing resolution or a significant funding cut of $23 billion for FY 2011. The president’s defense budget request for FY 2011 was $549 billion, and a full-year continuing resolution would fund the department at about $526 billion. In his testimony, Gates emphasized the need for “high-demand assets including UAVs and the purchase of more advanced UAVs.”

You can read Chairman McKeon’s opening statement and Gates’ testimony in their entirety at the following links:

http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/hearings?ContentRecord_id=ad1195cc-6ab9-4d0a-9720-929d8d62e6af&Statement_id=b23c7cb4-18f7-4015-a35f-f9341cc23b3f&ContentType_id=14f995b9-dfa5-407a-9d35-56cc7152a7ed&Group_id=13e47ffa-0753-47a7-ad5e-1ba7592015c9&MonthDisplay=2&YearDisplay=2011

http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=19caf341-c0bd-4f7d-9490-d34c17d1decf

Military's ISR Needs Mean More UAVs in 2012 Budget Request

Unmanned aerial vehicles are getting a boost from Pentagon planners who want to spend more than $4.8 billion on remotely piloted aircraft to improve intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

The Defense Department's $553 billion base budget request for fiscal year 2012 includes plans to procure three additional Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawks for $484.6 million, 36 more MQ-1 Gray Eagles for the Army totaling $659 million and 48 more MQ-9A Reapers at a cost of $1.4 billion — as well as smaller, low-altitude UAS for the Army and Marine Corps.

Undersecretary of Defense Robert Hale, the Pentagon's comptroller, told reporters at a budget briefing Monday, 14 Feb., that “significant investment” in ISR capabilities is needed because of an “almost insatiable demand on the part of our combatant commanders for these assets.”

The fiscal 2012 request also seeks $305.1 million for smaller Army and Marine Corps UAVs, including $232.2 million for RQ-7 Shadows and $72.9 million for RQ-11 Ravens.

The Navy's budget request includes $300 million to boost the number of MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned helicopters to 12 and $1.9 billion for four Littoral Combat Ships, which include an unmanned, semisubmersible mine hunting vehicle among its interchangeable mission modules.

The budget request includes additional funding for research, development, testing and evaluation for a maritime Global Hawk (BAMS) and the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) vehicle.

The Air Force is also seeking $3.74 billion for development over the next five years — $197 million starting in FY 2012 — of a new long-range bomber capable of carrying precision-guided conventional weapons and nuclear weapons. The follow-on bomber would be “optionally manned,” although Air Force officials say it has yet to be determined if that means the new plane will be an unmanned aircraft that can carry human pilots or a manned aircraft that can be shifted to unmanned mode.

The Pentagon is seeking an additional $118 billion to support the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other overseas contingencies for a total proposed defense budget of $671 billion in the Obama administration's $3.73 trillion budget request for Congress to pass.

Even as they rolled out the Pentagon's fiscal 2012 budget request, the department's civilian and military leaders warned of dire consequences if Congress continues funding the military at fiscal 2010 levels through a series of stopgap measures, known as continuing resolutions (CRs). The most recent CR is set to expire 4 March.

Noting the White House requested $549 billion to operate the Defense Department in FY 2011, Gates said it would only receive $526 billion — a cut of $23 billion if forced to operate under a full-year CR. “The damage done across our military from that reduction would be magnified as it comes halfway through the fiscal year,” Gates said.

House Armed Services Chair, Buck McKeon's Statement on Fiscal Year 2012 Defense Budget

McKeon Plans Meticulous Scrutiny of Fiscal Year 2012 Defense Budget
Gates, Mullen to Appear before the Armed Services Panel on Wednesday

Washington, D.C.—Following a meeting with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright (USMC), U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) today promised rigorous oversight of the Fiscal Year 2012 budget request for the Department of Defense in order to ensure every taxpayer dollar is spent effectively and efficiently to support American troops and provide for our nation’s Armed Forces.

McKeon, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement:

“The American people delivered a clear message last fall about the federal government’s spending binge. They want their elected officials in Congress to treat taxpayers dollars as sacred as they view the money in their own wallets and purses. The federal government has a spending problem, and Republicans in Congress intend to be part of the solution in curing this uncontrollable appetite.

“My most sacred responsibility as a lawmaker is to spend the money my constituents have entrusted to me as wisely as I can. In that vein, I will empower Members of the Armed Services Committee—Republicans, Democrats, senior and new Members alike—to scrutinize the Fiscal Year 2012 budget request with a fine tooth comb. We will ensure that every dollar is spent on the right equipment, training and support needed by our troops, their families and the nation’s defense.

“This process begins in earnest on Wednesday when our Members will have an opportunity to question Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen.

“Additionally, the new Congress must finish work on defense appropriations legislation that was left unfinished in the 111th Congress. As I have expressed to my leadership and the broader Republican conference, I have concerns—as does Secretary Gates—about the implications to our troops of funding the Department of Defense at Fiscal Year 2010 funding levels in a year-long continuing resolution. Therefore, I am pleased that the House plans to take up a defense appropriation for Fiscal Year 2011 this week. While I would have liked to see higher funding levels for defense in this legislation, I support all efforts by this Congress to avoid crippling the Department with out of date appropriation levels.

“Looking forward to the 2012 budget and beyond, we cannot take our eye off our national security requirements and the obligation the federal government—and Congress specifically—has to provide for the common defense. I have significant concerns that the budget request released today proposes to cut defense by $13 billion in 2012, cuts the size of our ground forces, and leads to zero percent real growth in the out years—when Secretary Gates himself has warned of the dire consequences of less than two to three percent real growth in force structure and modernization accounts given the threat environment we face.”

###


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Josh Holly
Communications Director
U.S. House Armed Services Committee
Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.), Chairman

The President’s 2012 Federal Budget

On 14 Feb., 2011, the President of the United States released his 2012 federal budget. In recognition of our country’s bleak financial situation, the President proposed a 5-year freeze on all discretionary spending outside of security. The President’s budget would terminate more than 200 federal programs for over $30 billion in savings. The U.S. Department of Defense, which comprises approximately half of the total discretionary budget, would reduce its funding by $78 billion over the next five years.

The President’s budget specifically mentions robotics and unmanned systems as areas for increased investment for both the Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation.

Although the President submits a budget to Congress ever year, it is ultimately Congress who decides how to fund the federal government. It is likely that the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives will seek deeper budget cuts in the months ahead.

If you have any questions for AUVSI about the President’s budget, and how it may affect the unmanned systems community, please contact Gretchen West, executive vice president, at West@auvsi.org; Ben Gielow, government relations manager, at Gielow@auvsi.org; or Mario Mairena, government relations manager, at Mairena@auvsi.org.

X-47B Carrier Demo Aircraft Makes First Flight

Northrop Grumman's X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) made its first flight on 4 Feb., taking off from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on a 29-minute flight that took it to 5,000 feet and may have ushered in a pending age of unmanned systems launched from aircraft carriers.

"First flight represents the compilation of numerous tests to validate the airworthiness of the aircraft, and the robustness and reliability of the software that allows it to operate as an autonomous system and eventually have the ability to take-off and land aboard an aircraft carrier," says Capt. Jaime Engdahl, the Navy's UCAS-D program manager.

In its first flight, the tailless UCAS-D, about the size of a manned fighter aircraft, flew several racetrack patterns and climbed to an altitude of 5,000 feet. The flight provided test data to verify and validate system software for guidance, navigation and the aerodynamic control of its design.

Engdahl said in a conference call with reporters on 5 Feb. that the flight comes almost exactly 100 years from the time an airplane first flew off a ship.

"Here we fast-forward 100 years, that we've added just three words: Unmanned, autonomous, and LO [low observable] relevance to the puzzle," Engdahl said.

Before the first flight, the test team demonstrated airworthiness of the airframe through proof load testing; propulsion system reliability through accelerated mission tests; software maturity and reliability through rigorous simulations; and overall system reliability through low-speed and high-speed taxi tests.


The X-47B aircraft will remain at Edwards Air Force Base for flight envelope expansion before moving to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., later this year. There, the system will undergo additional tests to validate its readiness to begin testing in the maritime and carrier environment. Carrier trials for the X-47B are planned for 2013.

Unmanned Carrier-launched Aircraft: Joint Again?

The Navy's unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) program will include significant cooperation with the U.S. Air Force and could one day serve as a wingman to manned aircraft, according to a speaker at the final day of AUVSI's Unmanned Systems Program Review 2011.

The program will draw on lessons learned from the Unmanned Combat Air Systems Demonstrator (UCAS-D), which was once part of a joint program before the Navy continued it alone.

Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, director of the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities division at OPNAV N2/N6F2, said at Program Review's Maritime Day that the Navy and Air Force have signed a memorandum of agreement on UCLASS pledging to look for synergies where possible. As the Navy begins to fly UCAS-D and prepares for UCLASS, the Air Force is working toward the follow-on to the MQ-9 Reaper.

"Everything we are learning from the UCLASS effort ... they are working with us on that," Klunder said. "They are leveraging from a technological standpoint" such areas as automation, control, data processing, sensors and survivability design work, he said.

The Navy had planned to release a request for proposals for UCLASS this spring but that's likely to be pushed back, he said. However, the Navy is pressing ahead and has high hopes for the vehicle's future capabilities. Asked if a UCLASS could fly alongside, and interoperate with, a manned aircraft, he said, "absolutely."

"We are indeed building the design of the UCLASS to have the network standards and data links that would allow that, and potentially if those data links are working, you could even envision that someone flying this one [an F-35] might be controlling that one [a UCLASS] together."

The Navy is continuing to press ahead on its unmanned underwater systems, said Rear Adm. David W. Titley, oceanographer and navigator of the Navy. Since 1990, when its autonomous underwater efforts largely began, to 2010, the Navy has racked up 72,000 nautical miles and 85,000 hours with its vehicles.

"This is real. While we don't have power on these, we do have endurance on these gliders," he said. "These gliders are going for four- to six-month missions out of area. They are not just deployed around the United States," but have conducted missions in the Arctic, the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific. "These data are being used every day," he said, and "that is giving our forces an advantage today."

Integrating that autonomous underwater capability to the fleet is "exactly what I think we need to do," he said, although cost remains a key concern.

As the Navy moves to a large displacement UUV capable of endurance greater than 60 days, power and reliability are challenges. The need for autonomy also increases as the Navy seeks to operate in GPS-denied areas, said Capt. Duane Ashton, program manager for the Navy's PMS 406.

“Cost control is important, along with everything else we are trying to do,” Ashton said.

The Navy is also considering an unmanned surface vehicle that could deploy unmanned underwater vehicles and could even be networked with an unmanned aircraft, Ashton said.

Airspace Access Dominates Air Day at Program Review

The second day of AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems Program Review 2011, Air Day, found speakers from all backgrounds focusing on the struggles to fly unmanned aerial systems in the National Airspace System.

The day kicked off with Montana State Sen. Ryan K. Zinke describing his state’s ample airspace — about three-quarters the size of the state of Florida — that could be used for UAS training if the Federal Aviation Administration granted them access.

The FAA’s Reauthorization Bill, currently working its way through Congress, is “deadly” from the Republican caucus’ point of view, he said.

“It’s not the UAS section that gives trouble, it’s what’s included in the rest of the sections, in who's going to pay for what,” Zinke said.

Despite that, Zinke said he thinks designating test and development sites for multiple tiers of UAS is possible.

“What I see more on the political side is probably a continuation of incrementally going forward with the national airspace,” he said.

Brenda Mulac, UAS program manager for NASA’s Airborne Science Program, showed a different side of the certificate of authorization equation when discussing NASA’s recent research initiatives using UAS.

NASA’s projects, which fly Global Hawks, require COAs that thus far have granted them large swaths of airspace.

For the Global Hawk Pacific, or GloPac, Arctic research mission, “We had a COA that basically covered the entire Pacific,” where the U.S. maintains control, “as well as the Arctic,” she said. Mulac, who said that NASA waits in the same COA line as everyone else, said having a NASA/FAA liaison aided the process.

“When we put in a NASA liaison to the program office, that was done because we’d had some problems in achieving what we were trying to do with our flights,” she said.

For the future, NASA will run more environmental research missions planned out through 2016.

“Airborne science missions are by nature very complex. We like to fly everywhere, we want to fly in anything, we want to fly at all altitudes. We’re scientists,” she said. “The integration for UAS and NAS seeks to engage everybody in the community.”

Capt. Gregory M. Maguire, of the chief concepts division of the Joint Unmanned Aircraft System Center of Excellence, said that even from inside of the Department of Defense, airspace is a big issue. JUAS COE has done an annual report on the national airspace. For this May’s report, they’ve done work with Nellis Air Force Base to look at lost link procedures so, instead of every service coming up with their own, one could be created through the DOD.

They are also working on a national airspace concept of operations in a report currently under review. He expects results in a couple of months and then will create a “capabilities-based assessment.”

“That’s Pentagon speak for, ‘How are we going to integrate this capability on a DOD level?’” he said. “We need to take a holistic approach to how we’re going to do that in DOD. DOD in the past has been very forward thinking in how we’ve designed a lot of the airways in this country, and we need to continue to do that.”

Autonomy, Reliability, Better Performance Needed, USPR Speakers Say

Ground robotic systems need to be more autonomous, more perceptive and more reliable, but they don't necessarily have to achieve all those things at once, said speakers at the opening day of AUVSI's Unmanned Systems Program Review 2011.

Zach Lemnios, the assistant secretary of defense for research and development, said the Department of Defense is "investing in concepts to prepare for an uncertain future." Two decades ago, that included technologies like GPS and stealth. Now it includes quantum computing, synthetic biology and advanced modeling.

However, his office is also seeking ways to get technology into the hands of the warfighter more rapidly. "It's about getting the 80 percent solution into the field now, rather than the 100 percent solution five years from now," he said.

Improving the human system interface is "absolutely critical," he said. He cited buying books on Amazon as an example of what can be done. By making book recommendations based on previous shopping sprees, it's "a system that is actually learning the user," he said. "We're moving that concept forward, building computer systems that learn the user so you don't have to learn a new operating system or a new application ... that's really where a lot of this is going."

Scott Fish, the U.S. Army's new chief scientist, said that a decade ago the service believed that the deployed of autonomous ground systems was just around the corner, a belief that intensified in recent years but hasn't quite come true.

"Though demonstrations about, no significant autonomy is being used in theater," he said. The Army needs to show a "real cost benefit" to deploying autonomous systems, and maybe some of the missions conceived for it may not be good fits after all, he said.

Also, not every robot needs to be more capable and more autonomous if it isn't cheaper, he said. "There's a time for emphasizing intelligence and there's a time for emphasizing the sensors," Fish said.

Jim Lasswell, the technical director for the U.S. Marine Corps, said ease of use is critical for Marines. If the corps thinks a system requires too much training or maintenance, it won't use it, a fate that has befallen at least two ground robotic systems.

"We need to make it something that the infantry man on the ground can use with ease," Lasswell said.

His service is pursuing one holy grail of advanced technology, the common controller, in the form of the Tactical Network Sensor Systems (TNS2). This would allow a Marine to "control all the gear that he comes in contact with," including ground vehicles, air vehicles and unattended sensors.

Jim Overholt, the Army's chief roboticist, echoed the need for a common controller after showing a busy slide displaying all the current controllers. "Boy, do we really need to standardize in this area," he said.

He also cited a commercial product — automatic windows in automobiles — as a way to challenge robot builders. Power windows, when first introduced in the 1970s, would fail in a matter of months. Now they last for years.

"Why not have robots approach automotive levels of reliability?" he asked. "It's a lofty goal, it's a goal that's way out there but it's a goal we really have to embrace."

USPR 2011 continues on 2 Feb. at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC.

UAV Caucus Renamed the Unmanned Systems Caucus

Yesterday, Reps. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.) and Henry Cueller (D-Texas) announced that the former Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Caucus will now be called the Unmanned Systems Caucus.

Co-chairs of the caucus, McKeon and Cueller said in a statement that the goal of the caucus is to educate members of Congress, stakeholders and the public on the value of unmanned systems.

“I’m excited by the continued development and evolution of unmanned systems," said McKeon, in the release. "The science and technology behind these systems are literally saving lives in civil and military communities. Our caucus is dedicated to educate and informing members of Congress, the private sector and the public about the importance and value of unmanned systems to the country."

The caucus, which was formed in 2009, had grown to represent all three domains in unmanned systems. The name change is intended to reflect that, says the release.

“We have seen tremendous growth in the land, air and maritime sectors of the industry over the last two years," McKeon continued.

"Unmanned Systems have saved countless lives on the battlefield. I believe these systems and their capabilities go far beyond Department of Defense use, and I demonstrate continued success as they become more prevalent within our civilian communities,” McKeon added.

Cuellar, who became the new co-chair in late 2010, replaced ousted Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia, who lost his bid for reelection.

"Unmanned Systems are essential to further maintain security on our borders and to combat illegal activity at our ports of entry," Cuellar said. "Their importance to our national security efforts cannot be overestimated, as they provide necessary information in moments of natural disasters at home as well as in the efforts to combat al-Qaida in Afghanistan. We must do everything in our power to keep our communities safe and this caucus will help us reach that goal.”

As a member of the caucus in 2010, Cuellar was part of the movement to bring Texas its new border protection Predator UAVs.

“As AUVSI represents all unmanned systems domains — air, ground and maritime — we’re glad to see the Caucus broadening its scope to encompass more of these important systems,” said AUVSI’s Gretchen West, executive vice president and vice president of government relations. “The unmanned systems community as a whole is growing and proving to be of extreme value for the defense, civil and commercial sectors, and the caucus’ expanded focus will bring greater prominence to our industry.”

CBP Expands Northern Border Unmanned Aircraft Systems Capabilities

On January 20, 2011, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Air and Marine Predator B aircraft successfully completed the first long-range unmanned aircraft patrol to utilize the expanded certificate of authorization (COA) that was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this week—increasing the effectiveness of homeland security unmanned aircraft missions in support of counternarcotics, counterterrorism and border security operations.


With cooperation and assistance from the FAA, the newly issued COA expands CBP’s approved airspace along the northern border by nearly 900 miles and allows CBP Predator-B aircraft to fly from the Lake-of-the-Woods region of Minnesota to the vicinity of Spokane, Washington.

Navy and AUVSI to Modify Biennial Unmanned Systems Demo

Based on feedback from attendees and participants, The U.S. Navy’s Program Executive Office, Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons (PEO(U&W)) and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) will be modifying the popular Unmanned Systems Demonstration by shifting the time frame and changing the structure of the event. Hosted in conjunction with AUVSI’s annual convention in Washington, DC, the live demonstrations of air and ground systems have been held at Patuxent River Naval Air Station Webster Field Annex. As the event has grown in size and popularity, the August time frame for the event has become a hindrance to lawmakers, overseas attendees and several others who are not able to commit to a full week for both the demo and convention. A new date is slated for Spring 2012, and will be announced this coming August at AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North America 2011.

Moving the date also creates new opportunities to enhance the demonstrations and AUVSI is working with PEO(U&W) and participating companies to create an event that builds on the successful format of previous demonstrations while adding new elements to best showcase the technology. “We’re looking into incorporating more than just the demonstration of system functionality with added focus on interoperability, a maritime component, and more,” said Michael Toscano, AUVSI’s President and CEO. “This additional time to plan enables us to re-evaluate what is most important to the decision-makers who will now be able to attend thanks to the shifted date.”

"Unmanned aircraft systems have matured, and continue to mature, rapidly in both capability and performance. We are very excited at the prospect of expanding this demonstration event with AUVSI,” said Rear Adm. Bill Shannon, program executive for the Navy’s unmanned aviation and strike weapons office.

Historical Highlights of the first five Unmanned Systems Demonstrations

2001: Dubbed the “Farnborough for UAVs,” the first demo drew a crowd of 2,000 to see static displays and flying aircraft, including a Predator that relayed video throughout the event. Also flying were a Navy Pioneer, a Schiebel Camcopter, an AeroVironment Pointer, a Navy Dragon Eye, a BAI Aerosystems Javelin, an Aeronautics Aerostar and a Yamaha RMAX.

2003: This event showcased the first flight demonstration of multiple unmanned aircraft; a dozen companies participated in the event, which drew a crowd to Webster Field that was nearly twice as large as the inaugural demonstration two years earlier.

2005: Unmanned ground vehicles, including iRobot's PackBot, made their debut at the event, alongside nine flying unmanned aircraft including the Northrop Grumman Fire Scout, DRS Neptune, AeroVironment Raven, L-3/BAI Evolution and Tern, ARCTURUS UAV T-15, EFW Skylark, NASA's FliC and a U.S. Navy Pioneer.

2007: Air and ground vehicles worked together to repel a mock terrorist attack on “combat town,” set up at Webster Field for the occasion. An iRobot PackBot, General Dynamics Robotic Systems Mobile Detection Assessment and Response (MDARS) and Foster-Miller Special Weapons Observation Remote Reconnaissance Direction Action System (SWORDS) handled ground duties while a Northrop Grumman Global Hawk and Insitu ScanEagle flew overhead.

2009: Six unmanned aircraft were in the air over Webster Field simultaneously: one optionally manned L-3 Geneva Aerospace Mobius, an Aeronautics Ltd. Aerostar, an AAI Corp. Aerosonde Mk 4.7, an IAI/Stark Aerospace Heron I and two AAI Orbiters. Karios Autonomi's self-driving Pronto4-equipped truck was operating on the ground below at the same time.

“The next demonstration is expected to carry on the same tradition of the first five events with the addition of new elements that will make it an even more useful, informative and important event,” said Toscano.