Mortar or Rifle Launched, Low-Cost, Miniature Ballistic and Guided Flight Surveillance Sensor Systems

The Department of Defense is creating capabilities that will provide near instantaneous awareness of friendly, enemy and neutral elements. Using micro UAV technologies, over-the-horizon military targets can be achieved. Realistic goals for an advanced micro UAV compatible with all unit operation include: - a man-portable viewer and remote control system, - a miniature sensor platform suitable for launch from systems, - indigenous to the small unit (e.g. mortars), - a simple light-weight recovery system, - a refurbishment/checkout time of less than 2 hours at the organic unit level using a minimum of special tools and replacement parts/fuels. The micro-UAV concept includes launch from an 81-mm mortar using deployment tail fins and canard wings fir initial ballistic and glided flight. Subsequently, wings are deployed and a propeller engine is started to provide powered flight to and surveillance of the target area for approximately 2 hours at a range of 30 km, followed by return for recovery. The micro UAV payload contains a high resolution CCD camera, telemetry package, receiver/transmitter, and a GPS-INS guidance/navigation system. The system design development will address low cost, low obserevables, modularity, quick turn-around for reuse, and maintainability. The proposed Phase I and potential Phase II and Phase II work, are expected to result in a micro UAV sensor projection system to provide cost-effective reconnaissance/surveillance capabilities for final military units and a wide range of potential commercial users which include law enforcement, crowd control, border control, forest fire monitoring, natural disaster assessment and relief, etc.