Precision Automated Instrumented Landing Survey

The United States Air Force (USAF) relies on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as its sole service provider for commissioning flights for all navigation aids (NAVAIDs), including the Deployable Instrument Landing System (D-ILS). If the D-ILS is not properly calibrated, the certification of the runway can take excessive time, causing excessive cost build-up and delayed certification, or can even prevent aircraft from landing when instrument flying is necessary. Because of this reliance on the FAA and the need to rapidly calibrate the D-ILS, the USAF is seeking solutions leveraging automated unmanned aerial system (UAS)-based D-ILS characterization and preflight inspection. To address this need, Intellisense Systems, Inc., (Intellisense) proposes, in a Phase II Accelerated Transition (AT) to advance technical and manufacturing readiness of the Precision Automated InStrumented Landing SurvEY (PAISLEY) system proven feasible through prototyping and operational testing in Phase II. The PAISLEY system is based upon the Intellisense’s innovative UAS based electromagnetic field measurement technologies coupled with state-of-the-art precision UAS position knowledge and innovative flight control software techniques. The automated system, as demonstrated in Phase II, leverages advances in domestic UAS solutions to take precise measurements of the USAF D-ILS far-field signal strengths to evaluate the D-ILS localizer and glideslope antennas and, consequently, accurately compare their alignment to the requirements for instrument landing. The PAISLEY system provides an Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems (ATCALS) flight with valuable information on the status of a D-ILS to enable rapid, lower cost and lower risk calibration than manned FAA certification flights. The Phase II-AT design will decrease payload weight leading to a UAS platform agnostic design, improvements to the user interface, ruggedization of the system for operation in expeditionary environments to support the Agile Combat Employment, and enhancements to the system GPS linkage/communication interfaces for GPS-denied operation. This will lead to multiple D-ILS test events where we will receive feedback from the end-user and stakeholders in order to implement changes that meet operational needs. Additionally, after a thorough formal design review and qualification testing during this Phase II-AT, PAISLEY will be ready for transition into a program of record and will allow for the widespread adoption of this technology across the Department of Defense, which also has significant dual use for automated commercial airport ILS calibration.