MH-60S Vertical Replenishment Object Proximity Warning System

In Phase II, PiAC and CMU plan to develop and demonstrate an operational prototype of a VERTREP Object Proximity Warning System (OPWS) sensor and software. The prototype will be evaluated in a subscale demonstration using the actual sensor package and a surrogate mechanical system to simulate rotorcraft motion to land on a scaled ship deck undergoing pitch, roll, and heave motions. The operator will"fly"the surrogate system, where the motion of the ship deck will be able to be adjusted to simulate different sea states. An operator warning interface will alert the operator when various limits are approached, exercising the actual sensor hardware and generating sensor data without any approximations that would be required in a sensor simulation. Effects such as material properties, angle of incidence, and size of the object being imaged all play a role in the quality of the sensor returns that a simulation may not capture, reducing integration risk in preparation for a future flight test program in a follow on Phase II effort. Additional obscurants such as fog or smoke will be used to test the performance and accuracy of the sensor package.