Date: Jan 01, 2012 Source: ARMY SBIR Success Story (
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Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAV) have shown great potential to provide real time situational awareness in close quarters for our deployed Soldiers. Obstacle avoidance and maintaining course are serious issues as micro machines become smaller and smaller with the corresponding potential to be destroyed or taken off course in one encounter with the smallest obstacle or lightest environmental forces.
PSI has developed what is believed to be one of the smallest fully functional MAV (InstantEye) equipped with an innovative insect inspired "reflexive" controller or autopilot which provides the necessary control to allow recovery from upsets due to collisions or U.S. Army Research Laboratory environmental disturbances. Due to its small size, power consumption and cost, these MAVs can be carried and used by individual Soldiers, capabilities that are unavailable today.
Missions that InstantEye can support include: Explosive Ordnance Detachments support; window and door clearance; roof and overpass clearance; around the corner or down the street reconnaissance; culvert clearance; Nuclear, Biological, Chemical and Weapons of Mass Destruction zone reconnaissance, Improvised Explosive Devices reconnaissance; and disaster search and rescue. At a target price of $300 per MAV it is truly expendable; and at 19cm and 200 grams it is inaudible and visually indistinguishable at 50 feet standoff distance.
To enhance situational awareness, InstantEye is launched by a soldier and directed to position where its onboard video cameras can view the target area. Rather than soldiers flying the vehicle in the conventional sense, they will direct the vehicle using a game-like hand-held controller. Once positioned Instant Eye requires no further input from the operator and will remain in position until repositioned, recalled or discarded.
Technology Transition:
PSI has received approximately $925K in Phase II Enhancement funds matched by approximately $1M Phase III from the Office of the Secretary of Defense Rapid Reaction Technology Office and the Combatting Terrorism Technical Support Office. PSI has also invested in early InstantEye prototype development to guide and focus the effort toward the Army's identified critical mission. Prototypes are scheduled for delivery to customers for in-theater evaluation.
