SBIR-STTR Award

Airborne Technologies, Inc. Phase I effort will be to design and demonstrate the feasibility of developing a low-cost, marinized Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) that can be operated easily from small or large vessels and is capable of reliable and repeatable operations in an ocean environment. The UAS will be utilized for the detecting and tracking of marine debris, sea-life or other objects in the open ocean. Using anomaly detection software, the UAS will be able to locate items in the water and either autonomously or thru remote operator input, mark the location of the anomaly by deploying a small tracking buoy with a satellite modem. The Phase I study will prepare us for a future Phase II program of building and testing the Unmanned Aerial System for operations from a small vessel in an ocean environment. SUMMARY OF

Anticipated Results:
The deliverables of the Phase I study will be a final report that details the outcomes of the feasibility studies and the design of the proposed Unmanned Aerial System and UAS deployable tagging buoy for Phase II prototyping and testing

Airborne Technologies, Inc. Phase II effort will be to build and demonstrate a lowcost marinized Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) that can be operated easily from small or large vessels and is capable of reliable and repeatable operations in an ocean environment. The UAS will be utilized for the detecting and tracking of marine debris, sea-life or other objects in the open ocean. The system includes a small UAS deployable buoy that will communicate its GPS position back to the vessel via a satellite communication network. Using anomaly detection software designed under this project, the UAS will locate items in the water and either autonomously or through remote operator input, mark the location of the anomaly by deploying a tracking buoy. A number of imaging sensors will be tested and evaluated for effectiveness in open ocean detection of various targets, both biological and anthropogenic. The data can be processed or stored either onboard the aircraft or transmitted back to the vessel. The complete system will be robust and designed with simple user interaction in mind; it will be portable, adaptable and scalable to a variety of vessels and applications. SUMMARY OF

Anticipated Results:
NOAA will have an operational small UAS that will be adaptable to a variety of vessels and missions and will be a solid platform for future development work. ATI will market the UAS and sub-systems to meet the needs of other potential customers and will continue to advance the UAS through internal research and development