ARES Demonstration Vehicle Command and Control System Development

This Phase II SBIR advances development of the Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System (ARES) Demonstration Vehicle (DV) for flight demonstration.  The ARES DV is a Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft with tilting ducted fans and a modular payload that can accommodate cargo, troop transport, Casualty Evacuation (CASEVAC), and numerous other missions with a common flight module.  The effort proposed under this Phase II SBIR leverages work conducted under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program that designed, built and ground tested the ARES DV and obtained Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) airworthiness approval to conduct hover flights.  Success of this Phase II directly supports progress towards flight demonstration of the ARES DV with the Mobile Multiple Mission Module (M4) being developed by PiAC for the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC).  The ARES DV and M4 require additional Command and Control system development to complete flight testing and fully validate the concepts and inform future research efforts.  The ARES commercial potential includes unmanned logistics, medical transport or transition demand mobility currently not possible with existing aircraft.  The completion of this Phase II and follow on Phase III will provide critical data need for development and certification of the ARES product for both military and commercial markets.