GPS World

Tag: Boeing

  • Cleared for the dirt: How robotic rovers are revolutionizing military runway assessment

    Cleared for the dirt: How robotic rovers are revolutionizing military runway assessment

    Tactical air-lifters such as the Airbus A400M, Lockheed C-130 and Boeing C-17 require precise runway roughness assessments to operate safely on unpaved surfaces. An autonomous rover system developed at the Royal Military Academy of Belgium uses RTK/PPK GNSS positioning and sensor fusion to deliver centimeter-level height measurements, drastically reducing survey time. The system provides a practical solution for rapid runway certification across military operations and humanitarian response missions.

    Unpaved runway assessment

    The Airbus A400M Atlas, the Lockheed C-130 Hercules and the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III routinely operate from unpaved runways in harsh environments far from established infrastructure. Before these aircraft can safely land, flight crews require accurate runway roughness data to assess whether the surface meets operational limits. This assessment relies on precise, quantitative measurements of the runway’s surface characteristics — a task that traditionally requires specialized survey teams and hours of manual work with GNSS equipment, resources that are often unavailable in high-tempo tactical or emergency response scenarios.

    The challenge is particularly acute because different aircraft have specific roughness tolerances. The A400M uses an equivalent bump height (EBH) methodology, while Boeing employs its Boeing Bump Criteria. The EBH requires vertical measurement precision of ±1 cm over wavelengths ranging from 5 to 100 meters. Meeting these stringent requirements with rapid, field-deployable methods has remained an operational gap — until now.

    At the Royal Military Academy (RMA) of Belgium, we developed a novel solution to this critical challenge. Our system features a rugged, autonomous unmanned ground vehicle that can rapidly perform a centimeter-accurate runway assessment with minimal user intervention. It represents a fusion of robotics, geodesy, and advanced GNSS techniques, designed specifically for ease of use by military teams in the field. The system is called Belgian Navigational Surface Inspector (BENSI).

    FIGURE 1 shows the BENSI system during a mission at a tactical landing zone with the A400Min the background. FIGURE 2 shows the BENSI system being configured by the operator during a landing preparation.

    Figure 1 The autonomous UGV (BENSI) during a mission at a tactical landing zone with the A400M Atlas in the background.
    Figure 1 The autonomous UGV (BENSI) during a mission at a tactical landing zone with the A400M Atlas in the background.
    Figure 2 The BENSI system being configured by the operator during the beach landing preparation at Rømø, Denmark.
    Figure 2 The BENSI system being configured by the operator
    during the beach landing preparation at Rømø, Denmark.

    This article details the system’s architecture, the integration of multiple technologies that enable the stringent precision required achieved by GNSS and sensor fusion, self-driving capabilities and its successful deployment in demanding field tests. We present a military graded solution for ensuring tactical airlift safety, enabled by modern, accessible GNSS technology and robotics.

    Quantifying runway roughness

    Deployable Air Traffic Management (DATM) and Pathfinders are responsible for ensuring the safety of aircraft operations on unpaved runways. They are tasked with assessing the quality of the runway and the Runway Safety Area (RSA) to ensure that the aircraft can land safely. The pilots analyze their assessment and take the final decision to land.

    FIGURE 3 is an example of a landing zone having an unpaved runway that needs to be evaluated for landing. FIGURE 4 overviews the landing zone by mapping and indicating features of the runway that need to be considered by the pilots. An important aspect of the DATM’s assessment is the runway’s roughness, which is quantified by the EBH.

    Figure 3 An example of a tactical landing zone.
    Figure 3 An example of a tactical landing zone.

    For modern military transport aircraft operations, runway roughness assessment is a critical safety parameter. Both major manufacturers — Airbus with its EBH methodology and Boeing with its Boeing Bump Criteria — have developed sophisticated approaches to characterize runway longitudinal roughness profiles. These methods analyze height variations over wavelengths ranging from 5 to 100 meters, requiring vertical measurement precision of ±1 cm. This rigorous assessment is essential to reduce aircraft structural fatigue, minimize maintenance costs, prevent exceedance of design limit loads, and ultimately ensure safe operations. For the A400M specifically, Airbus requires EBH characterization to determine operational limitations of the aircraft’s maximum payload.

    Figure 4 A typical mapping of a landing zone showing a condensed overview of DATM’s assessment.
    Figure 4 A typical mapping of a landing zone showing a
    condensed overview of DATM’s assessment.

    Traditionally, achieving this precision would involve a painstaking survey conducted by specialists using a GNSS survey system mounted on a trolley requiring human guidance along the measurement tracks totaling more than 3 km of length. For military units like the DATM and Pathfinder teams, who often are the first on the ground, this is impractical. They need a system that is rapid, reliable, simple to operate without a surveying background, and robust enough for field conditions.

    A GNSS-Centric design

    Our solution is a two-part system designed for rapid deployment: a portable GNSS base station and autonomous rover. FIGURE 5 shows a schematic overview of the system architecture.

    Figure 5 A schematic overview of the system architecture, showing the data (NMEA) and correction (RTCM) flow between the base station, rover and operator.
    Figure 5 A schematic overview of the system architecture, showing the data (NMEA) and correction (RTCM) flow between the base station, rover and operator.

    The base station: The system’s anchor

    Housed in a compact, portable case, weighing just 2 kg including tripod and radios (as seen in FIGURE 2), it serves as the operational hub. Once set up on its lightweight tripod, it performs an automatic survey to establish its precise coordinates. Its primary role for positioning is to generate and transmit Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) 3.x correction data to the rover via a robust long-range radio link (operating in the868/900MHz bands).

    Beyond its GNSS duties, the base station acts as a self-contained command center. It hosts a Wi-Fi hotspot and a web server, allowing the operator to connect with any standard tablet, smartphone or laptop. This web interface is used for mission planning, command and control of the rover, and real-time monitoring of survey progress. At the end of the mission, the operator can download the EBH data and additional quality metrics of the runway for analysis such as a summary report of the complete measurement, a gradient analysis, and a runway map highlighting zones with bumps or troughs exceeding the specified criteria.

    An autonomous, all-terrain surveyor

    The UGV is a lightweight but rugged platform chosen for its durability and open-source software architecture, which allows for deep integration of our custom navigation and control algorithms. The rover has been designed to be able to traverse rough terrain and survive in harsh weather conditions. The UGV consists of two parts, the chassis (11 kg) and the processing payload(8 kg). The heart of the rover is the processing payload, which contains a sophisticated sensor suite designed for high-precision localization and navigation.

    ■ Primary GNSS receiver. A high-grade, multi-constellation Septentrio receiver with a Calian/Tallysman GNSS antenna provides the main source of positioning information.

    ■ GNSS heading. A second Calian/Tallysman GNSS antenna, set up in a moving-base configuration, provides degree-accurate true heading, which is critical for maintaining precise track-following.

    ■ Inertial measurement unit (IMU). An industrial-grade Xsens IMU provides high-frequency data on the rover’s orientation and acceleration, bridging any brief GNSS outages, providing the sensor fusion algorithm with high-rate data, and helping to smooth the final trajectory.

    ■  Radio communication. The radio modules provide robust long-range communication with the base station operating in the 868/900MHz bands.

    ■ Wheel odometry. Encoders on the rover’s wheels provide continuous velocity information, acting as a crucial input for the sensor fusion algorithm. All sensor data is fed into an onboard mini-PC running the Robot Operating System, a flexible framework for developing robotic applications.

    Path to precision

    Achieving centimeter-level accuracy on a moving platform in challenging environments requires more than just a good GNSS receiver. Our approach is built on a robust foundation of sensor fusion and a dual processing strategy using real-time kinematic and post-processing kinematic (RTK/PPK). An extended Kalman filter (EKF) is at the core of the rover’s navigation software. The EKF continuously fuses data from the GNSS receivers, IMU and wheel encoders to produce a single, high-integrity “pose” (position and orientation) estimate.

    For runway surveying, we employ two modes of GNSS processing:

    RTK. During the mission, the rover uses the RTCM corrections from the base station to compute a centimeter-accurate position in real-time. This is used for autonomous navigation, allowing the rover to follow its generated mission plan configured by the operator with high precision.

    PPK. While RTK provides excellent real-time results, the most demanding applications benefit from post-processing. Both the rover and the base station log all raw GNSS observables during the mission. After the survey is complete, these raw data files are processed together which allows for more rigorous quality control and can often resolve ambiguities or fix cycle slips that were not solvable in real-time, providing the definitive, highest accuracy trajectory for the EBH analysis.

    A final crucial step is extracting the height profile for each EBH track and subsequently transforming and reformatting this data for Airbus’ AssurTool. The step also is automated and carried out by the software. It takes care of the following:

    ■ The conversion of the geodetic coordinates (latitude, longitude, and height above the World Geodetic System 1984 [WGS84] ellipsoid) to Universal Transverse Mercator plane coordinates and orthometric heights (heights relative to a geoid).

    ■ The extraction of the height profile of each EBH track.

    ■ Quality control of the precision of the height profile flags tracks that do not meet the required accuracy or show inconsistencies.

    ■ The transformation and reformatting of this data for Airbus’ AssurTool.

    Self-driving capabilities

    The rover uses a navigation framework with a custom planner for generating smooth, curved paths that match the rover’s turning capabilities and steers the rover using a controller based on the Regulated Pure Pursuit tracking algorithm. A specialized lane-generation algorithm creates optimal survey patterns from runway corner points, with behavior-tree recovery strategies for robust operation.

    FIGURE 6 shows a typical EBH survey pattern generated from the mission plan and executed by the rover and a depiction of how the rover plans the smooth curved path between the lanes.

    Figure 6 Features of the navigation framework used for planning the EBH tracks. (a) A typical EBH survey pattern generated from the mission plan and executed by the rover. (b) A depiction of how the rover plans the smooth curved path between the lanes.
    Figure 6 Features of the navigation framework used for planning the EBH tracks. (a) A typical EBH survey pattern generated from the mission plan and executed by the rover. (b) A depiction of how the rover plans the smooth curved path between the lanes.

    A streamlined workflow

    The system was designed from the ground up to be operated by non-surveyors. A typical mission workflow is as follows:

    Setup. The operator places the base station on a tripod near the runway and unfolds the rover. The entire hardware setup takes less than 10 minutes.

    Mission planning. Using a ruggedized tablet (or any other device with a web browser), the operator connects to the base station’s WiFi and opens the web interface. They define the runway by entering the coordinates of the runway’s corners. The software automatically calculates the EBH lines based on the required spacing. FIGURE 7a shows the user interface displayed on a tablet, showing the EBH mission configuration page.

    Figure 7a The user interface of the web application.
    Figure 7a The user interface displayed on a tablet, showing the EBH mission configuration.

    Execution. The operator initiates the mission, and the UGV autonomously navigates to the start of the first line and begins the survey. The operator can monitor and control the rover’s progress, position, and GNSS quality status in real-time on the web interface. FIGURE 7b shows the user interface displayed on a tablet, showing the rover control, the real-time status of the UGV and the measurements.

    Figure 7b The tablet showing the rover control and the real-time status of the UGV and the EBH results.
    Figure 7b The tablet showing the rover control and the real-time status of the UGV and the EBH results.

    Data retrieval. Upon completion, the rover returns to the base station. The system automatically processes the data, producing downloadable files formatted for direct import into Airbus’ AssurTool and additional useful quality metrics for the operator. These consist of a summary report of the complete measurement, a gradient analysis, and a runway map highlighting zones with bumps or troughs exceeding the specified criteria.

    Analyzing the data

    Once the rover completes its survey and returns to the base station, the system automatically initiates post-processing of the collected data. This critical step validates the quality of every measurement and generates operator-ready outputs for both Airbus’ AssurTool and field assessment.

    The post-processing pipeline applies rigorous quality criteria to each survey line. Lines failing these criteria are automatically flagged with detailed diagnostics explaining the cause.

    For operational decision-making, the system generates a comprehensive visualization report. The operators receive planimetric maps showing the height profile plots and a detailed gradient analysis identifying critical slope transitions. A key capability is the generation of a 3D interpolated height map of the entire runway surface. This color-coded surface map provides an intuitive view of the runway’s topography, clearly highlighting zones with excessive bumps, depressions, or gradient anomalies that facilitates the assessment of the runway.

    These analysis reports are accessible through the web interface for immediate download to the operator’s tablet. FIGURES 8 shows examples of the visualization report.

    Figure 8a 2D height and gradient contour maps of two surfaces generated by the BENSI system. (a) A height contour map of two landing zone (LZ) surfaces automatically generated by the BENSI system.
    Figure 8a 2D height and gradient contour maps of two surfaces generated by the BENSI system. (a) A height contour map of two landing zone (LZ) surfaces automatically generated by the BENSI system.
    Figure 8b A gradient contour map of two LZ surfaces automatically generated by the BENSI system.
    Figure 8b A gradient contour map of two LZ surfaces automatically generated by the BENSI system.

    Proven performance

    The UGV system is a mature prototype that has been validated in numerous international military exercises. It has successfully surveyed tactical landing zones in varied environments, from the desert strips of Yuma, Arizona, and 29 Palms, California, to the sandy shores of Denmark and fields in France, Portugal and Italy. In all tests, the system has consistently delivered the sub-centimeter height precision required for A400M EBH certification.

    2025 Rømø Head-to-Head Trial. During beach-landing preparations in August 2025, our autonomous rover and a manual system (human-guided trolley) using a professional GNSS survey system ran side-by-side on a 1 000m landing zone on the Rømø beach in Denmark. The BENSI solution matched the manual survey system height profile with a standard deviation of 8mm and demonstrated significantly better lane-tracking consistency (mean deviation: 8,5 cm vs 16 cm and deviation error: 3 cm vs 9 cm). FIGURE 9 shows the height-error distribution between the BENSI system and the manual survey system at Rømø, Denmark.

    Figure 9 Height-error distribution between the BENSI system and the manual survey system at Rømø, Denmark.
    Figure 9 Height-error distribution between the BENSI system and the manual survey system at Rømø, Denmark.

    Rapid humanitarian response

    While BENSI was conceived for tactical airlift operations, its capabilities extend naturally to humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief missions. Belgium’s civil rapid-response unit Belgian First Aid & Support Team (B-FAST) routinely deploys doctors, paramedics, firefighters, and other professionals worldwide following earthquakes, floods, or epidemics. Leveraging the A400M’s ability to land on short, unpaved strips away from congested or contested airfields drastically cuts transit times — but only if the runway’s condition can be certified quickly.

    The BENSI systems enables a DATM team to quickly relay an EBH report and awareness map of the immediate area to the inbound aircrew. This rapid assessment unlocks critical early access for life-saving medical supplies and personnel when every hour counts.

    Conclusion and the Road Ahead

    The fusion of autonomous robotics and high-precision GNSS offers a powerful solution to the critical challenge of certifying unpaved runways. Our system saves valuable time, reduces the burden on specialized personnel, and provides objective, high-quality data that directly enhances the safety of tactical airlift operations.

    Development is ongoing. Our current efforts focus on several key areas:

    ■  Improving navigation in degraded environments. We are exploring tighter coupling between the GNSS and IMU to provide more robust navigation through areas of poor satellite visibility.

    ■ RSA assessment. We are experimenting with integrating a lidar sensor to generate a 3D point cloud of the runway and its surroundings. This will automate obstacle detection and the assessment of the RSA, though we are carefully working to mitigate potential electromagnetic interference from the lidar that can interfere with GNSS reception.

    ■ Handheld corner point device. To further improve absolute accuracy, we are developing a small, handheld device that uses RTK corrections from the base station, allowing operators to mark the runway corners with centimeter-level precision.

    This project demonstrates a clear application of GNSS technology in a demanding military aviation context, with broader implications for any field requiring rapid and precise surface profiling, from civil engineering to disaster response.

    Development Team

    ■ Pieterjan De Meulemeester ([email protected]) is a Ph.D. research engineer at the RMA of Belgium.

    ■ Alain Muls ([email protected]) is professor at the RMA of Belgium. He teaches the courses Military Satellite Based Positioning andMilitary Geodesy.

    ■ Jarno Van Audenhoven ([email protected]) is a Robotics Development and Research Engineer at the RMA of Belgium.

    ■ Pascal De Kimpe is a technician at the RMA of Belgium.

    ■ The BENSI system was developed by the R&D team at the RMA of Belgium in collaboration with Belgian Defense. The system has been successfully field-tested during international military exercises and is being evaluated for operational deployment.

    All photos courtesy of BENSI Development Team of the Royal Military Academy of Belgium

  • Unmanned systems updates: Government shutdown risks, UAS advances and eVTOL industry challenges

    Unmanned systems updates: Government shutdown risks, UAS advances and eVTOL industry challenges

    To echo the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International’s (AUVSI) pleas to Congress, a prolonged government shutdown could impact recent efforts to establish stronger counter-UAS protection for sensitive establishments across the U.S. and forestall key Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hiring plans to support safe drone integration into the U.S. National Airspace System.

    Nothing is good about having roughly 750,000 people out of work and stalling their buying contributions to the American economy, not to mention that air traffic controllers, Border Patrol agents and other essential services are still working without pay. Hopefully common sense will prevail and the government will reopen soon.

    Originally known as the Boeing Airpower Teaming System or “Loyal Wingman,” the Boeing Australia MQ-28A Collaborative Combat Aircraft has been rechristened. Developed jointly by Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force, the MQ-28A was not entered in the U.S. CCA competition and has remained fully employed in Australia with its team. Now referred to as the “Ghost Bat” — a name inspired by a north Australian flying bat by the same name, which uses “multi-spectral sensors” to hunt and learn in packs together — the name is a fitting analogy for the anticipated role of the MQ-28A.

    Ghost Bat taxies at RAAF base Woomera in Australia. (Credit: Beoing)
    Ghost Bat taxies at RAAF base Woomera in Australia. (Credit: Beoing)

    Flying since February 2021, the Ghost Bat has made significant steps toward operational readiness. Using AI-powered intelligence to perform autonomously, Ghost Bat has a replaceable nose section, each fitted with different sensor suites appropriate for different missions.

    With eight vehicles now available for a comprehensive operational verification test, in June and four months ahead of schedule, Ghost Bat completed a series of flights at both Woomera and Tindal bases in northern Australia. Capabilities demonstrated included autonomous missions, multi-ship operations and teaming with an E-7A Wedgetail early warning aircraft — including data fusion between multiple MQ-28A Ghost Bat aircraft and the crewed Wedgetail. The aircraft has flown for 150 hours and has accomplished more than 20,000 hours of virtual and ground testing. Able to find, fix, track and target, MQ-28A has proven its capability to carry out essential pieces of the air combat role — remaining elements include engage and assess, which will involve carrying air-to-air missiles later in 2025.

    This apparently brings the Boeing MQ-28A close to operational capability and ready for volume manufacturing. The eight aircraft have been built at an automated manufacturing facility in Melbourne, where two improved versions are currently being built that incorporate improvements developed through the testing phase, and a combined GPS/INS system will replace the commercial GPS on the aircraft. Ground has meanwhile been broken on a 100,000-square-foot high-volume manufacturing plant in the Wellcamp Aerospace and Defence Precinct in Queensland — expected to be complete within three years.

    While electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air-taxis under development progress towards certification by FAA and other agencies, introductory trials are also underway and agreements for future collaboration are being made all over around the world. While major players such as airlines and manufacturers have invested heavily to provide the capital for eVTOL development and manufacturing, one such agreement appears to be in trouble.

    Lilium jet eVTOL (Credit: Lilium)
    Lilium jet eVTOL (Credit: Lilium)

    Lilium, a jet eVTOL developer, and GlobeAir, an existing operator of an Austrian fixed-wing business aviation operation, signed a memorandum of understanding in September 2022. GlobeAir posted an article on its website that said it saw the agreement with Lilium as a step toward the “next generation of regional air mobility” and that it intended to buy 12 jet-powered Lilium eVTOL aircraft “to operate in Northern Italy and the French Riviera.” GlobeAir was also reported to have supported the inclusion of several potential key local suppliers to participate in the build of Lilium aircraft.

    Lilium went bankrupt in October 2024, and its assets and intellectual property have been up for bids. Emerging briefly from bankruptcy protection, Lilium again ended up broke and on the auction block in February 2025. Vaeridion has already purchased Lilium’s battery facility, and Ambitious Air Mobility is close to a deal to acquire the rest.

    The CEO of GlobeAir has now told the magazine Aviation Week in an interview that he expects the whole eVTOL adventure to fail, given the cost of not only vehicle development and construction but also the landing and charging infrastructure needed. Other hurdles include the level of test and verification and excessive levels of documentation — overall being “highly regulated, with low margins.” It’s an unfortunate, perhaps premature assessment from an existing fixed-wing operator who contracts out last-mile passenger transitions to third-party helicopter operators.

    So, there is another mixed bag of going ons in the world of unmanned and derivative eVTOL aircraft – hopefully following the restoration of funding for the government, paused programs will be restored to extend counter UAS defenses across the U.S., Ghost Bat will complete its combat engage and assess phases and there will be much better news on the eVTOL front.

  • Navigation tools aim to compliment GPS

    Navigation tools aim to compliment GPS

    News from the Chicago Quantum Exchange

    Quantum technologies may offer a solution to GPS jamming and spoofing, according to the University of Chicago. Already, prototypes are being tested of a suite of sensor-based techniques that do not rely on satellite signals. 

    GPS jamming and spoofing have emerged as growing threats in recent years, according to the Chicago Quantum Exchange, based at the university. In 2024 alone, more than 1,000 commercial flights per day were affected by GPS spoofing, especially while flying through regions like the Middle East and Eastern Europe. 

    During these incidents, in-flight instruments show pilots that their aircraft is flying higher or lower than they truly are or that they are miles off their actual location. In maritime settings, spoofed GPS signals have even caused ships to veer off course or run aground. These are not isolated glitches but the result of deliberate electronic warfare tactics.

    Corporate partners of the Chicago Quantum Exchange, including Boeing, Infleqtion and SandboxAQ, are among those developing applications. The CQE is a hub that connects leading universities, national labs, and industry partners to advance quantum technology.

    “Governments and the commercial industry are in dire need of this technology,” said Ken Devine, senior product manager for quantum navigation at SandboxAQ. “The geopolitical issues happening across the world, and the ramp up in both jamming and spoofing — Russia, Ukraine, the Middle East, Israel, Iran — everyone’s getting super disruptive, and that’s not going to go away anytime soon. Everyone is saying, ‘We basically need this yesterday.’”

    In May 2023, SandboxAQ completed the first of many flight tests for the United States Air Force and its commercial aviation partners, including two major Air Force exercises that year. 

    In 2024, Boeing completed the world’s first recorded flight using multiple quantum navigation systems, testing the ability of these sensors to navigate across the central U.S. for four hours without GPS. 

    The Boeing test incorporated two different technologies. The first is a magnetic field-based navigation system called AQNav from SandboxAQ, It uses map matching, though the map that they use is of the Earth’s crustal magnetic field rather than terrain. Infleqtion is investigating both techniques. The second is an inertial navigation system from quantum sensing technology company AOSense. 

    Jay Lowell, principal senior technical fellow at Boeing, said it was vital to consider “whether and how” the different technologies could be used together. “Maybe that means a tradeoff of performance between sensors in moments where one struggles and the other’s strong,” Lowell said. “Fundamentally, it means we just need to understand whether their combined data is better than either one alone.”

    Detecting tiny changes 

    Inertial navigation depends on accelerometers and gyroscopes — which respectively measure acceleration and rotation — to measure movement. An inertial sensor tracks how an object moves from a known starting point by recording changes in its speed and direction.

    While basic accelerometers are common in smartphones and fitness trackers, quantum inertial sensors can detect changes in motion down to the femtometer — less than the width of an atom — making them extraordinarily precise. Inertial sensors have applications in space-based technology, since they do not need maps or fixed points to navigate. 

    Infleqtion recently completed commercial flight trials of inertial-based quantum navigation in the United Kingdom and plans to conduct tests in the U.S. as well. Infleqtion’s Chicago office is also developing an AI-powered tool called SAPIENT that won first place in the U.S. Army’s xTechScalable competition.

    “[SAPIENT] is focusing on the software side, taking the outputs of multiple kinds of sensors and stitching them all together with AI to provide a more robust navigation signal,” said Pranav Gokhale, general manager of computing at Infleqtion. “There is a big gap between an inertial measurement unit and a full inertial navigation system, so we’re using AI to fill that gap.”

    Alternatively, magnetic navigation, or MagNav, works much like terrain-following radar, comparing real-time sensor data to a known map to pinpoint location. 

    But instead of elevation, the aircraft senses subtle magnetic fluctuations in the Earth’s crust — variations caused by geology, mineral deposits and even human infrastructure — and compares its measurements to a corresponding map of that field. 

    Scientists believe that birds can use their ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate in a similar way. Magnetic field maps of the globe are frequently done for mineral, oil and gas surveys, as small anomalies in the field can indicate resources underground. But there are areas where high-resolution maps can be hard to come by. 

    “Map quality in the region you’re going to is definitely a factor that gets plugged into how well magnetic navigation can perform,” Devine said. 

    He identified a list of other key variables, such as the type of aircraft being used, plus its altitude and speed, as additional points of consideration for MagNav technology. At the same time, he said the importance of these tools is likely to grow as electronic warfare strategies become even more entrenched.

    “We’ve validated that we can do real-time navigation with this technology,” Devine said. “And that’s huge, because the need for it is only going to increase.”

  • Unmanned systems updates

    Unmanned systems updates

    The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has sponsored the development of two unmanned vehicles aimed at accompanying and augmenting the capability of today’s front-line fighter/bomber aircraft. The Loyal Wingman story just took another step forward with the first flight of the General Atomics Aeronautical System Inc. (GA-ASI) developed X-67A at the company’s Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility near Palmdale, California.

    General Atomics/AFRL X-67A in flight (Photo: Air Force Research Laboratory Public Affairs)
    General Atomics/AFRL X-67A in flight (Photo: Air Force Research Laboratory Public Affairs)

    Little is currently known about the AFRL/GA-ASI unmanned aircraft, other than indications that it has been developed under a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program and built on a common frame, which is intended to aid the rapid development of future new variants.

    AFRL has previously sponsored Kratos to develop the XQ-58A Valkyrie, which is also intended to “work in teams with manned aircraft,” as a low-cost “attributable” asset commanded by a manned flying companion. The aircraft launches by rocket assist and is recovered vertically by parachute – the new ‘trolley’ launch capability allows the jet-powered Valkyrie to take off on a regular runway.

    In earlier flight testing, communications between Valkyrie and both an F-22 Raptor and an F-35 Lightening front-line manned aircraft were established, demonstrating the manned/unmanned teaming concept. With a range of roughly 3,000 mi and an operational ceiling of 44,000 ft, the Valkyrie is intended to demonstrate how an armed, low-cost UAV can bring significant additional assets into combat situations. However, the original test article is now retired and has been put on display at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton, Ohio, so its demonstration days appear to be over.

    XQ-58A Valkyrie. (Photo: AFRL)
    XQ-58A Valkyrie. (Photo: AFRL)

    Nevertheless, Kratos has built several other production Valkyrie UAVs, which are reportedly undergoing tests with the US Airforce, Marines and Navy. Reports indicate that an XQ-58B electronics defense suppression version has been developed and demonstrated, along with other aircraft that have demonstrated weapons release from an internal stores bay, along with an intriguing release of a small UAV from that same internal bay.

    Boeing’s Aurora Flight Sciences has just launched the Skiron-XLE Class 2 UAV – Class 2 meaning that it’s small enough to fit in the back of a pick-up truck. It was derived from an earlier Skiron-X version, which had a wingspan of 16 ft, a length of 7 ft, a weight of less than 50 lb and a meager range of only 8 mi.

    Skiron-XLE. (Photo: Aurora Flight Sciences)
    Skiron-XLE. (Photo: Aurora Flight Sciences)

    IE-Soar-800W fuel-cell and regulator. (Photo: IE)
    IE-Soar-800W fuel-cell and regulator. (Photo: IE)

    Aurora has now come up with a way to extend the range of the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAV by up to 47 miles and increase endurance from 3 hours to more than 5 hours. This was made possible by replacing the original battery power source on the Skiron-X with a compact hydrogen fuel-cell on the XLE supplied by Intelligent Energy (IE). The Skiron-XLE can be equipped with a gimbal mount electro-optic infrared (EO/IR) sensor and is aimed at the military/security reconnaissance role.

    When fuel-cells are mentioned, some people may still think of the liquid oxygen/hydrogen sphere that blew up Apollo 13. Fortunately, however, technology has moved on significantly since this less commercial design of the 1960s. As an example, according to the company’s spec sheet, the Department of Transportation (DOT) certified IE-Soar-800W fuel-cell and hydrogen regulator offers 400 w for up to 5.9 hours. Hydrogen/oxygen gasses are combined across two semi-permeable membranes to generate power — no frozen gas-slush stirring is required.

    Meanwhile, progress towards eVTOL air-taxi capability took a step forward for Archer and its Midnight aircraft. Stellantis has invested an additional $55 million into Archer’s efforts to build production capacity for up to 650 aircraft per year at its planned 350,000 sq ft facility in Georgia, scheduled to be completed in 2024.

    Archer’s Midnight eVTOL. (Photo: Archer)
    Archer’s Midnight eVTOL. (Photo: Archer)

    To clarify Stellantis’ background – the company includes manufacturers Fiat-Chrysler and Peugeot, which have merged to form the fourth largest vehicle company by sales behind Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai. Stellantis has a strategic funding agreement with Archer and the latest investment follows the milestone first test flight of Midnight where the successful transition from vertical lift to forward flight was achieved. The European conglomerate has also acquired up to $110 million in Archer shares on the open market and through this funding initiative.

    Stellantis is working with Archer to bring its manufacturing expertise to the fabrication of Archer’s composite air taxi. High-volume car manufacturing and eVTOL building have a lot in common, and there is clearly common interest for a giant car company to gain access to the new eVTOL market.

    To recap – GA-ASI has joined the CCA team with the first flight of the AFRL X-67A unmanned UAV, while Kratos continues with further testing of the Valkyrie CCA UAV with several U.S. forces. The latest generation of hydrogen fuel-cells is now extending the range and endurance of Aurora’s Skiron-XLE, while more investment flows in the eVTOL air taxi market.

  • Boeing awarded contract to support GPS Block IIF operations

    Boeing awarded contract to support GPS Block IIF operations

    Artist's rendering of GPS IIF satellite. (Image: U.S. Air Force )
    Artist’s rendering of GPS IIF satellite. (Image: U.S. Air Force )

    Boeing has secured a 10-year, $329.3 million contract to help the U.S. Space Force engineer operational GPS Block IIF satellites, the Department of Defense announced Dec. 20.

    The company will perform engineering work to support on-orbit operations of the Block IIF satellites, which were manufactured by Boeing.

    Space Systems Command issued the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to address GPS IIF mission requirements across the military and expects work to conclude by Dec. 20, 2031.

    The U.S. Air Force deployed the first Boeing-built IIF satellite in May 2010 and launched the 12th and final satellite in February 2016.

  • Boeing to build factory in Illinois to produce MQ-25 Stingray

    Boeing to build factory in Illinois to produce MQ-25 Stingray

    Boeing will build the U.S. Navy's MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial refueler at a new 300,000-square-foot facility at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Illinois. (Photo: Boeing)
    Boeing will build the U.S. Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial refueler at a new 300,000-square-foot facility at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Illinois. (Photo: Boeing)

    Boeing will build the MQ-25 Stingray — the Navy’s first carrier-based unmanned aircraft — at a new high-tech facility in Illinois. The 300,000 square-foot facility at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, Illinois, is scheduled for completion in 2024.

    The MQ-25 facility will include state-of-the-art manufacturing processes and tools, including robotic automation and advanced assembly techniques, to improve product quality and employee ergonomics. The facility initially will employ 150 mechanics, engineers and support staff, but could grow to 300 with additional orders.

    Boeing digitally engineered the entire MQ-25 aircraft and its systems, resulting in high-fidelity models used to drive quality, efficiency and flexibility throughout the production and sustainment process.

    For two years, Boeing and the Navy have been flight testing the Boeing-owned MQ-25 test asset from MidAmerica Airport. In recent missions, the T1 model has refueled an F/A-18 Super Hornet, an E-2D Hawkeye and an F-35C Lightning II.

    The U.S. Navy intends to procure more than 70 MQ-25 aircraft to help extend the range of the carrier air wing, and the majority of those will be built in the new facility. Boeing is producing the first seven MQ-25 aircraft, plus two ground test articles, at its St. Louis facilities, and they will be transported to MidAmerica for flight test. The MQ-25 program office, including its core engineering team, will remain based in St. Louis. MidAmerica is adjacent to Scott Air Force Base.

    The new MQ-25 facility will be in addition to existing manufacturing operations at Boeing St. Clair, which produce components for the CH-47 Chinook, F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-15 and other defense products.

    T1 Stingray refuels a Navy F/A-18. (Photo: U.S. Navy/Boeing)
    T1 Stingray refuels a Navy F/A-18. (Photo:
    U.S. Navy/Boeing)

  • Tanker drone refuels fighter jet in Navy and Boeing first

    Tanker drone refuels fighter jet in Navy and Boeing first

    An unmanned MQ-25 T1 test asset refueled a third U.S. Navy carrier-based aircraft, demonstrating the maturity of the aircraft’s design and performance

    The U.S. Navy and Boeing used the MQ-25 T1 test asset on Sept. 13 to refuel a U.S. Navy F-35C Lightning II fighter jet for the first time, demonstrating the aircraft’s ability to achieve its primary aerial refueling mission.

    This was the third refueling mission for the Boeing-owned test asset in just over three months, advancing the test program for the Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft.  T1 refueled an F/A-18 Super Hornet in June and an E-2D Hawkeye in August.

    “Every test flight with another type/model/series aircraft gets us one step closer to rapidly delivering a fully mission-capable MQ-25 to the fleet,” said Capt. Chad Reed, the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Aviation program manager. “Stingray’s unmatched refueling capability is going to increase the Navy’s power projection and provide operational flexibility to the Carrier Strike Group commanders.”

    During a test flight on Sept. 13, an F-35C test pilot from the Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23) conducted a successful wake survey behind T1 to ensure performance and stability before making contact with T1’s aerial refueling drogue and receiving fuel.

    “This flight was yet another physical demonstration of the maturity and stability of the MQ-25 aircraft design,” said Dave Bujold, Boeing’s MQ-25 program director. “Thanks to this latest mission in our accelerated test program, we are confident the MQ-25 aircraft we are building right now will meet the Navy’s primary requirement — delivering fuel safely to the carrier air wing.”

    The T1 flight test program began in September 2019 with the aircraft’s first flight. In the following two years, the test program completed more than 120 flight hours — gathering data on everything from aircraft performance to propulsion dynamics to structural loads and flutter testing for strength and stability.

    MQ-25 is benefitting from the two years of early flight test data, which has been integrated back into its digital models to strengthen the digital thread connecting aircraft design, production, test, operations and sustainment.

    T1 will be used to conduct a deck handling demonstration aboard a U.S. Navy carrier in the coming months to help advance the carrier integration progress.

    Boeing’s MQ-25 T1 test asset transfers fuel to a U.S. Navy F-35C Lightning II fighter jet Sept. 13 during a flight-test mission. The Navy and Boeing have conducted three refueling flights in the past three months, including an F/A-18 Super Hornet and E-2D Hawkeye. (Photo: US Navy/Kevin Flynn)
    Boeing’s MQ-25 T1 test asset transfers fuel to a U.S. Navy F-35C Lightning II fighter jet Sept. 13 during a flight-test mission. The Navy and Boeing have conducted three refueling flights in the past three months, including an F/A-18 Super Hornet and E-2D Hawkeye. (Photo: Kevin Flynn/Boeing)

  • DJI drones cleared for government use, plus more UAV news

    DJI drones cleared for government use, plus more UAV news

    There is a lot of UAV action taking place this month. An anti-drone defensive system is being trialed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DJI drones get the green light again for use by government agencies. The U.S. Navy/Boeing refuel an F/A-18 aircraft using a drone, and the Mars helicopter drone has a non-fatal in-flight problem.

    DJI drones cleared for government use

    There’s good news for operators who might have been scared away from using drones manufactured by Chinese company DJI. Two “government” models have now been cleared by the Pentagon for use by agencies who had previously been instructed to cease and desist operating them. The Matrice 600 Pro and the Mavic Pro government models were cleared, because “no malicious code or intent” was found. These types of drone are now “recommended for use by government entities and forces working with U.S. services.”

    DJI Matrice 600 Pro (Photo: DJI)
    DJI Matrice 600 Pro (Photo: DJI)

    The drones have been modified from standard models to provide a customized control application, prevent automatic software updates being applied without user approval, and implement an operational control-zone capability.

    The U.S. Interior Department was behind the modifications, with the objective of resuming use of its grounded fleet of more than 500 DJI drones. They may need them again soon for forest-fire monitoring — it’s the season again. Allegations of potential “sharing of data” with the Chinese government were previously investigated and apparently debunked by Booz Allen Hamilton, in a report released in June 2020. Now the Pentagon seems to affirm these earlier findings.

    Nevertheless, DJI remains on the Commerce Department’s don’t-buy list, and the Justice Department has banned agencies from buying foreign drones that could be vulnerable to tampering with data, or otherwise might be a threat to the U.S.

    DHS trials anti-drone system

    In recent “bad-drone” incidents, people have tried to smuggle contraband into prisons, flown into landing flight paths at airports, and even successfully inflicted significant damage on oil storage facilities in Saudi Arabia — never mind a failed assassination attempt in Venezuela. And with illegal immigration and drug smuggling becoming crisis issues, DHS has decided that its probably time to build a level of protection at U.S. borders. A trial is now scheduled at the quieter and more orderly Canadian border so that DHS can fully focus on evaluating the Fortem SkyDome system.

    TrueView Radar (Photo: Fortem Technologies)
    TrueView radar detects and calculates the location and trajectory of hundreds of airborne objects quickly and accurately. (Photo: Fortem Technologies)

    Bad actors attacking a facility using a drone, sometimes with explosives strapped to it, have set their target as a waypoint and switched off the radio control link. The drone then carries on to its target, without fear of radio “sniffer” detection systems picking it up and jamming the control link.

    Fortem built a drone defense system that uses radar for “RF silent drone” detection. Not only does the Fortem SkyDome system detect unwanted intruder drones, but it also can send out a DroneHunter UAV which hones in on and fires a net to capture, immobilize and bring back the offending drone so the defenders can investigate the attack.

    Boeing UAV refuels F-18 fighter aircraft

    Boeing is engaged in development of an unmanned tanker vehicle for the U.S. Navy. The company has built and flown the first test drone, known as Stingray MQ-25 T1. Boeing has another seven unmanned refueling tankers on order. T1 is the first test article for the program. Following a number of successful initial handling, control and envelope extension test flights — including several with the Navy refueling pod installed under the T1 left wing — fuel was loaded, and on June 4, a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft accompanied the T1 into the air on another test flight.

    T1 Stingray refuels a Navy F/A-18. (Photo: U.S. Navy/Boeing)
    T1 Stingray refuels a Navy F/A-18. (Photo:
    U.S. Navy/Boeing)

    The F/A-18 flew close to and maneuvered around the drone for some time, and when the pilot and test managers concluded that both were in joint, controlled, stable flight, the MQ-25 was commanded to extend the refueling pod hose and drogue. The F/A-18 normally refuels in the air from another F/A-18 configured with the same refueling pod and refueling boom, so the actual transfer of fuel which then took place was somewhat commonplace for the F-18 pilot, save that the slipstream buffet was probably less significant. Nevertheless, this was the very first time that a Navy aircraft has been refueled by an unmanned aircraft.

    After further MQ-25 T1 test flights, the tanker-drone will be transported to Norfolk, Virginia, for deck handling trials aboard a U.S. Navy carrier later in the year. The MQ-25 Stingray is planned to take over this airborne refueling work which is currently handled by other F/A-18s, freeing up the fighter aircraft for operational fighter missions.

    Mars drone flight experiences navigation anomaly

    On May 25, the Mars drone Integrity had been commanded to take its sixth longer, higher flight. Like a good little tech package on the end of a 220-million-mile distant signal, Integrity did as it was told. However, after around 490 feet in the Mars atmosphere, Integrity started to change speed and dramatically oscillate back and forth. Even so, the UAV managed to complete the transit to within about 16 feet of the new intended parking spot.

    NASA analyzed the data sent back from the drone through the Perseverance rover. NASA discovered that the flow of images from the navigation camera had been disrupted by a missing image, and the time-stamps for the images had become incorrect.

    Integrity sits safely on Mars following an in-flight anomaly. (Photo: NASA)
    Integrity sits safely on Mars following an in-flight anomaly. (Photo: NASA)

    Integrity’s navigation system is fed by an inertial measurement unit with images from the nav camera, so the time-stamp discrepancies between what the camera was saying and what the IMU was saying gave it an unforeseen issue to resolve. The resultant bucking in flight was an effort to resolve the data time differences. Images are not used in the landing phase, so the oscillations ceased as the rover descended, and the landing was as graceful as usual.

    Fortunately, it appears that Integrity has not been damaged, and NASA is working to send the little drone on further scouting missions for its companion rover. NASA’s website indicates that the drone should have flown again on June 6, but right now there doesn’t seem to be any further evidence that a flight did or did not take place.

    Summary

    The testing that the Pentagon has done on a couple of models of DJI drones appears to have cleared them of possible malfeasance, but otherwise the report is classified. I wonder what secret science DOD used to detect/eliminate possible illicit communications with China by the drones? And it’s high time everyone realized that these “drone -thingies” can also be used to hurt us — as new technology in the hands of people who do not wish us well almost always can.

    This month I discovered that Navy F/A-18s could fly further by hanging refueling pods on other F/A-18s, thereby taking the tanking aircraft out of the regular training and combat rotation. I’m glad we’ve got a drone alternative coming that must cost a lot less and also will free up fighting assets.

    Finally, it doesn’t seem that we have to worry the Mars helicopter is too broken to keep seeking the best route for the rover. There were enough margins in the navigation algorithms that the little guy didn’t wreck when the image processing hiccupped. Let’s get flying again, NASA!

    Tony Murfin
    GNSS Aerospace

  • Search-and-rescue drone debuts, FAA issues remote ID rule

    Search-and-rescue drone debuts, FAA issues remote ID rule

    It’s hard to pick out an outstanding story or two this month from the dozens of new or related drone initiatives that bombard my inbox. But there’s always some that stand out, needing emphasis. This month, we look at these developments:

    • NEC Laboratories Europe introduces a potential drone solution for finding disaster victims
    • The FAA issues its remote ID rule, which also enables flight over people and nighttime operations
    • The Boeing Loyal Wingman succeeds with its maiden flight in Australia.

    Search-and-rescue drone

    Finding survivors is a primary task for first responders in disaster situations, so if a feasible approach using drones looks possible, its something we should prove out and implement quickly. Researchers at NEC Laboratories Europe, based in Germany, have come up with a drone shown to be able to locate a person’s cell phone — it works better in open situations, but takes longer and is less accurate when there are obstructions.

    The Search-and-Rescue Drone (SARDO).(Photo: NEC Labs/Antonio Albany)
    The Search-and-Rescue Drone (SARDO). (Photo: NEC Labs/Antonio Albany)

    The concept of the search-and-rescue drone (SARDO) is basically to hang cellphone-tower electronics on the drone, and then let it self-triangulate on the return signal from the victim’s phone. So if you know where you are and estimate distance by pinging the victim’s phone and measuring the transit time, then move a known distance and repeat, eventually you converge on the phone’s location.

    Putting all that into reliable flying algorithms is something; proving that your design works is significantly more tricky. Overcoming signal blockage due to debris brings another level of complexity, as does tracking the victim if he or she is moving.

    But this looks like a great initiative which should be developed further — a possible boon for finding people in earthquakes and other building-collapse situations.

    FAA Remote ID Rule issued

    Image: ConceptCafe/iStock/Getty Images Plus
    Image: ConceptCafe/iStock/Getty Images Plus

    On Jan. 15, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) finally issued its rules for remote ID: All UAVs greater than 0.55 pounds must transmit unique identifications. Although, it appears that even these lighter drones might also have to be capable of remote ID if operated commercially. The broadcast message has to include “identification, location, and performance information of the unmanned aircraft and its control station.”

    The good news is that there are now several potential suppliers of these broadcast modules. The rules allow for an implementation period that stretches out another 18 or 30 months — UAV manufacturers have 18 months to comply, while drone operators have 30 months.

    The rules also allow drone operators to fly their UAVs over people. There are four categories of drone, each with appropriate restrictions — all seemingly related to the injuries an out-of-control or falling drone could cause to a person. All such operations require that the FAA approve a written statement of compliance with these safety rules.

    The rules will certainly help with coverage of spectator sports such as the Super Bowl and regular outdoor events like PGA golf tournaments. It would appear that the Golf Channel and CBS have already begun to broadcast drone coverage of recent golf events. Such operations needing to verify their compliance now, rather than over the implementation period.

    And, of course, if you can fly over people, transiting over vehicles is now allowed. With an anti-collision light installed, night operations are also permitted once compliance is approved.

    Photo: Boeing Australia
    Photo: Boeing Australia

    Loyal Wingman’s first flight

    After three years of development, Boeing Australia got its Loyal Wingman unmanned aircraft off the ground on Feb. 27. The Loyal Wingman is sponsored by Boeing and the Australian RAAF.

    The UAV/UAS is also referred to as the Airpower Teaming System (ATS), and should likely be considered a contender for the U.S. Air Force Skyborg manned-unmanned teaming program. At least two other companies involved with the Skyborg program are already flying similar vehicles — Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.

    Summary

    Anything that helps first responders find survivors in disasters is a good idea to take to users in the field as soon as possible, so the NEC Laboratories Europe initiatives is a welcome opportunity.

    After more than two years to get the final rules published, the FAA is finally coming online with its Remote ID rule — even though it entails significant work on operators’ parts over the next several months for them to implement. But the window now seems to be significantly wider for them to be able to take on more viable commercial business ventures.

    Finally, it’s good to see the Boeing ATS get into the air — the first aircraft in 50 years to be wholly built in Australia, with interest not only from the Australian RAAF, but also with potential participation in the USAF Skyborg program.

  • Skyborg UAV aims to join frontline US fighter aircraft

    Skyborg UAV aims to join frontline US fighter aircraft

    It’s only a few weeks into the new year, yet there’s plenty happening in “UAV land” already. I expect another year of innovations, novel developments and groundbreaking firsts in unmanned aircraft.

    This month’s question: What’s a Skyborg? The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has awarded contracts to Kratos, Boeing and General Atomics to prove their approaches to the UAV program.

    All three have fielded existing, company-developed drones which are intended to fly alongside and be controlled by the latest frontline U.S. fighter aircraft. The idea is to have expendable force-multiplier unmanned aircraft support the capabilities of high tech, hugely expensive aircraft in order to undertake perhaps more risky missions, with the potential improvement acceptable versus unacceptable losses.

    Flying alongside frontline fighter aircraft, these jet-powered unmanned aircraft could undertake more risky close support parts of the mission, where loss of the UAV might be more likely, while the manned aircraft remains outside the high-risk envelope. Hence the term attritable is now being applied to these unmanned accompanying vehicles, which are intended to have a reduced cost profile so that loss of the UAV might be more tolerable.

    The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) has awarded Skyborg Vanguard Program contract amounts to Boeing ($25.7 million), General Atomics ($14.3 million) and Kratos ($37.8 million) for initial prototyping. All appear to have Skyborg prototypes in development.

    Kratos has subsequently announced other contract modifications related to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) program.

    Boeing will offer a variant of the Airpower Teaming System (ATS) drone being developed in Australia for the Australian Air Force. Engine runs and initial taxi tests were recently completed, however the program went into a short hiatus at the end of 2020 because of high COVID-19 infection rates in and around Sydney.

    Boeing will offer a variant of the ATS drone being developed for the Australian Air Force. (Photo: Boeing)
    Boeing will offer a variant of the ATS drone being developed for the Australian Air Force. (Photo: Boeing)

    General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) is in the process of modifying two company-owned Avenger UAVs to incorporate upgraded datalinks and the Skyborg System Design Agent (SDA) software. Flight trials will investigate Artificial Intelligence capability for autonomous control of the UAVs while operating alongside manned aircraft – with the object of demonstrating that “a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft can communicate, collaborate, and operate together,” said David R. Alexander, president of GA-ASI.

    General Atomics Avenger unmanned aircraft. (Photo: GA-ASI)
    General Atomics Avenger unmanned aircraft. (Photo: GA-ASI)

    The jet-powered Avenger aircraft has been under development and evaluation for more than 10 years so it is well characterized, and its performance as a UAV is already understood.

    The XQ-58A Valkyrie UAV has benefited from earlier generations of Kratos high-speed jet-powered target systems — something none of the other Skyborg competitors have in their bag of tricks. Kratos has been providing high-speed target drones to the military for a number of years, so jet powered drones are something they have been developing and fielding for a long time.

    Kratos aerial target drone. (Photo: Kratos)
    Kratos aerial target drone. (Photo: Kratos)

    XQ-58A Valkyrie UAV. (Photo: Kratos)
    XQ-58A Valkyrie UAV. (Photo: Kratos)

    The Valkyrie UAV was developed under the LCAAT program to demonstrate unmanned low-cost capabilities, and to fly as a stealthy companion to manned aircraft. It is intended to carry internal and wing mounted weapons. The turbine division of Kratos is also investigating lower cost jet engine options for attritable UAVs.

    Meanwhile, continuing developments in detect and avoid (DAA) are progressing, moving towards a solution for one of the main problems holding back integration of unmanned aircraft into controlled airspace.

    A number of these solutions are based on ADS-B or Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, whereby the UAV location – usually position provided by onboard GPS — is transmitted at a regular interval by an equipped UAV. So any similarly equipped manned or unmanned aircraft can receive the ADS-B signal, has knowledge of where such flying obstacles might be and is therefore able to avoid a potential collision.

    And for pseudo-satellite applications like the Airbus Zephyr which must transition between low-level airspace and the stratosphere, having on-board certified ADS-B is essential so that other aircraft and FAA air-traffic control have full visibility of such a delicate airframe which is lacking great maneuverability during climb-out, on station at altitude and during descent.

    Zephyr pseudo-satellite UAV with uAvionix ADS-B transponder and GPS. (Photo: uAvionics)
    Zephyr pseudo-satellite UAV with uAvionix ADS-B transponder and GPS. (Photo: uAvionics)

    Since Zephyr transitions through Class A airspace, the manufacturer Airbus decided that it should be equipped with an ADS-B transponder and GPS source which had undergone FAA recognized qualification testing and which meets known Technical Standard Order (TSO) requirements.

    The equipment also needed to be small and use little power — at 70 grams and using only 2 watts, the uAvionix ping 200X transponder and truFYX GPS provide high power (54 dBm), high integrity transmissions of ADS-B and transponder mode data to Air Traffic Control (ATC) and other suitably equipped aircraft.

    Zephyr is an all-electric vehicle, using sunlight to derive power from large photo-voltaic arrays which cover its upper surfaces. Batteries store surplus energy which is not consumed during daylight and provide power in order to maintain aircraft station through the night hours. From a perch at around 70,000ft, Zephyr is apparently focused on Earth-observation capability with payloads envisaged to include Electro Optical, Infrared, Hyper spectral, Passive Radio Frequency (RF) Radar, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), plus Early Warning, Lidar and Automatic Identification System (AIS).

    The Hover DAA solution. (Photo: Sagetech)
    The Hover DAA solution. (Photo: Sagetech)

    “Sagetech is another DAA supplier which is currently working with both fixed and rotary wing UAS customers who are incorporating DAA systems in their design and type certification projects,” said Tom Furey, CEO of Sagetech. “Sagetech is providing regulatory guidance, transponders and interrogators, and system design to ensure these UAV systems in development will satisfy the anticipated certification requirements. Sagetech itself, through technology development and partnerships with companies including Hover Inc., expects to offer a complete DAA prototype system by the end of this year.”

    So, lots of progress towards Skyborg drone teaming systems with $78min awards by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center from an anticipated budget of around $400m, while certified Detect and Avoid solutions help move commercial drones towards potential regular flight in controlled airspace.

  • 1960s CIA drone-bird project a predecessor to NASA Global Hawk

    1960s CIA drone-bird project a predecessor to NASA Global Hawk

    A recently unclassified CIA drone program provides us with perspective on UAS development. Also, U.S. high-altitude surveillance capabilities are being tested, another record has been achieved, and an award for the U.S. Air Force space plane.

    1960s CIA Bird-Drone

    Back when the U.S. was flying U2 spy planes over the Soviet Union and Gary Powers was on Russian TV after being shot down, the CIA got to thinking of another approach for gathering airborne intelligence.

    Project Aquiline was an early drone project aimed at making overflight much less conspicuous — because the drone was built to resemble a bird.

    Project Aquiline was contracted to McDonnell Douglas, which produced five prototypes. (Photo: CIA Archives)
    Project Aquiline was contracted to McDonnell Douglas, which produced five prototypes. (Photo: CIA Archives)

    The Project Aquiline bird drone in flight.(Photo: CIA Archives)
    The Project Aquiline bird drone in flight. (Photo: CIA Archives)

    With a two-stroke engine driving a pusher-propeller and an 8-foot wingspan, five prototypes were built and tested through 1967-68. The concept was to fly at lower altitudes than the U2, carrying equivalent camera and electronic surveillance equipment, but to be very difficult to observe from the ground.

    Although a two-stroke engine might have been somewhat noisier than a large bird, later phases of the program envisaged a miniature nuclear power source which presumably would have been much quieter with a relatively huge range.

    The project began in 1966, and prototypes began operational testing in 1968. The prototypes established a range of around 130 miles, took high-resolution images and successfully returned to the control site.

    However, with many stages of development still to go (the cost to complete was maybe too high), the project was canned in November 1971.

    Maybe this initial “bird” concept is where the name of today’s high-altitude, long-endurance Global Hawk drone originated — who knows?

    NASA High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) UAVs

    But the U.S. government seems to have other objectives than just high-altitude reconnaissance. NASA has operated the Global Hawk drone for science missions for a number of years, alongside the U-2 and ER-2 high-altitude manned aircraft.

    Armstrong Flight Research Center operates two Global Hawks with support from Northrop Grumman out of Edwards Air Force Base.

    Global Hawk is flown with a pre-loaded mission profile at upwards of 60,000 feet, sometimes for as long as 24 hours and more than 8,000 miles. Nevertheless, the aircraft is monitored over both satellite and terrestrial links, with direct sensor payload access throughout.

    The Global Hawk. (Photo: NASA)
    The Global Hawk. (Photo: NASA)

    Global Hawk is powered by a Rolls-Royce AE3007H turbofan engine. It has a wingspan exceeding 116 feet, measures 44 feet from nose to tail, has a gross takeoff weight of 25,250 pounds and carries a 1,500-pound payload.

    But this aircraft is massive compared to another recent high-flying project that NASA funded through a Phase I and II Small Business Innovation Research/Technology Transfer (SBIR/SBTT) program.

    The Swift HALE unmanned aircraft system (Photo: Swift Engineering/NASA)
    The Swift HALE unmanned aircraft system (Photo: Swift Engineering/NASA)

    With the help of NASA’s Ames Research Center, Swift Engineering in San Clemente, California, completed a two-hour flight test on July 7 of its High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) UAS, aiming to join the group of companies already in the high-altitude UAV club.

    The 72-foot wingspan, solar-powered HALE weighs <180 pounds, carries a 10-15-pound payload and is destined to fly at up to 70,000 feet for more than 30 days.

    This HALE aircraft is expected to complement existing NASA observation platforms and provide unique material alongside existing satellite data. Swift Engineering has been working with NASA Ames since 2016 on a proof-of-concept solar-powered UAS aimed at sustained flight for a month or more.


    Swift researched solar panels and high-power, multiple-cycle rechargeable battery technologies to develop a system that could survive harsh temperatures as well as the radiation encountered at high altitude.

    During the first of a series of flight tests at Spaceport America in New Mexico on July 7, operations at low altitude were completed to verify systems, aerodynamic control and power-system models. The July 7 flight was the first in a series to collect data and further validate the design.

    With NASA, Swift has developed a UAS to not only meet observation objectives, but also one that aligns with the Federal Aviation Administration’s view of HALE deployment and maintenance during extended flights. For the test flight, the vehicle carried a NASA FluidCam for science missions, with a focus on mapping coastal reef systems.

    NASA teams are exploring how aircraft such as Swift’s could perform as pseudo-satellites for air-quality monitoring, image coastal zones, map landslides and geologically active regions, and for real-time forestry and agricultural monitoring.

    The next step in the development is expected to be a Phase III series of scientific observations at high altitude for days and even weeks.

    Boeing X-37B Team Wins Collier Trophy

    The Air Force/Boeing X-37B autonomous space plane has won the Collier Trophy for best in U.S. aeronautics/astronautics performance and safety in 2019.

    The X-37B set a new 780-day on-orbit record and descended through the controlled U..S National Airspace System (NAS) to land at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

    Initially launched in 2010, the reliable, reusable and unmanned X-37B has provided space access and subsequent analysis for a large number of key experiments.

    The Air Force/Boeing X-37B autonomous space plane has won the Collier Trophy. (Photo: USAF/Boeing)
    The Air Force/Boeing X-37B autonomous space plane has won the Collier Trophy. (Photo: USAF/Boeing)

    The space plane has now broken its previous on-orbit record of 718 days and has orbited for 2,865 days and more than 1 billion miles in total. Originally designed for only 270 days in space, the X-37B has established endurance records in every one of its last five flights.

    Since 1911, recipients of the Collier Trophy have included Orville Wright, the Apollo 11 lunar landing team, the International Space Station team, the U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet team and the Boeing 787, 777 and 747 passenger aircraft teams.

    Intelligence Gathering

    News about the 1960 CIA drone developments, aimed at gathering unobserved photo reconnaissance intelligence, provide new perspective on NASA’s current-day use of high-altitude observation assets. These are the same types of assets that the U.S. currently uses for intelligence gathering, despite being recently intercepted by Russian jets off the coast of Alaska. It makes for interesting aspects of drone history, along with new aspects of (very) high-altitude unmanned capabilities.

  • Xponential: Where UAVs (and companies) go to see and be seen

    Xponential: Where UAVs (and companies) go to see and be seen

    This year’s AUVSI Xponential show continued to demonstrate how large, thriving and visionary the UAV market is proving itself to be. With attendance around 8,000 people, an extensive technical program featuring more than 300 speakers, and a huge show floor displaying a wide range of sizes, configurations and applications, this was truly 2019’s place to be, see and — for the exhibitors — be seen.

    On the large-format side,

    • an expanding test-range facility in North Dakota brings experimental capability to the oversize crowd,
    • Bell and Boeing are going full-tilt with large UAVs, both rotor and fixed-wing, and
    • a higher level market is emerging at 20 kilometers (12 miles, or 65,000 feet) above the Earth.

    In the smaller-sized portion of the market, hydrogen fuel cells are extending operational time, and indoor inspections can be significantly cost- and time-reduced with new task-specific models.

    Hurricane Irma response. Tuesday morning’s opening keynote featured an overview of how Florida Power and Light (FPL) and Precision Hawk undertook recovery inspections following Hurricane Irma in 2018.

    This rang a bell for me, as Irma was the first hurricane I lived through; it passed 30–50 miles to the east of us, up the center of Florida.

    FPL flew 4,000 miles with Precision Hawk drones, looking for downed and damaged transmission lines and blown transformers throughout its massive distribution network.

    UAVs on the Show Floor

    With roughly 800 exhibitors, it’s impossible to see everything, let alone talk with all the companies. So the following is a small subset from the show, with highlights from the large-format UAV sector and a few smaller ones. Further coverage of the show will appear in next month’s newsletter column.

    The Bell Nexus demonstrator drew crowds at AUVSI Xponential 2019. (Photo: Tony Murfin)
    The Bell Nexus demonstrator drew crowds at AUVSI Xponential 2019. (Photo: Tony Murfin)

    Bell Helicopter. The Bell Nexus demonstration tilt-rotor – judging solely by the number of smartphone picture takers – was the hit of the show.

    Nexus is gleaming blue, with six 8-foot tilt-rotors. The booth had a massive display screen in the back running a loop of its exploits, along with what seemed to be animations of future adventures — flying people around city-center skyscrapers.

    Tail-sitter package delivery drone. (Photo: Tony Murfin)
    Tail-sitter package delivery drone. (Photo: Tony Murfin)

    This brings up lots of potential failure modes to be mitigated (six rotors rather than one regular helicopter rotor blade and a complex control system, for instance) for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to chew on during the certification process.

    A large four-tail package-carrying sitter drone for larger item deliveries took second place at the Bell booth, even though it is possibly closer to becoming a reality than the gleaming blue star of the show.

    Boeing's tilt-rotor UAV prototype recently flew its first test flight. (Photo: Boeing)
    Boeing’s tilt-rotor UAV prototype recently flew its first test flight. (Photo: Boeing)

    Boeing. Meanwhile, Boeing was apparently preparing to fly a prototype version of a tilt-rotor UAV, only Boeing’s is designed to be a heavy cargo lifter. The Cargo Air Vehicle prototype vehicle has six tilt-capable dual-rotor systems, weighs 1,100 pounds and is 17.5 x 20 x 5 feet tall. It’s interesting how similar the Bell and Boeing (production concept) configurations seem to be.

    Boeing design concept for the Cargo Air Vehicle. (Image: Boeing)
    Boeing design concept for the Cargo Air Vehicle. (Image: Boeing)

    Ballard. Most multi-rotors on UAVs are driven by electric motors, so battery capacity determines the duration of flying time. Ballard has developed the FCair hydrogen fuel cell, which can extend flight time to up to 90 minutes, almost three times that of lithium-ion battery-powered drones.

    FCair 600w hydrogen fuel cell. (Photo: Ballard)
    FCair 600W hydrogen fuel cell. (Photo: Ballard)

    Insitu, AeroVironment, Lockheed-Martin, and others have flown the Ballard fuel-cell system; apparently this list also includes the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the Air Force.

    Grand Sky. The Grand Sky Aviation Park in North Dakota is co-located within the 217 acres Grand Forks Air Force Base (AFB) and has FAA approval as a UAV beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) test range.

    North Dakota has invested more than $34 million in UAV efforts within the state, with a good chunk going towards the infrastructure at Grand Sky. Now only UAVs fly out of the facility, with Northrop Grumman and General Atomics making it an operational base for Global Hawk, Reaper and Predator drones.

    One of the principal benefits is the ability to fly BVLOS operations for large drones at Grand Sky. The system uses two long-range primary radars, one at Grand Forks AFB and the other in Hillsboro, that can detect non-cooperative aircraft.

    Harris RangeVue radar and Harris ADS-B sensors coupled with the Air Force’s DASR-11 radar enable BVLOS testing without using a chase plane or staying within line-of-sight. This enables 10–12 hour missions within the 30-mile, 18,000-foot BVLOS range, with continuous electronic monitoring by the ground-based radar system.

    A new operational center is being built to house the integrated system and to provide access for visiting drone operators, and the BVLOS range is expected to be ultimately extended all the way to the Canadian border.

    Flyability. The Elios 2 UAS system has evolved to include a rotatable thermal and high-definition visual camera payload, 10,000-lumen oblique lighting system, and reversible rotors that enable the UAV to back out of tricky situations.

    A geodesic-like cage surrounding the drone makes it collision-tolerant and enables flight in restricted indoor areas such as refinery enclosures, mines, vats, cargo holds and nuclear containment vessels — anywhere, in fact, that inspections today are regularly conducted by people.

    A typical nuclear plant inspection might cost $500,000, while this drone system costs around $35,000, and an inspection might take around 10 minutes. For traditional inspections, plants might have to go offline completely while people crawl around in extremely difficult, often dangerous spaces, and manual reports might take significant time to produce.

    Flyability claims huge savings in inspection time with their system, as well as automated analysis and production of reports.

    AeroVironment. Just before the show, SoftBank, Japan and AeroVironment held a press conference in Japan outlining their HAPSMobile Joint Venture to address the lack of communications access in many parts of the world. Almost 3.7 billion people, or half the world’s population, currently do not have internet access.

    SoftBank wants to provide internet inexpensively, without the need for extensive ground infrastructure, by operating high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS) UAVs. HAPS is expected to fly in the stratosphere at a 20-kilometer height for up to six months, powered by solar cells and equipped with payloads that enable direct connection to the internet for users on the ground.

    Airborne-type certification and spectrum will be required for the uplink/downlink. Both present significant challenges, but HAPS suppliers, including Airbus, Facebook and others are joining the fight for spectrum. AeroVironment has a $65 million contract from HAPSMobile to develop and produce HAPS UAVs, and build of their Hawk 30 HAPS UAV is well underway.

    HAPSMobile has also taken a minority $125 million position with Loon, which has been flying stratospheric balloons for several years, providing wireless coverage in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Irma, and network coverage in South America.

    Other suppliers exploring the HAPS market at the show included Airbus, which displayed its Zephyr UAV and recently announced the opening of the Wyndham HAPS launch site in Western Australia; and UAVOS, which announced a new control system for its HAPS vehicle.

    In addition, Boeing’s unmanned aircraft subsidiary, Aurora Flight Sciences, has already made significant claims about the capabilities of its own Odysseus HAPS UAV program.

    Recapping the Recap. With many more exhibitors and limited time, the rest of the story from Chicago’s 2019 Xponential exhibition will have to wait till next month, to include show news from Sagetech, uAvionics, Sensefly, Fortem, Septentrio, NovAtel and others.

    In sum, we see a wide range of different applications all benefiting from unmanned air vehicles of different types and configurations. A number of outfits are working the HAPS gamble, North Dakota’s BVLOS test-range expansion brings experimental capability to the oversize crowd, and Bell and Boeing are going full-tilt with large UAVs, both rotor and fixed-wing.

    These developments clearly indicate that the UAS business continues to grow into a huge number of applications and to look very healthy.