commercial vtol precision deliveryfcc.vtol.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/john-langford... · 2017....
TRANSCRIPT
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Commercial VTOL Precision Delivery
UAS Symposium and Technical Workshop
John S. Langford
Chairman & CEO
Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation
October 21, 2014
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Summary
• Unmanned aircraft have transformed military operations
• They are about to do the same in civil aviation
• The transition path has been traveled before
• Making the vehicles work is only part of the problem
• Collision avoidance is key to successful integration in the NAS
• This presentation will introduce:
A global vision of UAS-augmented package delivery
Aurora Flight Sciences – its products, technology, & operations
Aurora’s Commercial VTOL Precision Delivery Vehicle
The PANOPTES line of collision-avoidance products
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Global vision - cargo
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Introduction to Aurora
Aurora today is the second-largest privately held UAS
company
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Aurora UAS Products
• Orion (11,000 lb GTOW)
120-hour endurance MALE; affordable persistent ISR
Launch customer: USAF
• Centaur (4,000 lb GTOW)
Optionally piloted aircraft
Manned, unmanned, hybrid
Launch customer: Swiss Air Force
• SideArm (1,000 lb GTOW)
Runway independent MALE
Launch customer: DARPA
• GoldenEye (100 lb GTOW)
Quiet VTOL Ducted Fan
Launch customer: DARPA
• Skate (2 lb GTOW)
Briefcase UAS for education,
civil, and military
Launch customer: USAF
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Key Aurora Production Programs
• USAF/Northrop Grumman RQ-4B
Global Hawk & USN RQ-4C Triton
Five major composites structural
packages
• USMC/Sikorsky CH-53K King
Stallion
Main rotor pylons & nacelles;
5 delivered, 228 on order
• Gulfstream G-500 & Bell 525
Helicopter
Multiple major composite assemblies on
multiple new products
• Sikorsky S-97 Raider
Entire composite airframe for
Armed Aerial Scout prototype
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Key Aurora R&D Programs
• SPHERES Autonomous satellite laboratory
Sponsor: NASA & DARPA
• AACUS Autonomous helicopter landing system
Customer: ONR
• VTOL X-Plane VTOL strike platform
Customer: DARPA
• N+3 Efficient environmentally responsible flight
Customer: NASA
• ALIAS Robotic copilot portable to any aircraft
Customer: DARPA
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Aurora Main Facilities
VIRGINIA
Est. 1991
WEST VIRGINIA
Est. 1994
MISSISSIPPI
Est. 2005
MASSACHUSETTS
Est. 2006
Location Manassas Regional Airport Manassas, VA
Harrison-Marion Regional Airport Bridgeport, WV
Golden Triangle Regional Airport Columbus, MS
4 Cambridge Center Cambridge, MA
Key Functions • Corporate HQ Design • Engineering Rapid • Prototyping
• Composites Manufacturing • Metals Manufacturing
• Composite Manufacturing • Vehicle Assembly
• Research & Development
Capabilities • Design • Prototyping • HILSIM • Flight Ops • High altitude engine
test cells
• 8’x20’ Autoclave • Clean rooms • NDI • NC Machine Shop w/3 & 5 axis
machinery
• Automated Fiber Placement (AFP)
• 16’x40’ Autoclave • 16’x22’ Router • 18’x22’ Automated C-scan • Wiring and harness shop
• Flight simulation • Small prototype shop • Electronics lab • Clean room • Access to machine
shop, combustion test lab, and motion-capture lab
Area 124,000ft2 office/hangar 125,000ft2 office/hangar 114,400ft2 office/hangar 18,000ft2 office
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Aurora Satellite Offices
Office location Customer Focus Expertise
Luzern, Switzerland Armasuisse
Europe
Middle East
MRO
Product Development
Marketing & Sales
Pax River, MD U.S. Navy
University of Maryland
Flight test
Payload integration
Autonomy
Dayton, OH U.S. Air Force Classified programs
Mountain View, CA Google, Facebook, etc
NASA-Ames
Innovative vehicle design
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TALOS CONOPs and Architecture for AACUS Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System
Program Overview – 18 months to flight demo
• Intelligent autonomous capabilities for a future aerial cargo / utility system
• Develop/demo open architecture, adaptable to multiple platforms (Boeing OH-6 Unmanned Little Bird and
JUH-60)
• Focus on sensing and perception, mission and path planning, and human-machine interfaces
Customers: Office of Naval Research, Naval Air Systems Command, USMC
Future: Army JUH-60
Planning & Autonomy
CONOPS
Combat Outpost
AACUS-Enabled
System
Landing Zone
LZ Evaluation
Flight computer in ULB
Route Planning
0 500 1000 15000
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Easting (m)Northing (m)
Path
Filtered
Trajectory Planning
Perception Human-System
Interface
Phase 1-2 Boeing ULB
Touchdown Negotiation
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Precision Delivery in a Civil Environment
Characteristics Performance Payload Mass & Round Trip Emplacement Range
GTOW 180 lb Cruise Speed: 50 knots ground speed 10 lb Payload: 24 nm
VTOL Maximum Endurance: 1 hr 20 lb Payload: 16 nm
STANAG 4586 Useful Load (fuel + payload): 40 lb 30 lb Payload: 8 nm
Rover Interoperable Maximum Fuel Load: 36 lb
Avgas or Heavy Fuel
Block I GTOW 230 lb Cruise Speed: 80 knots ground speed 20 lb Payload: 106 nm
VTOL Maximum Endurance: 3 hr 40 lb Payload: 80 nm
Land, Shutdown, Relaunch Useful Load (fuel + payload): 100 lb 60 lb Payload: 53 nm
STANAG 4586 Maximum Fuel Load: 85 lb
Rover Interoperable
Heavy Fuel Only (JP8)
Baseline
1. User places order for urgent package
delivery via internet; downloads app to
mobile device
2. Central dispatch facility loads, launches
GoldenEye
3. AACUS-enabled GoldenEye IDs suitable
delivery site closest to recipient
4. Recipient Oks through app
5. GoldenEye lands to dropoff or pick up
package – engine stop not necessary.
Can release without landing if needed.
6. Launches to next destination.
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GoldenEye Video
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Increased Autonomy Enables Civil Operations
UAS Airspace
Integration at Aurora
Compliance with
Aviation Regulations
Commercial
Opportunities
Data Analytics of
Aircraft Operations
Autonomy Assisted
Flight Operations
Airworthiness
Regulations
Operational
Regulations
- Mainly FAR Part 91
- Sense and Avoid
- Aircraft
Surveillance
Technology
- Right-of-Way Rules
- etc.
- Airframe
Certification
- Avionics
Certification
- Manned operations
augmented by
technology
developed for UAS
- Markets and
capabilities opened
up by UAS
integration
- E.g. reduced crew
operations, bridge
inspections, store
inventory gathering,
etc.
- Takes advantage of
increasing availability
of data in aerospace
- Aircraft surveillance
data (ADS-B), cloud-
connected aircraft
(SWIM), downlinks
on all UAS, etc.
- Do what Google did
for the internet, but in
aerospace
Air Traffic
Management
- Inter-operability
with Air Traffic
Control
- Flight Planning,
Traffic
Management,
etc.
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Defining Collision Avoidance for UAS
vs.
The lack of comprehensive collision avoidance is the most
significant technological barrier to routine UAS operations
- Panoptes exists to solve this challenge
Collision Avoidance in manned aviation:
- Preventing the mid-air collision of two aircraft in mostly empty space
Definition too narrow for UAS operations
- Operational environment and SWAP constraints are significantly
different
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Defining Collision Avoidance for UAS
Yellow: strategic,
high-level mission
goal direction
Red: tactical maneuvering
through wide-field
clutter to target
Blue: reactive small obstacle
avoidance
maneuver that
preempts urban or
cluttered maneuvering
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Panoptes Vision
Vision – “Enabling Commercial UAS Applications
Through Comprehensive Environment Perception”
3 layers of increasingly complex interaction with environment
Responding
Perceiving
Collaborating
- Perceiving environment (location and
intent of objects)
- Responding to environment (taking
action based on perception)
- Collaborating with environment (communicating/planning with other
objects in the environment based on
perception)
Perception is the foundation which enables more complex
interaction with the environment
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Panoptes System Architecture
• System architecture of Panoptes (from “Function to Form”):
• Technology Roadmap is designed to incrementally develop the individual components of the architecture Key requirements: Vehicle -, Sensor- and Algorithm-agnostic to allow for addition of sensors and
operational functionalities
Surveillance of Non-
Cooperative Targets
(e.g. Echo-Location,
Optical Flow, Radar)
Surveillance of
Cooperative Targets
(e.g. ADS-B)
Own-ship Information
Sources
(e.g. GPS)
Surveillance
Processing and
Sensor Fusion Collision Avoidance
Algorithms
(Moving Targets)
Vehicle Control
Obstacle Detection
and Navigation
Algorithms (Stationary
Targets)
Environment Perception Operational Functionalities Vehicle Interface
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Panoptes Roadmap
• Aurora is developing a line of collision avoidance products
under the brand name “PANOPTES”
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Technology Development:
Borrowing From Nature
Using today’s methods to perform
environment perception would result in a heavy, power-hungry system
- Not well suited for most UAS
Insects and birds solve same problem with very little computational power (i.e. low SWAP)
- Sparse sensing - Comparatively few neurons - Apply same methods to UAS environment
perception
Prof. Sean Humbert at UMD’s Autonomous
Vehicle Laboratory (AVL) is an expert in this field
- AVL is developing sensing methods,
algorithms and demonstrators - Combination of sensors generates synergetic
benefits - Over past 10 years, Aurora has collaborated
with AVL on SBIRs
Proof-Of-Concept has been established
Aurora’s PanOptiS Sensor Head
Echolocation Optic Flow
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Insect Visuomotor Feedback
Flight
Motor
Commands
Luminance
Patterns Optic Flow
Estimation Wide-Field
Integration Optic
Flow
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The Panoptes eBumper
(Shown for DJI Phantom 2 – other system coming soon)
Echolocation
Sensors in
Forward, Up,
Left and Right
Retrofit –
Replaces top Shell
Aircraft Agnostic
Electronics Inside
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How It Works – Fly
Flight in open areas is unchanged. The pilot can switch to a precision mode
which scales back control inputs, reducing flight velocities.
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How It Works – Detect
If a threat is detected, eBumper responds to reduce the likelihood of a
collision.
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How It Works – Correct
As the aircraft moves away from the threat, normal control is returned to the
user, and operations can continue as before.
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What’s in the Box?
eBumper consists of two assemblies:
- Shell assembly, with 4 integrated echolocation pingers
- PCA assembly, consisting of PCB and connectors
Consumer installs eBumper v1.0 onto DJI Phantom sUAS
- Future versions may be created for other popular sUAS
Echolocation Sensors Printed Circuit Assembly Shell Assembly
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Want one?
User Benefits - Helps pilots fly more precisely in close proximity to objects - Increases pilot confidence in flying closer to objects - Increases likelihood of successful close proximity flight - Significant user benefits in both LoS and autonomous operations
eBumper DOES NOT: - Prevent crashes – you can still crash the sUAS - Avoid collisions – the sUAS can still collide with something (due to wind
gusts, etc.)
Initial sales focus on honoring pre-orders and beta testing requests - First units will ship early November - Due to large demand there is currently a waitlist
To be notified when more units become available, sign up at:
www.panoptesuav.com
Want to see if fly?
6-7PM: Demonstration at Indoor Arena