Dodge Underneath for Collision-Avoidance Kit for Tethered UAS (DUCK TeUAS)

Current tethered Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) technology features systems that have low levels of autonomy and fly directly above the host platform.  Some systems are able to offset from this host.  While technological advancements have been made for autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles and UAS, this autonomy kit has not been integrated or investigated with tethered UAS. DPI UAV Systems in collaboration with Exyn Technologies is proposing a Dodge Underneath for Collision-Avoidance Kit for tethered UAS (DUCK TeUAS) systems for continuous overwatch in areas of interest. This proposal discusses the technical scope to support Phase I of this program. The team will investigate current sensor technologies that support long-range sensing requirements.  Exyn’s autonomous software architecture will be modified to include a Tethered Overwatch mission mode that will factor in the constraints of the tether to enable collision-free obstacle navigation.  A preliminary demonstration will be performed utilizing Exyn’s standalone mapping system, the ExynPakTM, mounted to a ground vehicle that incorporates DPI’s TUAS. This effort will assist in risk-mitigation for the execution of this program.