Aerial Environmental Sensor

The Air Force Program Executive Office for Digital (PEO Digital), the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), and the Tri-Service C-sUAS Swarm group solicit solutions to the following challenge areas: UAS sensing for weather hazard avoidance and for characterization of environmental conditions (wind, hydrology, RF spectrum, etc.). To address this need, ISI proposes to develop an Aerial Environmental Sensor (AES) based on the innovative redesign of ISI’s mature, ruggedized Micro Weather SensorTM (MWSTM) and miniature RF spectrum sensor to be integrated with a UAS. The proposed AES system’s small SWAP-C payload will enable its easy integration on a compact UAS platform to monitor the weather and perform environmental conditions characterization. By building on the success of ISI’s MWS, which is already a DoD program of record (PoR), and ISI’s existing mini-RF spectrum analyzer developed for Department of Homeland Security first responders, the risk to the AES development and transition is substantially mitigated. Upon completion of Phase I development, ISI will deliver an initial prototype and demonstrate its full aerial sensing capabilities. In Phase II, ISI will enhance the technical maturity of the AES system, readying it for comprehensive field testing and transition to clearly identified DoD and government customers.