Remote Runway Survey System to Measure Soil Type, Load Bearing Capacity, Slope and Grades

"This proposal will outline a concept for a feasible, lightweight, unmanned Remote Runway Survey System (RRSS), using recent developments in sensor and processing technology. These developments in sensing and processing have provided the ability to sensethe environment and to autonomously navigate using low power, at a light weight and at a low cost. It is critical to obtain information about potential assault zones to assess their suitability for use as landing zones or drop zones. These zones requireprecise measurements of many characteristics that currently must be accomplished by Air Force Special Tactics operators over the entire surface of the potential assault zone. Such an operation requires the personnel to be exposed, which can alert othersto their activity and seriously compromise their safety. A highly innovative solution to this problem would be to create unmanned systems which could autonomously characterize the assault zone without significantly disturbing the site. We will evaluateand design the integration of technologies to scale the sensors, communications and processing required to complete this task in a small package size that allows the system to be lightweight and low-cost. The development of the Remote Runway Survey System(RRSS) has immediate and obvious applications in a number of fields. Geotechnical surveys to determine the soil suitability for construction of structures is currently a very large com