Autonomous Suspended Load Stability Systems for SAR & Cargo Operations

Vita Inclinata has developed a solution to address the systemic capabilities gap in rotary wing suspended load operations- uncontrolled cable motion. Under the 183-001 Phase I effort , the team identified DoD service-wide Search and Rescue (SAR), Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE), and sling load teams who detailed the severity of external load rotary wing rescue missions due to non existing cable control solutions. Under this effort, Vita proposes to configure a platform agnostic suspended Load Stability System (LSS) for two mission sets: hoist rescue, and sling load. The LSS stabilizes the oscillatory and rotary motion a suspend load undergoes by applying a collocated control scheme. The device is connected to an intermittent piece on the cable and autonomously senses the environment, computes the optimal control action, then exerts thrust from high performance electric fans to stabilize the undesired motion. Vita further offers the ability for the flight engineers to directly control cable motion. Following production of the 2 systems, the team will conduct live flight trials with the empowered and committed Air Force, Army, and Navy squadrons and certify the system as safe-to-fly.