Micro Air Vehicle Tether Recovery Apparatus (MAVTRAP)

Our team proposes to develop, test, and commercialize a Micro Air Vehicle Tether Recovery APparatus (MAVTRAP). This system operates by deploying an instrumented MAV capture device attached via a tether system from a mothership unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The instrumented MAV capture device contains an integrated avionics suite. Our team will determine and control the precise mother ship UAV loiter pattern and tether/capture device properties such as tether length and capture device drag needed to enable sub-orbit or stationary modes. This system will allow for a large UAV to recover micro-air vehicles while flying at high altitudes and speeds. The proposed system is scalable for recovery of single or multiple MAVs. Our team’s background in nonlinear tether modeling, mechanism design, vision-based control, and embedded navigation electronics ensures a low risk, and productive investment for this effort. BENEFIT: The commercialized recovery system will allow for swarms of MAVs to be deployed to perform immediate aerial coverage of large areas. This capability is not currently available without incurring large costs for equipment and personnel. Military uses of these systems can include target acquisition/tracking, aerial recharging, and under cloud cover aerial mapping. Special Operations may benefit from aerially deployed and recovered UAV assets thereby reducing ground support equipment. UAV assets can be deployed in remote locations without requiring ground launch equipment or runways.