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Thursday
The Sparrow Hawk - Small Unit, Tube-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TLUAV)
Richard Adams, Vulcan Technologies
This paper will introduce the Sparrow Hawk Tube-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The UAV capabilities and design launch and possible uses will be discussed. This system is designed to be carried by a single individual in a sealed, self-sustaining canister. In an emergency urban combat situation this system would be launched by placing it on the ground like a Roman Candle and launching the two-stage rocket from its canister. The Sparrow Hawk deploys an unmanned paraglider when it reaches its operational altitude. This small paraglider is controlled by a small hand controller with screen. This system can provide immediate visual and targeting information to small units in high-walled urban areas, alleviating the need for bungee and hand launched systems. There is no set-up time or construction time involved with launching the Sparrow Hawk. This is a low-cost, disposable system that can also be configured to be used with mechanized platforms or air vehicles.
Hostile terrain and urban warfare have verified the need for small unit unmanned vehicles. A small, man-packable, disposable UAV could find many uses, from small units in urban environments, search and rescue for the Coast Guard and Navy to anti-terrorism and law-enforcement uses.
Hurricane Navigation with a Small UAV: Practical Experience and Future Strategies
Jon Becker, Cloud Cap Technology, Joseph Cione, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Po-Hsiung Lin, National Taiwan University, Greg Holland, National Center for Atmospheric Research
The Aerosonde UAV was conceived with the idea of penetrating a tropical cyclone (aka hurricane / typhoon). Since 1995 it has participated in a number of field trials with the goal of penetrating tropical cyclones (1998 and 2002 Australia, 1999 and 2001, Japan, 1999-2005 Taiwan, and 2001, 2005 Wallops Island Virginia). Over the years improvements were made in engine reliability, satellite communications, and navigation software, but the right opportunity had not presented itself. Finally in 2005 there were two spectacular successes. NOAA and NASA launched an Aerosonde from Wallops Flight Facility into Tropical Storm Ophelia. The aircraft navigated through the core of the tropical cyclone and returned safely. Just a month later an Aerosonde penetrated the eye of a category 4 typhoon near Taiwan. The aircraft performed semiautonomous navigation into and out of the storms. Some navigation results are presented along with possible future directions.
A New Drive Concept for Smaller, Lighter UGVs
Dr. James Burns, L3 Research
A novel concept for electric propulsion for UGVs is presented. The concept greatly reduces unsprung and total mass by combining suspension, steering and transmission functions. A modular, unit-deployable UGV concept that uses this propulsion feature will be presented. The concept is in the mass range of 150kg, and its novel deployment options, maintainabiltiy, and potentially advantageous operational envelope at high speed over less than smooth terrain will be discussed.
Competing and Completing the DARPA 2005 Grand Challenge- Positioning to Win
Michael Clark, Harris Corporation
Twenty-three robots launched on the morning of October 8, 2005. Although 5 completed the course, only 4 met the mandate which was to autonomously traverse 132 miles in less than 10 hours. In the 120 minutes before the race, the readiness state of the Red Team was at its peak. To achieve this state, its members slogged through thousands of test miles, performed hundreds of training hours, focused resources on reliability issues, drove over 2,000 miles of field reconnaissance, collected information from 41 competitors at the National Qualifiers, and self-injected several forcing functions to meet schedule and budget. DARPA’s entry requirements included site visits, team technical videos and documentation. These raised the level of competition and helped all teams reach a base state. However it is clear that to complete 132 autonomous desert miles in less than 10 hours, teams did more than follow DARPA’s entrance exam. They positioned themselves to win.
Hunter UAV Evolution - From RQ-5A to MQ-5B
Scott McCourt, Dave Edwards, Mike Howell, Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems
2006 marks the 10th Anniversary of Hunter Unmanned Air System’s fielding in the US Army. RQ-5A Hunter amassed over 42K flight hours since its fielding with the 15th MI Battalion. Hunter units have been deployed continuously in OIF providing over 13.5K hours of RSTA support to the Multi-National Corps and US Army Divisions.
Hunter lessons learned are captured by the Army’s Center for Lessons Learned to refine TTP and CONOPS. The Army’s PMO Unmanned Air Systems used lessons learned as a framework for other program initiations and its Common Systems Integration initiative. NGC uses them daily to maintain Hunter’s status (DoD UAS Roadmap) as the most reliable UAS in DoD and contributed to the development of the MQ-5B Hunter configuration being fielded today.
This paper discusses Hunter transition from RQ-5A to MQ-5B, emphasizing the engineering obstacles overcome. Examples include, development of the Heavy Fuel Engine (a DoD first), wet center wing re-design and structural analysis and improved avionics suite. These upgrades transformed the Army “workhorse” into the most modern tactical UAV available providing over 21 hours of endurance.
The insights are applicable to other Government agencies as well as commercial applications of UAS technology.
Development of a Self-Contained Payload Aiming and Stabilization System for Small-Sized UAVs
Patrick Currier, David Anderson, Virginia Tech
As UAV mounted sensors, such as cameras and LADAR, are increasingly used to acquire mission critical data, a system is needed to provide a wide field of view and stable operating platform. This paper presents the design and analysis of a self-contained, 3-axis payload aiming and stabilization system for small-sized UAVs. The system is designed to provide uninterrupted rotation in roll, pitch, and yaw while achieving a high payload to system mass ratio. An internal microprocessor converts orientation instructions into actuator commands and allows for use of both local and geo-referenced coordinate frames. A closed loop control algorithm using accelerometer data from the UAV s IMU actively stabilizes the payload in all three axes of rotation. The preliminary and final designs are presented as well as a discussion of the design considerations that led to the final design Also outlined are the structural and vibrational analyses performed on the system. A prototype was constructed and a comparison is presented between the design objectives and the test data.
Remote Delivery of Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS) by UAV
Greg d'Arbonne, Richard Sterchele, Ben Smith, Textron Corporation
Monitoring of terrain against insurrgency and intruders is a major war fighter mission. Legacy intrusion sensors were hand emplaced by soliders, putting them in harms way and sometime loosing the element of clandestine establishment of the sensor field.
Modern unattended ground sensors such as the Advanced Air Delivered Sensor (AADS) were design for UAV delivery, allowing them to placed quickly yet quietly. The AADS, which was developed under a US Marine Corps contract, can be delivered from altitude by any tactical UAV with a 14-inch bomb rack, allwoing a robust sensor field to be establishes and initiate monitoring of terrain. AADS can operate for weeks at a time, mintoring for movement by troops, vehicles and low flying aircraft. Detections are relayed to a remote ground station far away via SATCOM or using the host UAV as a relay platform.
Wireless UAV Networks Using 802.16 WiMAX Technology
Michael Donahoo
The evolving capabilities of 802.16e (WiMAX) are the future extension of the terrestrial Global Information Grid to mobile platforms, and providing connectivity that Last Mile to the Warfighter is the objective of netted communications that utilize new wireless technology: IEEE 802.16.
Wireless networks will soon be operating in conjunction with various systems such as JTRS, WIN-T and IWN, and new reach-back architecture like TSAT and MUOS, all designed to give the Warfighter more data, faster and with more security. Connecting the Unmanned systems to this network is extremely important, but challenges are ahead. Connecting the Warfighter to all of it is imperative!
Key Technology Enhancements :
- WiMAX (802.16e) will provide better range, speed, bandwidth, security, as well as true - QoS needed for video transmission.
- One of the BIG advantages of 802.16 over .11 is stability. Because the MAC, (Media Access Control) function manages data flow, the network will not stall under overload and oversubscription. In an 802.11 network, each subscriber degrades the quality of the network until it is useless. An 802.16 network can support over 1000 or more subscribers with no loss of quality.
Geological Sample Acquisition and Transfer Technology for Underwater Exploration
Seth Frader-Thompson, Jack Craft, Paul Bartlett, Honeybee Robotics
Geological exploration in an underwater environment presents challenges analogous in many ways to those of remote planetary exploration. Limited dexterity and high resource costs associated with large sample collection limit detailed investigation to those targets that possess a high value-to-risk ratio. The automated collection of preliminary samples reduces resource costs associated with cursory examination of a target, thereby allowing for the low-risk remote investigation of targets of less certain yet potentially high value. Small size and relative cost also permit operations in extreme or unstructured environments by reducing the risk associated with damage to the sample collector. The miniature coring system presented builds upon high TRL spaceflight technology, adapted for the underwater environment, and provides automated acquisition, retention, and ejection of a ~8mm diameter x 25mm long core. The technology is applicable to consolidated target materials, and is appropriate for both in-situ analysis and sample return for laboratory analysis. Bit designs have proved suitable for expedient sample acquisition in a variety of targets, including 100MPa basalt. Strata are maintained for fully consolidated materials, and preserved to a lesser degree for less consolidated materials. The technology is lightweight, compact, and power-efficient by virtue of its spaceflight design heritage.
High Level Programming Support for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles
Dr. Mahmut Kandemir, Computer Science & Engineering, Gary Giger, Liping Xue, Penn State University
While there has been considerable research in the past to build UUVs taking into account issues such as weight, length, power supply, potential payloads and networking capabilities, programming these devices remains a very important issue. This is because unless we can program these autonomous devices using a high-level programming language, the resulting code representing the mission will be messy, difficult to maintain, and more importantly error prone. Our goal in this paper is to discuss the technical details of the programming software being developed at the Pennsylvania State University. This software has two major components: front-end and back-end. The job of the former is to read the input program written in a small high level language and map it to an intermediate form called the mission order file. The back-end part reads the commands in this file and executes them with the help of an engine called the mission controller. In this paper, we introduce our high level language and discuss in detail the translation from this language to the mission order file. In addition, we present several examples to demonstrate how this system operates in practice.
Active Materials for Wing Morphing Micro-Air-Vehicles
Dr. Andrew Kurdila, Onur Bilgen, Daniel Inman, Virginia Tech, Richard Lind, University of Florida
Under the AFOSR / AFRL research program entitled Active Vision-Based Control for Agile Autonomous Flight (AVCAAF), members of the research team have developed carbon fiber composite, membrane-wing autonomous micro-air-vehicles. However, conventional lifting surface designs can be poorly suited to this class of membrane composite vehicle. Articulated lifting surfaces and articulated wing sections are difficult to instrument in a repeatable fashion. Assembly is also complex and time consuming in this case. This paper and presentation summarize progress in the design, development, analysis and implementation of morphing wings on autonomous MAV that are actuated via structural members incorporating active materials. The resultant designs are advantageous in that they are (1) solid state and (2) capable of highly agile maneuver. Active actuation is achieved via either memory alloys (SMA) or piezoceramic (PZT) composites. Both are studied in the paper. The paper and presentation include results from analytical study, numerical simulations and experimental study of the wing assemblies. Progress in computational simulation and experimental results for the vehicle performance is summarized.
Developing Semi-Autonomous Battlefield Support Capabilities with the Army Corps of Engineers
Paul Lewis, Sarah Gray, Kurt Niederhauser, Bret Turpin, Autonomous Solutions, Inc., Lulu Edwards, Army Corps of Engineers
Autonomous Solutions, Inc. and the Army Corps of Engineers have collaborated on an innovative system incorporating sensor technologies onto a semi-autonomous unmanned ground vehicle capable of performing forward engineering missions critical to battlefield support of the future joint warfighter. While much of the emphasis in military unmanned ground vehicle technology is focused on automating vehicles for the front lines, there are a significant number of behind the lines support related roles that will need to be filled. Support missions are necessary and vital to any significant battlefield operation, and part of the mission of the Army Corps of Engineers is to provide direct and indirect support to the warfighting effort. Battlefield support and engineering tasks are ideal for automation due to the remote and dangerous areas in which they need to be performed. This paper will focus on battlefield support missions and technology solutions for automating those missions.
Cognitive Systems Engineering for Operator Supervisory Control of Multiple UAV/UCAVs
Dr. William Marshak, Jeff Collier, SYTRONICS, Inc.
An inevitable step in the evolution of Uninhabited (Combat) Air Vehicles (UAV/UCAVs) is the reduction in crew size relative to vehicle command and control. The need to make life-and-death or complex decisions means full autonomy is not considered a viable option. The problem of providing supervisory control for multiple UAVs/UCAVs with the minimum human crew challenges both software engineers and human interface designers. Agent-based intelligent aiding offers significant advantages to implementing supervisory control. Such an agent-based system called Multiple UAV Agency (MAGE) is under development for Air Force Research Laboratory's Human Effectiveness Directorate. Human operator interaction with the UAV/UCAVs through MAGE requires a user interface that can cognitively couple the mission environment and weapon system with the operator s abilities. The process of creating an interface using a visual thinking or external cognition model with the goals of greater situation awareness and decision support will be described. Emphasis will be on the process of converting design principles and desired outcomes into concrete UAV/UCAV control interface features. Applied cognitive systems engineering is a productive approach to ensure effective human command and control of multiple simultaneous UAV/UCAV missions.
Fuel Cells as High Energy Density Power Sources for Long-Endurance SUAVs
Dr. Paul Osenar, Protonex Technology Corporation
Silent, reliable and energy-dense hydrogen fuel cell systems show great promise as the next-generation power source for small UAVs. While demand for longer endurance has increased, powering small UAVs for prolonged missions has been a formidable technical challenge. Because fuel cells are compact, lightweight and highly efficient, they offer higher specific energy than lithium polymer batteries currently used to power long-duration UAVs, enabling flight times as long as 12 hours. In addition, fuel cells offer a quiet, reliable alternative to the noise and unpredictability of combustion engines.
Protonex fuel cell technology has already been used by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in a small UAV application with impressive results. In November 2005, the NRL s 5.6lb Spider Lion UAV flew (including climbing and maneuvering) for 3.3 hours at BAI's test facility. With increased integration and continued work on optimization of the power system, even longer flight times will be achieved, as well as size, weight and efficiency improvements. This paper will discuss current activities, progress and possible fueling solutions, and present a roadmap illustrating the development path to production of fuel cell powered SUAVs.
Issues and Approaches for Small Aperture Satcom Terminals on Unmanned Aircraft
Larry Sawyer, Don Wilcoxson, ViaSat, Inc
Many Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) require a Beyond-Line-of-Sight (BLOS) capability. Large satellite antennas are impractical for most aircraft. LOS relays may also be unacceptable. There are a number of small aperture Satcom systems available, but many have insufficient data rates or excessive operating costs.
This paper will discuss issues and trades for providing cost effective, small aperture, megabit rate Satcom terminals using Ku- and Ka-band satellites. Reduced antenna size increases beamwidth while lowering gain. Increased transmitter power mitigates lost gain, but may cause adjacent satellite interference (ASI). Spreading the waveform can reduce ASI, but requires more bandwidth, and satellite bandwidth is a limited (and expensive) resource.
Some analysis reveals other interesting features. For example, a small aperture spread waveform is bandwidth limited before the transponder power is fully utilized. This opens the possibility of overlaying multiple signals on the same transponder, but requires the signals be separable. Data traffic analysis may indicate that the bandwidth requirement for individual UA's is not constant. With proper management additional efficiencies can be realized.
In summary there are approaches which balance the competing requirements and physical limitations of small aperture satellite systems and yield good cost effective working solutions for small UAS.
Affordable Autonomous Launch & Recovery of Fixed-Wing UAVs
Kirk Singleton, Geneva Aerospace
Among the many autonomous guidance and control challenges facing DoD and industry today is the safe, reliable launch and recovery of fixed wing UAVs in a variety of locations and on a variety of land and sea platforms (i.e. ships). The DoD has expressed the need for a single low-cost solution that would provide the same autonomous takeoff and landing capability to all UAVs regardless of the location or platform. Geneva Aerospace has demonstrated a system that is affordable, small, light-weight and reliable.
Geneva s solution employs a hybrid control system structure that combines trajectory synthesis guidance with acceleration control to provide precision control for launch and recovery. We utilize either precision GPS relative navigation or altimeter sensors, depending on the application. The design is ideally suited to facilitate recovery in remote locations, on moving ship decks or in the open ocean. The integrated system solution features a very small logistics footprint that is adaptable to a variety of UAVs.
This paper reviews the autonomous launch and recovery technologies under development and discusses the application of the underlying Variable Autonomy Control System technology to a diverse class of unmanned systems and enabling autonomous operations capabilities.
Modular Robotic Control System Development and Application
Michael Hannan, John P. Wetzel, John-Michael Taylor, Martin G. Midura, Shawn E. Ricker, ARA
A Modular Robotic Control System (MRCS) has been developed and integrated on a light utility tracked vehicle for various technology applications, including landmine detection and force protection. The MRCS architecture consists of three main elements: 1) a man-portable Operator Control Station (OCS); 2) Platform Control Components (PCC); and 3) a wireless data link. The OCS provides the remote operator with command, control, and communication with the PCC located on the vehicle platform. The PCC consists of control nodes linked by high speed Ethernet. The wireless data link incorporates radios and antennas to send commands between the OCS and the platform PCC. MRCS is designed to be compliant with the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS). Closed-loop speed control of the vehicle platform was developed to provide the required slow speed operation for the landmine detection application. Current MRCS efforts are focused on navigation and mapping development, and will be discussed in the paper in addition to MRCS development and application. The Humanitarian Demining (HD) Group of the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) is managing this program to develop robotic platform capabilities.
Results of JAUS OPC Experiment 2.75
Dr. Jeffrey Wit, US Air Force AFRL, Parag Batavia, Ph.D., Applied Perception, Inc.
The primary objective of the OCU and Payload Committee (OPC) within the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) working group is to assess the JAUS Reference Architecture (RA) specification s ability to address interoperability. The OPC was tasked to evaluate new messages and protocols before acceptance into the RA. To accomplish these objectives, the OPC conducted several experiments for collection of information on current and recommended approaches. The latest experiment, Experiment 2.75, was conducted at Tyndall AFB, FL in November 2005. Organizations from government, industry and academia participated in this experiment. Experiment 2.75 s goal was to evaluate recommended approaches for advanced autonomy capabilities including mission execution and world modeling. There were two main conclusions from this experiment: 1. the published JAUS RA message set, combined with proposed extensions for mission execution and world modeling, provide a solid foundation for OCU and UGV interoperability and co-operation, 2. while the message sets are maturing, there is a lack of protocol regarding the consistent usage of these messages. This fundamental flaw must be addressed in future versions of the RA specification in order to achieve operational interoperability of unmanned systems. This presentation provides an overview of the OPC experiment development, results, and future plans.
NASA's Suborbital Science Program: Unmanned Aerial Systems for Earth Science
Cheryl Yuhas, NASA Science Mission Directorate, Matt Fladeland, NASA Ames Research Center, Anthony Guillory, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Frank Cutler, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Susan Schoenung, Longitude 122 West, Inc., Ian McCubbin, Bay Area Environmental Research Institute
One goal of NASA s Suborbital Science program is to infuse new airborne technologies based on advances and developments in aeronautics, information technologies, and sensors systems. This includes the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) where they can provide unique capabilities for Earth science research and applications. The Program is organized into four elements: science mission management, catalog aircraft program, airborne sensors, and new technology. UAS topics cross all elements. The science mission management element derives requirements for suborbital facilities, including UAS, to enable science missions. The aircraft catalog and airborne sensor elements provide and manage the facilities for NASA suborbital missions, including two UAS that are currently in the catalog - Altair and Aerosonde. There are plans for an RFI to add platforms and sensors to the catalog. The new technology element introduces capabilities through demonstrations of new platforms and subsystem technologies. Recently, Altair was flown with a NOAA payload to demonstrate platform capability and obtain science data off the coast of California. Plans for the summer of 2006 include flights of Altair to acquire wildfire imagery in the Western United States. This paper describes in greater detail the program and the role and plans for UAS within the program.
RVT Level 3 - Bringing UAV Payload Control To The Front Line User
Shay Palti and Ran Carmeli, Aeronautics Defense Systems
End-user access to UAV payload video and data is an important goal. Field-launched mini UAVs can achieve this, but present manpower and logistics demands. Alternatively, rugged, compact Remote Video Terminals (RVT) have been developed for passive reception of UAV downlink in battlefield area. A unique, advanced RVT system, now available and operational, also fulfils the RVT Level 3 role, defined by NATO STANAG 4586, of control on UAV payload.
The Operator of the main GCS hands over UAV payload control to the RVT Level 3, while retaining full flight control. The RVT Level 3 operator can then direct payload, view and select targets on digital map etc., without being burdened with any UAV flight control tasks.
These capabilities have been achieved by using a separate uplink and by splitting the control logic architecture to separate flight control from payload control functions. The RVT Level 3 may also be exploited as a field C4I terminal with a 2-way link to Command HQ.
Presentation will provide a technology overview and technical and operational lessons learned from RVT Level 3 capability implementation in the US.
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