Improvements to Sense and Avoid (SAA) Systems for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)

There is no Sense and Avoid (SAA) solution for small UAS such as Scan Eagle, Raven, or BATMAV, which represent by far the greatest number of UAS. Equipping small UAS with SAA capability is problematic, mainly due to the very small size, weight and power (SWAP) resources available. The SAA system must compete for critical SWAP resources with fuel and payload sensors. Small, low-power EO and sensors do exist, but these typically have much lower resolution and sensitivity as well as analog-only video outputs, which seriously degrades their utility for intruder detection and processing. Additionally, EO sensors have no capability at night, except against illuminated aircraft; this may be fine for civil airspace operation, but is problematic for Air Force SUAS which train and operate almost exclusively with covert aircraft. Defense Engineering Corporation (DEC) has devised an innovative solution for this challenging problem based on state of the art sensor and algorithm technology. The Defense Advance Research Agency (DARPA) is developing the Micro-Sensing for Imaging (MISI), a high-sensitivity, high-resolution, infrared imaging device weighing less than 20 grams. The DEC team will embed intruder detection and avoidance algorithms directly into a sensor derived from MISI to create an effective SAA solution for small UAS.