SBIR-STTR Award

Warfare within a city is a difficult business not only because of the abundance of man-made obstacles, but because the effects of bomb strikes are difficult to measure. Reconnoitering at low altitude and close range by a manned aircraft is often prohibitively dangerous because of the lack of maneuvering room and the high probability of hostile fire. A small, unobtrusive UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) capable of transporting sensors such as a video camera to a bomb impact site would greatly assist in determining, in real-time, the efficacy of the strike without exposing the operator to danger. In this Phase I study, Lite Machines will develop a variant of its rotary-wing UAVs and will study possible launch strategies from an existing munitions platform and the effectiveness of the UAV for bomb impact assessment in a cluttered urban environment

Warfare within a city is a difficult business not only because of the abundance of man-made obstacles, but because the effects of bomb strikes are difficult to measure. Reconnoitering at low altitude and close range by a manned aircraft is often prohibitively dangerous because of the lack of maneuvering room and the high probability of hostile fire. A small, unobtrusive UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) capable of transporting sensors such as a video camera to a bomb impact site would greatly assist in determining, in real-time, the efficacy of the strike without exposing the operator to danger. The focus of this Phase II work plan is to further develop the Lite Machines Voyeur UAV and flight test it in urban environments. Efforts will be made to address flight through turbulent air which is associated with navigation around and between buildings.

Keywords:
Uav, Voyeur, Bdi, Electric, Helicopter, Rotary-Wing, Urban, Sensor