A Visual Perception System for Postern Sense and Avoid

ABSTRACT: Mid-air collisions (MAC) in manned aircrafts primarily occur when one aircraft overtakes another. In the case of remotely piloted aircrafts (RPA), their small size, slower cruise speeds and climb rates exacerbate the probability of their involvement in a MAC. Therefore, there exists a need for a postern sense and avoid (SAA) capability that will enable RPAs to maneuver away from the path of an intruding aircraft approaching from the rear. UtopiaCompression Corporation (UC) proposes to develop a high resolution color EO sensor based visual perception system for detection, alerting and avoidance of postern air traffic. Sensor placement on the RPA will be determined by considering trade-offs between minimizing: 1) the field of view obstruction by the airframe, 2) effects of airframe vibration, and 3) occlusion of air traffic by engine exhaust. The system will perform robust detection and tracking of air traffic, passive ranging to estimate range and range rates, predict impending collisions, issue collision alerts to postern air traffic and if necessary, execute avoidance maneuvers. The algorithms will be run on COTS massively-parallel computing subsystems to facilitate the use of multiple visual sensors and will be designed to meet the SWaP (Size, Weight and Power) constraints of RPAs. BENEFIT: UtopiaCompression's (UC) passive color EO sensor based postern sense and avoid system can enable the national airspace integration of group 2 to 4 UAS by providing an effective solution to mitigate the risk of MAC from overtaking aircraft. Specifically, for non-cooperative UAS, a passive system that meets the SWaP constraints can provide a rear view mirror capability to detect, alert and avoid air traffic from behind. For cooperative UAS, the proposed passive system can augment on-board active systems by providing postern data at higher resolutions (frame rates and bearing angle resolution). Additionally, the same system can be used on-board cooperative and non-cooperative piloted aircraft to trigger an alert for overtaking traffic. Finally, UC envisions the adoption of a successful SAA capability as a pilot advisory system by the commercial aviation industry. Such a capability, that can detect collisions over a much larger volume of sky than a human and is never distracted, will improve pilot situation awareness and therefore, safety of the flight. Raytheon will support the transition effort of UC"s passive postern SAA technology into their future remotely piloted platforms. UC will work with Raytheon to transition the proposed postern SAA for the UAS programs by inserting the technology into the existing SAA transition plan being executed by Raytheon. The UC team will maximize the likelihood of successful transition by working closely with Government stakeholders throughout the program process. Beyond military applications, the UC team believes that critical traction is being gained through the efforts of this SBIR program in a primary market with broad economic potential - the UAS market. The combination of UC's postern SAA system, Sense and Avoid Ladar, passive ranging (without the need to maneuver) and the cloud detection and avoidance technologies will provide far superior SAA capabilities for UAS than that which is currently available. This is an important enabling technology because despite a large degree of interest in UAS for a multitude of governmental and commercial purposes, adoption has been slow due to a number of technological and regulatory barriers. One of the most important remaining regulatory and technological barrier to broader adoption of UAS, both in government and commercial venues, is the certification of a system of technology, feedback, analysis and control which can reduce the risk of air to air collision down to that of a manned flight. The technology developed by UC for this SBIR program constitutes a critical enabling technology for removing this barrier. UC team is determined to demonstrate success with the Air Force as an initial customer and expand to other service branches and agencies. During Phase I, phase II development and beyond, the UC team will work closely with the Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) and SAA prime contractors to transition the technology.