GPS-Denied Autonomous Aerial Logistics, Sense & Avoid, and Auto-Air Traffic Management

The proposed effort delivers multi-UAV flight demonstrations of detect-and-avoid systems in contested environments and edge-deployed UAV detect-and-avoid systems to ensure safe autonomous aerial deconfliction even when no UAV to ground comms are possible. Flight demonstrations are performed with Rhoman R&D multi-copter UAV platforms and L3Harris and Workhorse Fixed-Wing VTOL and multi-copter UAV platforms. During the Phase I Base period of performance, objectives have been achieved demonstration Rhoman’s GPS-Denied UAV navigation modular payload delivering GPS-Denied Alt-PNT UAV location estimates directly into ANRA’s mission management system, and flight missions being approved or rejected based on flight route deconfliction and air-space restrictions. Flight demonstrations where both the L3Harris UAV and the Workhorse UAV perform autonomous flight route deconfliction using the GPS-Denied Alt-PNT solution and ANRA Mission Management systemEdge-deployment of flight-route deconfliction where the UAV operates with no-comms, detects a UAV in its fight path, determines it has a conflicted flight path, avoids the other UAV flight path, and resumes/returns to its initially planned flight routeScalable cross-platform modular UAV payload designed, constructed, and tested, same base solution deployed on L3Harris Fixed-Wing VTOL and Workhorse Inc heavy-lift multi-copterOn-the-edge collaborative multi-agent maneuver demonstration, 1 of 2, Pass-By: two UAV with no ground-comms headed in opposite directions each detect each other and avoid each other while maintaining a TBD distance threshold, smoothly return to their respective flight routes, they are allowed to communicate with each other using LPDI commsOn-the-edge collaborative multi-agent maneuver demonstration, 2 of 2, Same-Target: two UAV with no ground-comms, headed to the same target (launched from different or similar launch location) each detect each other and avoid each other while maintaining a TBD distance threshold and arriving safely at the same target/landing zone, they are allowed to communicate with each other using LPDI comms The technical approach for the solution combines Phase I progress and background technologies to deliver a logistics C3 and aerial autonomy solution that allows fleets of UAV to autonomously work without GPS and deconflict without GPS or human oversight. Four key adaptations of background technology are planned to enable the proposed effort and demonstrations:Adapt vision-based GPS-Denied UAV autonomy system for fixed-wing UAV flight dynamicsRefine detect-and-avoid system for high-speed flight, high-speed detect and avoidAdd flight-route resume navigation & planned-v-avoidance path comparison moduleProgram multi-agent UAV path estimate and updated self-navigation for collaborative, no-ground-comms GPS-denied maneuver