UAV's Robotics PAGE7

Led by the US, which dominates spending on UAVs, many of the world's armed services are acquiring or developing a wide range of UAVs for use in current conflicts as well as in future scenarios. There will be steady demand across the wide range of the different types of UAVs, namely:

+ Mini UAVs

+ Tactical UAVs

+ Endurance UAVs

+ Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs)

+ Civil UAVs

The UAV market is being driven by major acquisition programmes mainly by the US but also by similar programmes in Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

The US will remain the largest market in the next few years, as it continues to acquire different UAVs for all its armed services and for use within different levels of its military units.

The use of UAVs in US border security is also on the rise. The US is also developing new types of UAVs that would provide new capabilities for future conflicts.

Several countries are following the US lead and are likewise investing in UAVs as a key force multiplier. European countries are both embarking on their own acquisition programmes or working on collaborative projects.

Israel has acquired its share of UAVs and has become a key supplier to other countries. Asian powers such as China and India, along with Japan and South Korea, which both have mature industrial and technological base, are systematically working to build up considerable UAV fleets.

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Market 2010-2020: Technologies for ISR and Counter-Insurgency report reveals that several key markets are undertaking significant UAV programmes and that this will only continue in the future. This points to a steady market for UAVs over the next decade that companies currently involved in the sector, and those looking to take part in it, have the opportunity to exploit.

Northrop Grumman is an industry leader in the ISR domain and has been in the unmanned systems business for more than 60 years, providing 100,000 unmanned systems to military customers in the U.S. and around the world.

In unmanned ground systems, the company has served the military, explosive ordnance disposal and hazardous materials units and other first responders for more than 25-years as a leading provider of mobile robotic systems for applications in hazardous and potentially life-threatening environments.

UV Europe takes place 29-30 June 2010 at the Husa President Park Hotel, Brussels, Belgium and will address military and civil unmanned systems operating in all three environments - air, land and sea.

Northrop Grumman representatives will be among the speakers at the conference. Gene Fraser, sector vice president, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems will give a presentation on unmanned aircraft systems in the maritime irregular warfare environment including piracy, maritime patrol and non-combat operations.

Trevor Hughes, head of Engineering, Unmanned Ground Vehicles for Northrop Grumman Information Systems sector in Europe will speak on unmanned ground vehicles in the explosive ordnance disposal role.

"As unmanned aircraft systems technologies mature, modern armed forces are realizing that the integration of autonomous systems into operational networks can result in considerable savings while significantly improving mission capability," said Fraser. "Unmanned aircraft offer vital persistent intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance capabilities for peacekeeping and peace enforcement missions but also have an increasingly important role in maritime patrol and non-combat operations."

Northrop Grumman announced this month that it has been awarded a $517 million ( Pounds 350.6 million) agreement to develop up to three Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) hybrid airship weapons systems for the U.S. Army. These new systems will be capable of providing persistent surveillance for more than three weeks at a time.

Northrop Grumman is providing the Euro Hawk based on the Block 20 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) UAS. Euro Hawk will serve as the German Air Force's HALE SIGINT system and is the first international configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk.

The company is also prime contractor for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (NATO AGS) system, currently in development at the company's Melbourne, Fla. facility, in which the Block 40 RQ-4 version of the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft UAV is a key component.

Alenia Aeronautica Starts The Sky-Y UAS

Source / copyright : Alenia Aeronautica

by Staff Writers
Rome, Italy (SPX) Jun 29, 2010
The Sky-Y, Alenia Aeronautica's Unmanned Aerial System technological demonstrator, has successfully accomplished - at the Italian Air Force's air base in Decimomannu, Sardinia - its first flight with a Flight Control System wholly developed by Alenia Aeronautica in collaboration with Alenia SIA (Alenia Aeronautica's owned company).

During this test campaign Alenia Aeronautica will experiment the new E-FCS (Experimental-FCS), which is a prototype of a system including an avionic computer, several sensors (inertial, air data, GPS) and electrical actuators for the primary and secondary flight controls.

The system complies with the recent aeronautical certification rules and with the most advanced technical and industrial directives for this kind of equipments, regarding both hardware and software. As a matter of fact, the control laws introducing the rationale for the remote and automated aircraft's control have been developed entirely by Alenia Aeronautica.

The Sky-Y aircraft is at its fourth flight-test campaign and it is envisaged it will complete its testing programme by the end of July 2010, with 15 long-endurance flights. This is the first flight campaign taking place at the Decimomannu air base in Sardinia, thanks to the precious collaboration with the Ministry of Defence and the Italian Air Force.

Alenia Aeronautica reaches another important step in pursuing the wider project of the creation of a national industrial capability, able to develop autonomously in Italy the innovative unmanned systems and the related subsystems and technologies: the current frontier of the twenty-first century aeronautical products.

During this flight-test campaign Alenia Aeronautica will assess also the correct integration on the aircraft of systems developed by other Finmeccanica companies such as the EOST45, a high performance passive Electro-Optical Surveillance and Tracking system developed by SELEX Galileo, a new Wide-Band Data-Link developed by SELEX Communications, a powerful and reliable equipment for the satellite data-link of Telespazio, whose use has been granted to Alenia Aeronautica, within a cooperation agreement, by the Civil Protection Agency of the Piedmont Region...

Machines that understand us on the rise

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

by Staff Writers
New York (UPI) Jun 25, 2010
Devices that can understand people, using a technology known as speech recognition, are becoming a common feature of everyday life, researchers say.

From people telling their cellphones to dial a number to doctors using speech recognition software to record and transcribe patient visits, speech recognition is making inroads into all areas of human activity, The New York Times reported Friday.

Call centers use voice software technology, often to the point where an entire session is automated. If a caller becomes confused or angry, the software can even recognize that and transfer the call to a human manager.

A dark side of the technology, experts warn, is the almost certain loss of millions of jobs as humans are replaced by machines that can understand speech and act to perform a simple requested task.

"Basic work that can be automated is in the bull's-eye of both technology and globalization, and the rise of artificial intelligence just magnifies that reality," said Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

But the technology will also drive innovation and create job opportunities, Brynjolfsson says, just as the Internet has led to new businesses and new forms of communication like blogs and social networking.

Experts say the technology is still in its infancy and some day smart machines could tutor students, assist surgeons and safely drive cars, the Times reported.

 

Meggitt's extreme environment technology will be installed to detect aircraft engine fire and overheat conditions.

The high reliability pneumatic detector system, with more than 500 million unit-hours of flight service on commercial and military aircraft platforms, will meet the requirements of this extreme environment aircraft: ATLANTE is to be capable of operating 24 hours a day, in any meteorological condition and taking off from unprepared runways or launchers before being recovered by parachute.

Gary Zamieroski, VP, Marketing, Sales and Strategy, commented: "This development represents a very promising marketing opportunity for our virtually indestructible detectors. UAVs are a critical element of maritime and terrestrial surveillance worldwide and the outlook for the ATLANTE system is very positive in line with rising demand for UAVs overall."

Latest Counter-IED Equipment Showcased

Latest Counter-IED Equipment Showcased. Source / copyright : Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom).

by Sharon Kean
Westminster, London (SPX) Jul 01, 2010
Tackling the threat from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) was top of the agenda at the MOD's Defence Equipment and Support showcase event, Defence Vehicle Dynamics (DVD), this year.

New Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, Peter Luff, formally opened this year's show at the Millbrook vehicle testing ground in Bedfordshire.

Mr Luff was then given a demonstration of some of the latest counter-IED (C-IED) equipment being used by British troops and met soldiers who had survived IED blasts thanks to the heavily armoured vehicles in which they were travelling.

Speaking at the event he said:

"Tackling the IED threat is vital for us to make military progress. C-IED is not just about the bomb disposal expert defusing a bomb, vital and dangerous though that role is. It is about making sure that our soldiers have a range of tools, tactics and techniques available to them."

Mr Luff was given a guided tour of the five pieces of equipment that make up Talisman, the newest military solution to the IED problem.

The five elements consist of two enormous armoured vehicles, a JCB digger, a bomb disposal robot and a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle).

The Talisman system is currently being used by Royal Engineers to clear and build safe routes around Helmand province in Afghanistan.

A Mastiff armoured vehicle and its crew act as Talisman's eyes, with video screens inside the rear compartment of the truck displaying aerial video footage gathered by a Honeywell T-Hawk UAV.

Another armoured vehicle known as Buffalo has a remote-controlled, extendable, pronged arm attached to the front, which is used to comb or 'rummage' the ground, detecting signs of IEDs.

The JCB digger is used to fill in ditches or potholes that might prevent soldiers or vehicles from moving forward and the Talon remote-controlled robot gives troops the safer option of remaining out of harm's way when trying to deal with any devices they find.

Group Captain Paul Ridge, the head of the Military Manouevre Support Team that spent around 18 months developing the Talisman system, said the aim was to enable soldiers to move around the battlefield more easily:

"It's a range of equipment that has been brought together to make a system which allows early detection and the choice of either avoiding or destroying the IED.

"It can be used on its own or in support of other vehicles. And the whole system can be operated from under armour. It's just one part of the contribution towards counter-IED."

Soldiers from 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh who survived two IED blasts in two days while in Afghanistan met the minister and described how the heavily armoured vehicles in which they were travelling probably saved their lives.

Fusilier Danny Hughes, who was travelling in one vehicle when it hit a roadside bomb, said:

"The Mastiff is worth its weight in gold. The second time it happened there weren't any injuries either, it was almost a case of 'here we go again', that's another few hours until we can have a cup of tea."

The battle to beat the IEDs is the driving force behind an MOD contract for a tranche of 200 new Light Protected Patrol Vehicles.

Two companies, SupaCat and Force Protection Europe, are competing for the contract and displayed prototype models of what they hope will be the next generation of Light Protected Patrol Vehicles (LPPVs).

The vehicles will be used for a variety of patrols and so must be tough enough to cope with cross-country terrain, but also enable the troops inside to engage with the local people they encounter in more urban areas.

General Sir Kevin O'Donoghue, Chief of Defence Materiel and the Head of Defence Equipment and Support, said:

"As well as its protection against blasts, the LPPV must be able to operate in the harsh conditions of the desert and tight urban environments."

Mr Luff added:

"We will agree a contract for an initial tranche of 200 vehicles under an Urgent Operational Requirement funded from the Treasury Reserve later this year."

The first batch of vehicles is required for training by the end of 2011.

At the DVD event Mr Luff also announced a contract for more than 140 extra Jackal 2A weapons-mounted patrol vehicles in a deal worth about GBP45m, bringing the number of Jackal vehicles for Defence to over 500, and an extra 28 Wolfhound heavy tactical support vehicles under a pound20m deal.

Meanwhile, the MOD is reducing the weight troops on the front line carry with improvements to current and future infantry combat and support kit.

Currently, the average weight of equipment carried by an infantryman is around 66kg, but innovative weight-saving schemes have shaved more than 4.5kg from this. New kit being delivered in October could reduce this by a further 8kg. Measures implemented include:

+ trials of new lightweight patrol rations for troops in the field that weigh less than 1kg, compared with a 24-hour ration pack that weighs around 3kg; + new longer-life batteries to power radios and other equipment; and + a new battery recharging system which reduces the number of spare batteries required.

After inspecting some of the equipment at the annual DVD event and talking to soldiers and suppliers, Minister for International Security Strategy, Gerald Howarth, said:

"While the modern combat soldier is better equipped than ever before, this has brought about its own challenges - mainly an increase in the weight being carried.

"The welfare of our troops is paramount and so the work being carried out here to reduce this burden is essential to both the physical and mental well-being of our troops fighting on the front line in what can be 50-degree temperatures. The other improvements announced are a further demonstration of our determination to equip our forces on the front line with the kit they need."

A newly-formed project team, - the Integrated Soldier System Executive, based at Defence Equipment and Support in Bristol, has been leading on the work to reduce the weight carried on the front line.

Along with lightening a soldier's load, the welfare of personnel operating in remote locations is being improved through increasing the number of e-bluey computer terminals to enable them to communicate with loved ones and installing more showers, sinks and toilets in forward operating bases. The new ablutions facilities will be sent to Afghanistan later this year.

 

The high-flying aircraft took off at approximately 10:32 a.m. PDT from Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif., manufacturing facility and climbed to 32,000 feet over Palmdale's desert skies before landing nearly two hours later at 12:24 p.m. PDT at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

"The Euro Hawk marks the first international configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) UAS, and strengthens Northrop Grumman's first trans-Atlantic cooperation with Germany and EADS Defence and Security," said Duke Dufresne, sector vice president and general manager of the Strike and Surveillance Systems Division for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector.

"This is a wonderful start for the Euro Hawk's flight test program, and a great testament to the Northrop Grumman and EADS Defence and Security team who worked diligently to make it happen."

Based on the Block 20 Global Hawk, Euro Hawk will be equipped with a new signals intelligence (SIGINT) mission system developed by EADS Defence and Security, providing standoff capability to detect electronic and communications emitters.

A ground station consisting of a mission control and launch and recovery elements will be provided by Northrop Grumman. EADS Defence and Security will also provide a SIGINT ground station, which will receive and analyze the data from Euro Hawk as part of an integrated system solution.

"It is a day of great pride for all the teams involved, as the first Euro Hawk takes to the skies, marking a significant step in this demonstration of well-shared trust and efficiency," said Nicolas Chamussy, senior vice president of Mission Air Systems for EADS Defence and Security.

The German Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded a contract in January 2007 to EuroHawk GmbH for the development, test and support of the Euro Hawk SIGINT surveillance and reconnaissance system. Under this contract, EuroHawk GmbH will also provide aircraft modifications, mission control and launch and recovery ground segments, flight test and logistics support.

"Formed as a 50-50 joint venture company by Northrop Grumman and EADS Defence and Security, EuroHawk GmbH acts as the national prime contractor for the German MoD throughout the lifecycle of the Euro Hawk system," said Neset Tuekenmez, chief executive officer of the EuroHawk GmbH.

"This partnership is an excellent example in international relations for both companies, ensuring Euro Hawk is a continued success story in the history of trans-Atlantic cooperation."

With a wingspan larger than a commercial airliner, endurance of 30 hours and a maximum altitude of more than 60,000 feet, Euro Hawk is an interoperable, modular and cost-effective replacement to the aging fleet of manned Breguet Atlantic aircraft, which have been in service since 1972 and will be retired in 2010.

Subsequent systems are anticipated for delivery between 2016 and 2017 following successful testing and introduction in German operational service.

AIT said their MATrix LABoratory software program increases landing precision of UAVs by up to 97 percent without the need for an operator with a hand-held remote control.

Software project lead scientist Mahesh Khadtare said the development would greatly circumvent difficulties in the present landing systems of UAVs.

"The landing of the UAV will be controlled by the microprocessor, which will recognize previously collected images of the landing space and accordingly guide the UAV in for landing," he said.

"There will be no additional increase in the equipment to be fitted, except the conversion of MATLAB software into an equivalent assembling program for the UAV."

AIT has been working the national defense laboratory Armament Research and Development Establishment, a division of the Defense Research and Development Organization, the country's main armaments development and procurement group.

The next step is to have the software tested on a UAV, AIT said.

Earlier this month DRDO said it had developed a UAV called Netra specifically to aid anti-terror and counter-insurgency operations.

Netra will be inducted into the armed forces by the end of the year, DRDO said, and could help security forces in situations such as the November 2008 terrorist attacks in central Mumbai that left more than 100 people dead.

The 3.5-pound Netra is a collaborative project between ideaForge, a company formed by a group from the Indian Institute of Technology and Defense Research and Development Organization's Pune labs, Research and Development Establishment Engineers in Pune.

DRDO scientist Alok Mukherjee, who demonstrated the UAV in Pune, said Netra is undergoing trials.

"The UAV is capable of operating in all conflict theaters, including urban quarters, in a situation similar to that of the 26/11 terror attacks," he said.

The cost of a Netra would be the equivalent of nearly $43,000 and comes with a resolution charge coupled device image sensor camera with a pan-tilt and zoom to facilitate wider surveillance.

But the price would vary depending on what surveillance components are fitted, Mukherjee said. The unit price would jump if a thermal-imaging camera for night operations were added, as would be in the case of India's security agencies who are interested in the UAV.

IdeaForge Vice President of Marketing for UAVs Amardeep Singh said Netra can carry out surveillance in an area of just less than 1 mile line-of-sight and operate for up to 30 minutes on a single battery charge. A fail-safe feature notifies Netra to return to base on loss of communication or a low battery.

Netra has a vertical take-off and landing capacity and a maximum operational altitude of nearly 660 feet.

Singh acknowledged that Netra can't operate in rainy conditions but research is being done to ensure it will function even during a monsoon downpour.

DARPA Tasks Northrop Grumman To Demonstrate Autonomous Aerial Refueling

Conceptual illustration of NASA Global Hawk air refueling operation. Source: Northrop Grumman Corp.

by Staff Writers
San Diego CA (SPX) Jul 05, 2010
DARPA announced the award of a $33 million contract to Northrop Grumman to demonstrate aerial refueling of a NASA Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by a sister ship. The program will be designated KQ-X.

Northrop Grumman will retrofit two of the high altitude long endurance (HALE) UAVs, one aircraft pumping fuel into the other in flight through a hose-and-drogue refueling system. The aerial refueling engagement will be completely autonomous.

"Demonstrating the refueling of one UAV by another is a historic milestone," said Carl Johnson, vice president, Advanced Concepts for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

"It adds aerial refueling to the list of capabilities that can be accomplished autonomously by Global Hawks; it opens the door to greatly expanded operational utility for UAVs; and, as a side benefit, it promises to increase the safety and reliability of aerial refueling between manned aircraft by reducing pilot workload."

There are several revolutionary aspects to the KQ-X program. Not only will the aerial refueling be autonomous, but since Global Hawks are HALE UAVs, it will also take place at a much higher altitude than has been previously demonstrated with manned aircraft. It will also be the first time that HALE UAVs have flown in formation.

"The importance of aerial refueling is clear in the way military aviation depends on it today," said Jim McCormick, the DARPA program manager for KQ-X. "This demonstration will go a long way towards making those same advantages a reality for the next generation of unmanned aircraft."

Engineering work will be accomplished at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Development Center in Rancho Bernardo, California. Pilots from NASA, NOAA, and Northrop Grumman will fly the Global Hawks from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, also in California. Sargent Fletcher, Inc. and Sierra Nevada Corporation are major KQ-X subcontractors.

 

Carried out at the Istres air base in southwest France from May 26 to July 2, 2010, these tests included ten qualification flights in manned operational mode, and five flights in drone mode, without a pilot.

For this latest series of tests, Sagem deployed a Patroller system comprising an aircraft and a ground control station. There were also two control rooms to monitor all flight and mission parameters in real time, one at Safran's premises in Istres, and the other in Sagem's R and D center in Eragny.

The latest drone flight tests were used to validate the performance of the aircraft's triplex avionics equipment, which gives it outstanding reliability, and its imaging system, comprising a Euroflir gyrostabilized optronics pod from Sagem, and a Ku-bank link.

Tests proved the drone's expected endurance, exceeding 30 hours, flight parameters in line with expectations, excellent tolerance for crosswinds on the ground, and its ability to integrate air traffic around the base.

Not only do these results confirm Patroller's ability to carry out demonstration flights starting this summer, they also show Sagem's ability to deliver a fully operational Patroller system to a launch customer within 12 to 18 months.

Patroller is a 1-ton class MALE drone system, based on an aircraft certified to EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) standards, the S-15 built by German firm Stemme. It incorporates technologies developed by Sagem for its own Sperwer Mk.II tactical drones, as well as combat experience logged by Sperwer/SDTI drones in Afghanistan.

Patroller is designed to meet the long-endurance surveillance mission requirements of both armed forces and joint-ministerial programs, while keeping costs under control.

Because of its modular design, it can be fitted with pod-mounted satellite links and payloads to carry out missions lasting 20 to 30 hours at a maximum altitude of 25,000 ft.

Euro Hawk UAS Completes Successful First Flight

Source / copyright : Northrop Grumman

by Staff Writers
Palmdale CA (SPX) Jul 08, 2010
The Euro Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS), built by Northrop Grumman and EADS Defence and Security, successfully completed its first flight June 29.

The high-flying aircraft took off at approximately 10:32 a.m. PDT from Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif., manufacturing facility and climbed to 32,000 feet over Palmdale's desert skies before landing nearly two hours later at 12:24 p.m. PDT at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

"The Euro Hawk marks the first international configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) UAS, and strengthens Northrop Grumman's first trans-Atlantic cooperation with Germany and EADS Defence and Security," said Duke Dufresne, sector vice president and general manager of the Strike and Surveillance Systems Division for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector.

"This is a wonderful start for the Euro Hawk's flight test program, and a great testament to the Northrop Grumman and EADS Defence and Security team who worked diligently to make it happen."

Based on the Block 20 Global Hawk, Euro Hawk will be equipped with a new signals intelligence (SIGINT) mission system developed by EADS Defence and Security, providing standoff capability to detect electronic and communications emitters.

A ground station consisting of a mission control and launch and recovery elements will be provided by Northrop Grumman. EADS Defence and Security will also provide a SIGINT ground station, which will receive and analyze the data from Euro Hawk as part of an integrated system solution.

"It is a day of great pride for all the teams involved, as the first Euro Hawk takes to the skies, marking a significant step in this demonstration of well-shared trust and efficiency," said Nicolas Chamussy, senior vice president of Mission Air Systems for EADS Defence and Security.

The German Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded a contract in January 2007 to EuroHawk GmbH for the development, test and support of the Euro Hawk SIGINT surveillance and reconnaissance system. Under this contract, EuroHawk GmbH will also provide aircraft modifications, mission control and launch and recovery ground segments, flight test and logistics support.

"Formed as a 50-50 joint venture company by Northrop Grumman and EADS Defence and Security, EuroHawk GmbH acts as the national prime contractor for the German MoD throughout the lifecycle of the Euro Hawk system," said Neset Tuekenmez, chief executive officer of the EuroHawk GmbH.

"This partnership is an excellent example in international relations for both companies, ensuring Euro Hawk is a continued success story in the history of trans-Atlantic cooperation."

With a wingspan larger than a commercial airliner, endurance of 30 hours and a maximum altitude of more than 60,000 feet, Euro Hawk is an interoperable, modular and cost-effective replacement to the aging fleet of manned Breguet Atlantic aircraft, which have been in service since 1972 and will be retired in 2010.

Subsequent systems are anticipated for delivery between 2016 and 2017 following successful testing and introduction in German operational service.

 

Local news reports suggest that the military authorities have requested information from defense companies in Europe, Israel, the United States and Russia about the aircraft.

Defense News reported that the information request concerned unmanned combat air vehicles with "low radar cross-section, high service ceiling and an expected range of 500 nautical miles."

It said the Indian armed forces also wanted the aircraft to "carry precision guided weapons in an internal weapons bay." Experts argue that precision guided weapons minimize collateral damage while maximizing the destruction of a target, on the other.

In the latest issue of India Strategic magazine, Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi said the Indian armed forces had "completed" its planned induction of unmanned aerial vehicles required for surveillance and was moving toward the armed unmanned vehicles for offensive roles.

"We do not have them yet but in due course we need to acquire them due to the emerging symmetric and asymmetric threats," the air chief said in the interview.

He didn't elaborate.

Among the options India is considering are the Boeing Phantom Ray, the Dassault-led Neuron, the EADS Barracuda, General Atomics Predator Avenger, Northrop Grumman X-47B and the RSK MiG Skat.

Bent on bolstering its military might, India announced plans recently to spend up to $30 billion on its military by 2012.

Last month, for example, it introduced a long-range, nuclear-tipped missile into its armed forces unveiling also a defense spending budget spiked by 24 percent since last year.

The moves have Pakistan fretting, with leading officials billing India's drive a "massive militarization."

Since winning independence in 1947, India has fought three wars with Pakistan. Fifteen years later, in engaged in a brief but bitter war over a border dispute that remains unsettled.

In recent months, the United States unveiled plans to provide Pakistan with 12 unmanned spy drones to boost surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities over its border regions.

It is understood that a special team of Indian experts will select the sophisticated aircraft submitted by bidders before they enter field evaluations that will be funded by the manufacturer.

India has previously worked with Israeli manufacturers in supplying the country with drones. Israel though has yet to disclose of any designs for a stealth unmanned aerial vehicle for the Indian air force.

Tyagi has said that the main endeavor of the project would be to achieve regional air dominance.

Eyes In The Sky Give India Edge In Space

illustration only

by Staff Writers
Chennai, India (PTI) Jul 14, 2010
With the successful launch of Cartosat-2B on Monday, India has reached a `critical constellation' of 10 active remote sensing satellites in space, which gives it a clear edge in the region for monitoring borders and movements across them.

While mapping and infrastructure development are seen as primary applications of a remote sensing satellite, its use in spying is often underplayed. A combination of four Cartosats (1,2,2A and 2B) hovering 630 km above earth allows India to keep areas under close and prolonged surveillance. Multiple satellites ensure that a particular geographical area can be `revisited' every 48 hours.

Three of the cartosats now in orbit have a spatial resolution of less than one metre (0.8 m for Cartosat-2B), which means that they can observe and photograph objects smaller than a car. Cartosat-2B's steerability of 26 degrees allows it to stay focused on the object for a longer duration while on the move as compared to the other remote sensing satellites, which have a range of applications.

"The latest addition enhances our revisit capability and ensures continuity of services. The revisit capability of one such satellite is about 10 days, but with four such satellites, we can revisit an area almost every other day. With Cartosat-1 (launched in 2005) likely to complete its mission in another year, Cartosat-2B ensures there is no break in services,'' Isro spokesperson S Satish told TOI.

China has launched nine remote sensing satellites in the `Yaogan' series since 2006 using its Long March range of rockets. With the addition of Cartosat-2B to the constellation, India has matched if not outdone China in remote sensing. Pakistan, meanwhile, is still working on its first remote sensing satellite PRSSS, which it plans to launch next year with China's help.

Asked specifically about Cartosat-2B's applications in surveillance, Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan said: "Depending on the user's imagination, it can be used for surveillance and intelligence (gathering).''

India was working on its indigenous radar imaging satellite Risat-1, an all-weather satellite which uses a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and multiple antennas to see through clouds and darkness, when the 2008 Mumbai attacks happened. This prompted the nation to speed up and launch the Israeli Risat-2 satellite with SAR on April 20, 2009. Risat-1 is scheduled for launch late this year.

Cartosats use panchromatic cameras to take black and white pictures of earth. While cartosat-1 weighed 1560 kg and had a spatial resolution of 2.5 metres and a swathe of 30 km, the later versions had a finer spatial resolution of less than a metre and a swathe of 9.6 km.

Going around in a 630-km high polar sun synchronous orbit, Cartosat-2B carries a 64GB solid state recorder which stores images which can be later transmitted to the ground station when the satellite comes within the visibility range. The Spacecraft Control Centre, Bangalore will be continuously monitoring the satellite's health with the help of the ISTRAC network of ground stations at Bangalore, Lucknow, Mauritius, Biak in Indonesia, Svalbard in Norway and Troll in Antarctica.

Albu-Schaffer is a Department Head at the Robotics and Mechatronics Center (Robotik- und Mechatronikzentrum) of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and is involved in the development of robots for use in space, industry and medicine.

"The barriers between robots and humans must be lifted"

One of Alin Albu-Schaffer's visions, which he is developing with his team, stands one storey below his sparsely furnished office on the first floor. The size of a human being with two camera eyes on its head, gigantic, multi-fingered hands and rollers to move around on Justin the robot looks massive.

Albu-Schaffer places his hand gently on the blue metallic casing of the robot. As though remote-controlled, the gigantic robot arm with its ball joints smoothly follows the movements of the 41-year old scientist. Innumerable sensors on the body detect the engineer's touch and help Justin to adapt with silky smoothness to his movements. This is clearly an example of where the human being dictates what happens next.

"The barriers between robots and people must be lifted," says Albu-Schaffer. He envisages a future where human beings and robots can work as a team, without any barriers of anxiety separating them. "I view the robot as a helper wherever possible: in the factory, at home, in medicine or in space." In his view, robots can contribute precision and repeatability, while human beings can contribute flexibility and creativity.

The fascination with robotics
Albu-Schaffer grew up in a German-speaking region of Romania. He has been working for DLR since 1995, first while studying for his doctorate, then as a researcher and, since June 2009, as the head of the Mechatronic Components and Systems Department (Mechatronische Komponenten und Systeme).

His professional career, which started with studies at the Technical University in the Romanian city of Timisoara with a focus on robotics, is single-minded. "A fascination for robotics is something you get as a child. Science fiction literature and films then of course continue that journey for you." No surprise, then, that it is cult science fiction author Isaac Asimov whom Albu-Schaffer chooses to quote.

"A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm," were the words Asimov used back in 1942 - one of his three Laws of Robotics, first expressed in the short story 'Runaround' - a a law that Alin Albu-Schaffer abides by in his research. "Robots used to be very cumbersome, highly dangerous and also blind. They did not notice if a human being was nearby and had to be separated from people by protective sensors or barriers. The robots we are building are specifically intended for cooperation between human beings and robots."

Competitive puzzle solving with the robot arm

While Justin follows the commands of his operator, his rollers move him around and his arms also move. With his camera eyes, Justin can see the team of researchers around him. Alin Albu-Schaffer is relaxed when standing next to it. Later, on a computer, he demonstrates with films the extent to which the researchers in the Robotics and Mechatronics Center have confidence in 'their' robots.

One co-worker sits in front of a robot arm that stops its forward motion as soon as it makes contact with the human. A child sits side by side with a robot arm solving puzzles, with the robot proving only slightly inferior to this bright child's mind at this difficult task.

Albu-Schaffer starts the next film and you can see just how enthusiastic he is about the Institute's successes. The researchers have documented the results of their work at regular intervals. Here, a robot arm catches a ball, here Justin screws on a container and serves tea. Whenever, for example, Justin reaches for something with his arm, engineers have done a great deal of work in the background. Alin Albu-Schaffer field is that of control engineering. Once it becomes apparent which tasks are to be performed by the robot, the engineer provides the commands that allow the hardware to perform those tasks.

"To transfer a human movement to a robot, you first have to be able to describe that movement mathematically." Do you have to be a very logical person for that to happen? Albu-Schaffer smiles, "I hope that I am." Alongside all that mathematics, the creativity of the researchers is certainly not lacking.

"It makes a difference whether one is creating industrial robots for a production environment or running research projects, where the concepts can be bolder. The ideas we try out in the latter case are a little more adventurous. I get a great deal of pleasure out of both fields." Albu-Schaffer's field of focus is very broad. Human-robot interactions are as much part of the process as medical technology, lightweight arms for industrial manufacturing or Justin the robonaut.

Controlling a robot in space by hand
Robot arms are already working in space, and Albu-Schaffer has himself helped to control one from here on Earth. Robotic Component Verification on the ISS, ROCVISS, is located on the exterior of the International Space Station. "That was something very special, to control a robot in space from here on Earth, and to feel the forces with which it moved along a specially-shaped contour and exerted pressure on its surroundings."

ROCVISS not only receives signals, it also transmits back to Earth. Albu-Schaffer says he is unable to pick out one single highlight from his work. "Because it's been so varied." In all this work though, he is a team player above all. "Electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, physics, mathematics - we work in a large interdisciplinary team. That is what makes robotics what it is." Recently, Albu-Schaffer started to coordinate an EU project in which collaboration with neuroscientists has an important role to play. "New things often originate through the meeting of two areas which have different kinds of knowledge."

Vision for the future: household robots and space robonauts

Albu-Schaffer and his colleagues have a their own vision of the future: robonauts that travel through space on a satellite, visiting other satellites and repairing them; robots that take soil samples from the surface of Mars and build habitats to enable us to send human beings to the Red Planet; machines capable of moving on legs across rough terrain on faraway planets; and service robots in the home, an everyday feature of many science fiction films.

"Naturally, I would love to have such a robot, but the tasks are very complex and it would be very expensive." As a research institution, we need to be able to undertake projects where the results may not be commercially viable for another 15 years. "I remain as convinced as ever that robotics is the most exciting field I could possibly be engaged in."

It resembles a large steel trapezoid, is around 40 feet long and potentially deadly: Named after the Celtic god of thunder, Taranis was unveiled by the British Defense Ministry this week.

Nigel Whitehead, a senior official at BAE Systems, the main developer of the new stealth drone, told the Financial Times that the Taranis "is a prelude to the next generation of fighting capability."

The Taranis' main goal is to fly intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions while its ground-based crew is able to control the aircraft from anywhere in the world.

BAE Systems hasn't released information regarding the speed, maximum flying altitude, and flying distance of Taranis -- that's classified. But the company says the drone, which can be armed with missiles as well as bombs, is capable of attacking as far away as "in another continent."

"It will be able to hold an adversary at continuous risk of attack; to penetrate deep inside hostile territory, find a target, facilitate either kinetic or non-kinetic influence upon it, assess the effect achieved and provide intelligence back to commanders," the company writes.

The first flight trials are to take place next year. Right now, the Taranis is maneuvered on the ground to reduce the safety risks linked to testing in the air.

BAE Systems is eager to produce a new product for the quickly growing drone market. Drones are ideally suited to hit targets in remote regions and are frequently used by Western forces to strike against terrorists hiding in the mountainous border region linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The company says the drone's fully autonomous intelligent system builds on electronics and control technology proven in other BAE Systems unmanned platforms such as Corax, Raven, Herti and Mantis.

The prototype, designed and built since December 2006 with 1 million hours of work, is valued at more than $200 million. Other companies that have worked on the program include Rolls-Royce, QinetiQ and GE Aviation.

Jointly funded by the British Defense Ministry and the British military industry, the total contract is valued at $220 million.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony at BAE Systems in Warton, Lancashire, British Minister for International Security Strategy Gerald Howarth, called Taranis a "truly trailblazing" project.

"The first of its kind in the U.K., it reflects the best of our nation's advanced design and technology skills and is a leading program on the global stage," he said.

Steered by students using a standard remote control unit for toys, the untethered Ranger robot covered the distance in 11 hours, making 108 laps around an indoor track at the university's Barton Hall on July 6, a university release said.

The "walk" beat a previous record by a walking robot of 12.8 miles.

Unlike other walking robots that use motors for every movement, Ranger emulates human walking, using gravity and momentum to help swing its legs forward, its designers say.

Its gait resembles a human on crutches, alternately swinging two outside legs forward and then two inside ones.

Experience learned from Ranger could be applied to rehabilitation, prosthetics for humans and improving athletic performance, Andy Ruina, Cornell professor of theoretical and applied mechanics, said.

Trashcan-Like UAS Useful Tool For Stryker Team

The gMAV, weighing in at roughly 18 pounds, is a Class I system. While in the air, it is capable of stopping to hover using its cameras to capture video and still images of the ground below.

by Staff Writers
Baghdad, Iraq (SPX) Jul 21, 2010
Short and squat in stature, with spindly legs sticking out underneath and a loud, whiny engine like a leaf-blower on steroids, the gasoline-powered Micro Air Vehicle, or gMAV, won't be winning beauty contests anytime soon.

But this ugly duckling of the unmanned aerial systems world is in fact a valuable tool, especially when conducting route clearance missions in search of improvised explosive devices, such as with the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, now in Iraq.

"When we first saw it, we thought it was a flying George Foreman [grill]," said Spc. Josh Judson, who said he's also heard the UAS described as a trashcan, a barbecue grill, and even a beer keg.

A combat engineer-turned-gMAV operator, Judson and fellow Soldiers from 38th Engineer Company, recently gave a demonstration of the device's capabilities to members of the 4-2 Stryker BCT command group.

"You don't really know what it does until you see it fly," he said.

The gMAV, weighing in at roughly 18 pounds, is a Class I system. While in the air, it is capable of stopping to hover using its cameras to capture video and still images of the ground below.

"It gives us situational awareness from the air," said Judson, explaining that it can be used in both night and day route clearance missions. "It gives us an idea of what's going on ahead of us, what's behind us, and any [IED] emplacers that might be coming along our way."

Though some are turned off to the gMAV by the very un-stealthy droning sound its engine makes, Judson said when on a very noticeable and high-profile mission like route clearance, the aircraft's noise is actually helpful.

"The truth is, we come in white-light, bright and loud," he said. "So why not add a little bit more deterrent to it?"

He and other members of 38th Engineer Company, were taught how to operate the gMAV during a nine-day course taught at Camp Taji.

Although it's not exactly what he signed up to do as a combat engineer, Judson said that he enjoys flying the gMAV.

"I like the fact that I can give the ground command something in the convoy - it's my piece," he said. "It's all of our pieces, those that fly the gMAV. It's what we do."

 

This annual demonstration of joint and coalition intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance interoperability is sponsored by the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Empire Challenge, hosted by the U.S. Joint Forces Command, will take place from July 26 to Aug. 13 at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

Boeing has tested unmanned vehicles and AWACS in previous Empire Challenge demonstrations, but this will be the first time the company demonstrates full control of an unmanned aircraft by an airborne command and control (C2) platform during an operational scenario. ScanEagle is built by Insitu Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing.

The scenario involves an antipiracy operation in which the NATO AWACS aircraft detects suspicious activity and directs ScanEagle to fly to a certain location and keep track of a suspect vessel - a truck representing a pirate ship - while sending real-time video back to the AWACS.

The AWACS aircraft, in collaboration with the Combined Air Operations Center, will determine whether the vessel is a threat and direct other coalition assets to respond appropriately. The AWACS aircraft will be equipped with a Tactical Common Data Link system that will relay commands to ScanEagle from an onboard operator.

"This demonstration is an example of how linking NATO AWACS to new data sources, such as chat rooms and unmanned vehicles, can support evolving Air Battle Management tasks," said Col. Greg Clark of NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW and C) Force Command.

"Operators are recognizing the significant advantages that unmanned vehicles provide to access new information-sharing methods to rapidly improve the use of all operational assets."

"ScanEagle will enhance the AWACS advantage of seeing from long distances at high altitude by allowing the manned aircraft to also observe what's happening closer to the ground," said Jake Howitt, director of AWACS Programs for Boeing.

"AWACS will use the information from ScanEagle and data from its own sensors to produce faster, more accurate and actionable intelligence in response to threats."

Boeing has been testing UAS control from C2 platforms since 2006, including a 2009 demonstration using an AEW and C aircraft to control multiple ScanEagles via satellite communications and other similar communications channels.

The Empire Challenge 2010 demonstration will pave the way to enable any airborne C2 platform to control unmanned vehicles - such as ScanEagle and the larger ScanEagle Compressed Carriage - as remote sensors without a major modification to the controlling aircraft.

Block 40 Global Hawk Successfully Completes Major Flight Test Milestone

AF-18, the first Block 40 Global Hawk, shown during its first flight in late 2009, has completed envelope expansion flights. The next step is to finalize Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor integration with the airframe and conduct the first flight of the full Block 40 system later this year. Image credit: U.S. Air Force.

by Staff Writers
Edwards Air Force Base CA (SPX) Jul 21, 2010
Northrop Grumman Corporation's first Block 40 RQ-4 Global Hawk high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) has completed envelope expansion flights, just six months after conducting its first flight.

The Block 40 aircraft will be equipped with the high performance Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor and is the first of 22 Block 40 Global Hawks assigned to Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota.

The company also delivered on time the first development test MP-RTIP sensor to Edwards AFB for integration on the aircraft. The MP-RTIP sensor has completed radar system level performance verification on a surrogate aircraft, and will be integrated into AF-18, a Block 40 Global Hawk aircraft, for operational evaluation.

"The MP-RTIP-equipped Global Hawk illustrates Northrop Grumman's unique ability to create a system that will provide game-changing situational awareness for our warfighters with its unprecedented capability to detect, track and identify stationary and moving targets," said Duke Dufresne, vice president of the Strike and Surveillance Systems division of Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector.

"Our next step is to finalize sensor integration with the airframe and conduct the first flight of the full Block 40 system later this year."

"The MP-RTIP sensor has proven to perform above and beyond expectations," said George Vardoulakis, Northrop Grumman vice president of MP-RTIP. "The superior technology of the MP-RTIP will prove to be an invaluable resource to the warfighter."

Global Hawk's range, endurance and large payload capabilities are well suited to provide persistent surveillance with MP-RTIP. Flying at altitudes up to 60,000 feet for more than 32 hours per sortie at speeds approaching 340 knots, the MP-RTIP-equipped Block 40 Global Hawk can persistently see through most types of weather, day or night.

As the world's first fully autonomous HALE UAS, Global Hawk is the platform of choice for a wide variety of sensors, foreign and domestic, meeting the global need for persistent ISR.

 

In partnership with The Boeing Company, Harris Corporation, Corsair Engineering and Black Ram Engineering Services, Insitu will begin the 24-month engineering, manufacturing and development phase to build and test its Integrator UAS satisfying STUAS/Tier II system requirements.

Under the contract, Integrator will support two operational assessments. The first will determine if an early operational capability option will be exercised leading to the fielding of up to five systems in fiscal 2011.

The second will support low-rate initial production of two systems, one each for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. Initial operating capability is expected in fourth quarter fiscal 2013. Integrator is then expected to move to full-rate production of up to 56 systems.

"I'm looking forward to fielding the capabilities of STUAS to our forward deployed forces," said Capt. JR Brown, PMA-263 Program Manager. "This critical system will greatly increase their intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in theater."

Integrator provides battlefield commanders with 24/7, real-time, actionable intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) products via Hood Technologies' electro-optic and infrared sensor package.

High-resolution imagery is transmitted through an encrypted line-of-sight digital data link provided by L-3 Communication Systems-West. Harris Corporation will provide the next generation communications relay payload to support secure ground communications.

"We are extremely honored to be awarded this contract and we look forward to partnering with NAVAIR PMA-263," said Insitu Vice President of Emerging Programs and STUAS/Tier II Program Manager Bill Clark. "Integrator provides unsurpassed growth capability for expanding into new and future missions. With the award of this contract, Integrator will continue the Insitu legacy of supporting our troops in harm's way."

The field-proven Insitu ScanEagle UAS has served the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps since 2004 and will continue supporting U.S. and allied forces as customer needs require.

"ScanEagle has played a vital role in protecting our warfighters by providing them with the ISR products they need," said Director of Unmanned Airborne Systems for Boeing Vic Sweberg.

"We see the STUAS contract as a big step forward as Boeing expands its presence in the UAS market."

Yet, as more UAVs enter the battlespace for new and novel uses, these unmanned systems will need to operate more intelligently and autonomously, evading enemy hazards and adapting to the changing mission conditions with reduced human intervention.

To meet the challenge of how human knowledge can be transferred to machine systems, Aptima and the Cognitive Engineering Research Institute are developing MIMIC, the "Mixed Initiative Machine for Instructed Computing," a capability for capturing and conveying to UAVs the flight control and decision-making expertise lodged in the heads of humans.

MIMIC is being developed through a contract with the Office of Naval Research (ONR), to help ONR to create a next generation of intelligent UAVs that can operate more autonomously, allowing the UAV for example, to infer mission threats and more quickly avoid adversary actions, to self-launch or land, and to make necessary flight control decisions when communications are disrupted, or the human operator's attention is divided amongst several UAVs.

MIMIC in Action
MIMIC is a hybrid model that integrates psychological learning theory and rapid machine learning algorithms to enable the human operator to teach the UAV new tactical and flight control behaviors. The research and experimentation that underlies MIMIC is being conducted using Aptima's DDD (r) simulation environment.

As a multi-UAV simulator, DDD employs a unique user interface that logs and tracks every interaction of the human UAV operator as they're engaged in a mission involving, multiple UAVs, numerous target objectives and a myriad of constraints such as weather, hazards, fuel, speed, and other aircraft.

Using software-based agents, MIMIC will build a mental model of the human operator as they perform mission tasks, observing and learning the flight control behaviors and tactical decision-making.

"The goal of automation is for the system to become aware of the user's intentions and objectives, such that it has learned the 'play,' knows how to execute it, and can facilitate or assist what needs to happen next," said Nathan Schurr, MIMIC Program Manager at Aptima.

Rather than the tedious step-by-step process of a human attempting to train a UAV system, MIMIC's agent-based technology learns from a user's actual behaviors, from which it can then anticipate and predict when to automate a sequence of actions or processes.

"Considering that it currently takes a team of people to control a single UAV, the development of intelligent interfaces will flip that model, elevating the human to a level where an individual can operate and manage multiple unmanned vehicles," Dr. Schurr added.

Aptima, which applies expertise in how humans think, learn, and behave to solving complex military problems was awarded MIMIC through the Department of Defense Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR), which provides early-stage R and D funding directly to small companies working cooperatively with researchers at universities and other research institutions.

Europe's Focus On Unmanned Network Centric Solutions To Boost The Unmanned Ground Vehicles Market

File image.

by Staff Writers
London, UK (SPX) Aug 06, 2010
The European unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) market is growing slowly but steadily, depicting a relatively undisturbed trend for the year 2011 and beyond. The United States has progressed in terms of the network enabled capability of their defence resources, spurring the Departments of Defence (DoDs) of various European countries to focus on unmanned network centric solutions.

Currently, soldier force modernisation is on the agenda of several European countries, to retain their technological edge over developing nations. The gap between U.S. and European defence technology is an additional instigating factor. UGV is becoming an integral part of network centric warfare.

New analysis from Frost and Sullivan
Unmanned Ground Vehicles Market Assessment - Europe, finds that the market earned revenues of $302.5 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach $311.2 million by 2016.

"Network enabled capabilities are gradually gaining momentum within the Ministries of Defence (MoDs)," says Frost and Sullivan Research Analyst Shyam Srinivasan. "The ability of remotely patrolling a group of vehicles and strategising battlefield formations has evoked an interest to graduate to unmanned artillery in the future."

The European UGV industry has remained niche. The future lies in opening up opportunities for smaller participants to penetrate the market. Another potential is in the maintenance and repair of such specialised machinery in the period from now to 2016.

However, reduced defence budget allocation is one of the primary restraints to the UGV market. Furthermore, lean expenditure on new technology is to support the production of traditional weapons for the Afghan war.

"The unit cost of the equipment is also a restraint to procurement in numbers," explains Srinivasan. "For example, a small unmanned ground vehicle (SUGV) with electro-optics/infrared (EO/IR) sensors would cost about $20,000 and the cost of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) machinery can go up to $300,000."

The industry should focus on the commercial and civil market to increase revenue. The lower unit cost can be attained by using less expensive materials and technologies. Progress towards expendable equipment will result in manufacturing affordable equipment.

"Civil security and border patrol to tackle improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are some of the potential areas to focus on for greater revenue in the long-term," concludes Srinivasan.

If you are interested in more information on this study, please e-mail Monika Kwiecinska, Corporate Communications, at monika.kwiecinska@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles Market Assessment - Europe is part of the Defence Growth Partnership Services programme, which also includes research in the following markets: European Land-Based C2 Markets, European Land Based ISTAR Vehicle Electronics Market, and Network Centric Warfare: A European Market Executive Analysis.

All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

Robot Climbs Walls

The ROCR Oscillating Climbing Robot developed by University of Utah mechanical engineer William Provancher and colleagues can climb carpeted walls efficiently using two hook-like claws, a motor and a tail that swings like a grandfather clock's pendulum. Weighing only 1.2 pounds and measuring 12.2 inches wide by 18 inches long, it has potential uses for surveillance, inspection, maintenance, teaching engineering and even as a toy. Credit: William Provancher, University of Utah.

by Staff Writers
Salt Lake City UT (SPX) Aug 06, 2010
Wielding two claws, a motor and a tail that swings like a grandfather clock's pendulum, a small robot named ROCR ("rocker") scrambles up a carpeted, 8-foot wall in just over 15 seconds - the first such robot designed to climb efficiently and move like human rock climbers or apes swinging through trees.

"While this robot eventually can be used for inspection, maintenance and surveillance, probably the greatest short-term potential is as a teaching tool or as a really cool toy," says robot developer William Provancher, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah.

His study on development of the ROCR Oscillating Climbing Robot is set for online publication this month by Transactions on Mechatronics, a journal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Provancher and his colleagues wrote that most climbing robots "are intended for maintenance or inspection in environments such as the exteriors of buildings, bridges or dams, storage tanks, nuclear facilities or reconnaissance within buildings."

But until now, most climbing robots were designed not with efficiency in mind, only with a more basic goal: not falling off the wall they are climbing.

"While prior climbing robots have focused on issues such as speed, adhering to the wall, and deciding how and where to move, ROCR is the first to focus on climbing efficiently," Provancher says.

One previous climbing robot has ascended about four times faster than ROCR, which can climb at 6.2 inches per second, but ROCR achieved 20 percent efficiency in climbing tests, "which is relatively impressive given that a car's engine is approximately 25 percent efficient," Provancher says.

The robot's efficiency is defined as the ratio of work performed in the act of climbing to the electrical energy consumed by the robot, he says.

Provancher's development, testing and study of the self-contained robot was co-authored by Mark Fehlberg, a University of Utah doctoral student in mechanical engineering, and Samuel Jensen-Segal, a former Utah master's degree student now working as an engineer for a New Hampshire company.

The National Science Foundation and University of Utah funded the research.

ROCR is a Swinger that Claws Its Way to the Top
Other researchers have studied a variety of ways for climbing robots to stick to walls, including dry adhesives, microspines, so-called "dactyl" spines or large claws like ROCR's, suction cups, magnets, and even a mix of dry adhesive and claws to mimic wall-climbing geckos.

Now that various methods have been tried and proven for robots to climb a variety of wall surfaces, "if you are going to have a robot with versatility and mission-life, efficiency rises to the top of the list of things to focus on," Provancher says.

Nevertheless, "there's a lot more work to be done" before climbing robots are in common use, he adds.

Some previous climbing robots have been large, with two to eight legs. ROCR, in contrast, is small and lightweight: only 12.2 inches wide, 18 inches long from top to bottom and weighing only 1.2 pounds.

The motor that drives the robot's tail and a curved, girder-like stabilizer bar attach to the robot's upper body. The upper body also has two small, steel, hook-like claws to sink into a carpeted wall as the robot climbs. Without the stabilizer, ROCR's claws tended to move away from the wall as it climbed and it fell.

The motor drives a gear at the top of the tail, causing the tail to swing back and forth, which propels the robot upward. A battery is at the end of the tail and provides the mass that is necessary to swing the robot upward.

"ROCR alternatively grips the wall with one hand at a time and swings its tail, causing a center of gravity shift that raises its free hand, which then grips the climbing surface," the study says. "The hands swap gripping duties and ROCR swings its tail in the opposite direction."

ROCR is self-contained and autonomous, with a microcomputer, sensors and power electronics to execute desired tail motions to make it climb.

Provancher says that to achieve efficiency, ROCR mimics animals and machines.

"It pursues this goal of efficiency with a design that mimics efficient systems both in nature and manmade," he says. "It mimics a gibbon swinging through the trees and a grandfather clock's pendulum, both of which are extremely efficient."

The study says: "The core innovations of ROCR - its energy-efficient climbing strategy and simple mechanical design - arise from observing mass shifting in human climbers and brachiative [swinging] motion in animals."

Simulating and Testing a Climbing Robot
Before testing the robot itself, Provancher and colleagues used computer software to simulate ROCR's climbing, using such simulation to evaluate the most efficient climbing strategies and fine-tune the robot's physical features.

Then they conducted experiments, varying how fast and how far the robot's tail swung, to determine how to get the robot to climb most efficiently up an 8-foot-tall piece of plywood covered with a short-nap carpet.

The robot operated fastest and most efficiently when it ran near resonance - near the robot's natural frequency - similar to the way a grandfather clock's pendulum swings at its natural frequency. With its tail swinging more slowly, it climbed but not as quickly or efficiently.

The researchers found it achieve the greatest efficiency - 20 percent - when the tail swung back and forth 120 degrees (or 60 degrees to each side of straight down), when the tail swung back and forth 1.125 times per seconds and when the claws were spaced 4.9 inches apart.

When the tail swung at two times per second, it was too fast and ROCR jumped off the wall, and was caught by a safety cord so it wasn't damaged.

Provancher says the study is the first to set a benchmark for the efficiency of climbing robots against which future models may be compared. He says future work will include improving the robot's design, integrating more complex mechanisms for gripping to walls of various sorts, such as brick and sandstone, and investigating more complex ways of controlling the robot - all aimed at improving efficiency.

"Higher climbing efficiencies will extend the battery life of a self-contained, autonomous robot and expand the variety of tasks the robot can perform," he says.