AIRCRAFT STORELOADER

THE PROPOSED EFFORT IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A ROBOTIC AIRCRAFT STORELOADER (RAS) TO HANDLE THE EXISTING PROBLEMS IN TRANSPORTING AND LOADING MILITARY STORES TO AIRCRAFTS. THIS STUDY WILL EXAMINE THE PROBLEMS IN DETAIL AND PROVIDE SEVERAL ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS. THE STUDY WILL EXAMINE THE CURRENT STATE-OFTHE-ART TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROTOTYPE RAS. THIS STUDY WILL DEFINE THE OVERALL OPERATION AND RESPONSIBILITY OF THE RAS RELATION TO THE EXISTING STORE HANDLING PROCESS. THE MAJOR TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF THE RAS WILL BE PRELIMINARILY DESIGNED AT THE END OF PHASE I. THE MAJOR TECHNICAL ELEMENTS TO BE STUDIED INCLUDE AN AUTONOMOUS TRANSPORTER, A FULLY AUTOMATIC LOADING MECHANISM, AN INTEGRATED SENSOR SYSTEM WITH MULTIPLE SENSOR TYPES, A MULTI-PROCESSING COMPUTER SYSTEM, AND THE SOFTWARE MODULES FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF THE RAS. THIS STUDY WILL ALSO ADDRESS SAFETY, MAN MACHINE INTERFACE, AND OTHER ISSUES THAT ARE CRITICAL TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RAS. ALL FINDINGS FROM THIS PROPOSED PHSE I STUDY ARE REQUIRED AND NECESSARY FOR DEVELOPING THE PROTOTYPE AND ACHIEVING THE COMMERCIALIZATION GOALS. THE AIRCRAFT STORELOADER REPRESENTS A NEW CLASS OF AUTOMATED EQUIPMENT TO BE USED IN THE MILITARY.