Robotic Remote Runway Surveyor

"The Air Force is responsible for surveying assault zones the world over. These zones, which include landing zones for fixed and rotary-wing aircraft and drop zones for troops and equipment. The Air Force surveys these areas on a regular basis tophysically measure assault zone characteristics. Air Force Special Tactics operators need to take precise measurements compromising their safety or otherwise drawing attention to their activity in non-permissive or denied areas. The most critical isdetermining the soil's capacity of an Airfield Index, which provides a direct indication of the soil capacity to support aircraft loads. Since this capacity can vary with environmental conditions the testing has to be repeated on a regular basis. Insupport of this critical data collection effort, the Air Force has the need for a lightweight, portable, runway survey system that can be deployed remotely, function unattended and is capable of transmitting data to a remote operations center.A Phase I program is proposed to develop a Robotic Remote Runway Surveyor based on Foster-Miller's TALON robot design. The surveyor would enhance TALON's existing remote operation and surveillance capabilities with a soils surveying payload, which coulddetermine AI and moisture content. (P-010728) The Robotic Surveyor would have an immediate impact on the Air Force application but would have immediate use in other branches of the military where an site would r