ROAR: Rear hemisphere Obstacle Avoidance for Rotocraft

The unique capabilities provided by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft also create challenges during turns and rearward maneuvers. VTOL aircraft lack sensors to provide protection in their rear hemisphere. Low altitude flight, take-off and landing are dangerous times for aircraft, even when landing in a well-known designated landing zone (LZ). The risk to the warfighter and expensive military assets increases markedly in confined LZs during night and in degraded visual environments (DVEs). A solution is needed to increase the situational awareness of obstacles behind the aircraft. The Colorado Engineering Inc. (CEI) team proposes to leverage its collective expertise with radar systems design, electromagnetics, antenna design, advanced embedded processing architectures, and radar algorithms to identify and assess solutions for a rear hemisphere, tail-rotor obstacle avoidance capability. The sensor system must be low-cost and fit within very tight size, weight, and power (SWaP) budgets to be feasible and suitable for VTOL manned and unmanned aircraft. CEI offers a unique combination of experience through its ongoing development programs for autonomous sense and avoid radar systems for unmanned airborne platforms and for rotocraft sensor solutions enhancing situational awareness in DVEs.