Stable Platform Module for Ships

There exists many potential applications for stable platform technology on Navy as well as commercial vessels. One such application is launching and recovering UAVs and VTUAVs on ships at sea. Without a stable launch and recovery platform that eliminates ship accelerations, operation of the unmanned aerial vehicles from ships is difficult. Although stabilization systems for orientational degrees of freedom are common on ships (e.g., consider fire control systems and stabilized antennas), systems that provide stabilization for both orientation and large changes in position are not. We propose to develop a concept that can provide full stabilization (i.e., in both position and orientation) that would greatly facilitate a UAV and VTUAV operation on ships and that can be adapted to other applications such as at-sea transfer of cargo and personnel. A dynamic simulation of the proposed stable platform module will be developed and candidate COTS hardware and suitable low-level control architectures will be identified. System requirements will be refined and critical derived requirements, including ship motion sensing, will be established. The results of the phase I effort will allow for a smooth transition to the hardware prototype development for phase II.