Boeing X-45 UCAV

When the Boeing Co. lost the Joint Strike Fighter competition to Lockheed Martin in 2001, its days as a fighter-jet maker may have appeared over.

The Boeing F-15 and F-18 fighter programs were nearing the end, and the company was merely a supplier to Lockheed Martin's F/A-22 program.

But here comes Boeing's X-45C for the Air Force.

Just as the 787 is critical to Boeing's commercial jetliner future, the X-45C represents the company's future in fighters.

It will be nearly as big as an F-16, well-armed and able to fly at close to the speed of sound.

Only the X-45C won't have an onboard pilot. It will be unmanned.

The pilot, or "coach," could be thousands of miles away from the battlefield, giving commands to the stealth combat vehicle from a computer console in a portable trailer. But this pilot will not be moving a control stick to fly the vehicle. The X-45C will fly itself and make critical decisions on its own.

"It's fly-by-mouse," quipped David Koopersmith, Boeing's X-45 program manager.

iSTAR VTOL UAV

Allied Aerospace developed the iSTAR family of high speed, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAVs utilizing Lift Augmented Ducted Fan (LADF) system in response for the US Army Organic Aerial Vehicle (OAV) program. The design concept is simple and efficient and makes use of lightweight composite construction techniques. The structure is comprised of an outer duct enclosing the fan system, centerbody containing the avionics and engine, fixed stators and movable vanes operated by actuators, performing thrust vectoring. The engine is housed in the centerbody, and fuel tanks are located in the forward section of the duct. A variety of payloads may be carried in the nose, tail or duct of the vehicle.

Unlike other VTOL UAV’s, the iSTAR utilizes the airfoil-shaped duct to provide augmented lift during low and high-speed cruise. Vehicle control is provided by thrust vectoring resulting in a highly stable and controllable vehicle during all phases of flight. The company is currently developing a 23 cm diameter back-packable Advanced Concept Technology demonstrator (ACTD) the iSTAR UAV, under a DARPA contract, developed under the MAV and OAV programs. The small UAV will be able to carry EO payloads, TV, infrared and acoustics sensors. The US Army is also considering deploying the UAV from autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV).

Spy Video ATV-360

The remote-controlled tank-track vehicle wirelessly transmits video and audio to a private headset. The remote features a full-circle, single-button spin control and an attached earbud.

Mosquito MAV Helicopter

This tiny helicopter is barely over 2.5" tall and just under 4" long. The Mosquito MAV (Micro Aerial Vehicle) is said to the be world's smallest flying helicopter and can ascend, descend, turn and hover within a 20 ft. range of the digital proportional remote control. Its lithium polymer battery affords up to seven minutes of flight after a five-minute charge.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

An unmanned, aerial vehicle (UAV) is an unpiloted aircraft. UAVs can be remote controlled or fly autonomously based on pre-programmed flight plans or more complex dynamic automation systems. UAVs are currently used in a number of military roles, including reconnaissance and attack. They are also used in a small but growing number of civil applications such as firefighting when a human observer would be at risk, police observation of civil disturbances and crime scenes, and reconnaissance support in natural disasters. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are too "dull, dirty, or dangerous" for manned aircraft.

There is a wide variety of UAV shapes, sizes, configurations, and characteristics. For the purposes of this article and to distinguish UAVs from missiles, a UAV is defined as capable of controlled, sustained, level flight and powered by a jet or reciprocating engine. Cruise missiles are not classed as UAVs, because, like many other guided missiles, the vehicle itself is a weapon that is not reused, even though it is also unmanned and in some cases remotely guided.

The abbreviation UAV has been expanded in some cases to UAVS (unmanned-aircraft vehicle system). The Federal Aviation Administration has adopted the generic class unmanned-aircraft system (UAS) originally introduced by the U.S. Navy to reflect the fact that these are not just aircraft, but systems, including ground stations and other elements.

Mini Robot

This is a description of a mobile robot using an Mac Mini and iSight camera for tele-operation. The purpose of this project is to see what it is like to control to robot using the built-in visual and aural sensors before designing an agent to do the same task. The robot is a Pioneer 3-AT made by ActivMedia and the Mac Mini was graciously provided by Apple computer at no charge. Dr. Amy McGovern provided the iSight camera.

The tests were preformed at the Stephenson Research and Technology Center located at University of Oklahoma. Our group, part of the Artificial Intelligence Research laboratory in Computer Science, was interested in evaluating the Mac Mini because of its small size, built-in wireless and firewire capabilities.

Power is supplied by a 12 Volt 7.2 AH Battery. The battery is connected to a regular car power inverter. The inverter is connected to the power brick which supplies power to the Mac Mini. The average runtime using this arrangement is about 30 minutes. The inverter is just a quick fix so that we don't have to modify the Mac Mini loaned to us by Apple.

Tele-operation is achieved using the Mac Mini's built-in wireless capability. The Aria demo software (running on the Mac Mini) is used to control the Pioneer 3-AT (via ssh from the control computer). A USB-to-serial adapter connects the Mac Mini to the Pioneer 3-AT. iChat transmits the audio/video data from the iSight camera back to the control computer. The blue device that looks like a coffee maker is a Sick laser range finder. The wheels are covered with clear tape for better turning performance on carpeted surfaces.

The Unmanned Underwater Vehicles' World

ROVs
Started as simple underwater cameras with the ability to be remotely operated from the surface, the ROVs got quite an evolution in the past 30 years. Main characteristics of ROVs are the almost endless energy source provided with the umbilical cable, and the extreme flexibility (intelligence) of the human pilot on the surface. These two features allowed the development of mainly two families of ROVs: heavy-duty/deep-waters ROVs and light/shallow-waters ROVs.
Usually provided with mechanical arms or actuators, the formers are heavily used in case of deep underwater intervention where no other means are possible. The dimensions of these machines are rather relevant due to the power needed to cope with the umbilical cable's drag (at few km depth the cable length can "wag the dog"), sea currents, and mission tasks (move objects, grab samples or repair damages). Military, marine intervention companies, and of course oceanographic and research institutions, are the main producer and user of such technology. A comprehensive list of vehicles and companies can be found on the ROV Committee of the Marine Technology Society and even more details on the Rons ROV Links. Among them are companies such Perry Slingsby Systems (triton), Oceaneering International (magnum, millennium, crov), and research institutions as the Japanese Jamstek (Kaiko, urov7k, dolphin) and the American Woods Hole (Jason).
While more complex and capable machines are developed for deep waters or heavy-duty environment, is in shallow waters that a new revolution is on its way. Tired of dealing with huge, heavy and expensive machines some emerging companies are producing much smaller, light and inexpensive ROVs capable to extend even to small enterprises and little research groups or privates, the possibility (Seamor) the English to buy, deploy and use rather sophisticated vehicle. Some companies excel among others like for example: the Canadian InuktunSeaEye (falcon, panther) and the American SeaBotix with the innovative LBV. Don Rodocker founder of SeaBotix and father of the Hyball by Hydrovision wanted a valuable and affordable ROV for everybody. The size, flexibility and prize of the Little Benthic Vehicle (LBV) are hard to beat among ROVs. Still it has to be mentioned a class by itself with the Swedish Mark III and Mark IV (Double Eagle) designed by Gunnar Wänström founder of SuTech (now part of the Saab-Bofors Group): the first Holonom ROV available on the market. In 2006, together with the guys of Ocean Modules, Mr Wänström designed the superlight OM V8 Sii, joined recently by the superlative V8 Offshore: another two excellent ROVs in the Holonom company tradition.

AUVs
The umbilical cable drag and the human dependency of ROVs are only two technical characteristics. Unfortunately there is a main economic disadvantage. For every hour a ROV is on the sea bottom, it is not only the cost of hiring the ROV and the pilot itself that set the price: a entire ship and its equipage has to be on top of the ROV for the same amount of time in order to allow working on the sea bottom. Clearly this has a huge impact on the final costs of a mission. Whenever is possible other means are more than welcome. In the case of underwater survey where a "simple" flyby is requested AUVs are rapidly taking the place of ROVs and towed probes. Their success is due to the capability of working nearly 24h/day and to complete a survey mission (at fixed altitude, generating bathymetry maps with constant resolution) in often one third (or one fourth) of the time needed with other solutions. Moreover AUVs have been used under the North Pole ices where it would have been impossible to a ship to pursuit the robots. Thanks to the sophisticated payload and on board sensors and electronics, AUVs are so reliable to be launched and retrieved, even from a hole on the ice in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. A certain number of companies are producing and selling AUVs: among them (Maridan), ISE (Theseus, Explorer), Atlas MaridanKongsberg Simrad (Hugin 3000, c'inspector). More or less the same concept we saw with the ROVs is happening for the AUVs: there is even a class of smaller AUVs but not less technologically advanced. The first of them come directly from academic research (as Maridan) yielding very reliable and advanced product. We can enumerate the MIT blazoned Bluefin Robotics (Odyssey) recently innovating with Hovering AUVs (Odyssey IV), the very experienced Hydroid (the famous REMUS) with a remarkable 70 AUVs sold, the more recent Sias Patterson (Fetch2), the Icelander Hafmynd (Gavia) listing US-Navvy among its customers, and the newborn Ocean Server Technology's Iver2. An exhaustive list of AUVs can be found in Professor Uwe Zimmer's site and again on Rons ROV Links. Despite most of them develop survey AUVs few innovative companies and research institutions are designing and producing intervention AUVs: some of them has been cooperating in a 1.2 M€ EU funded "Freesub Project" (HPRN-CT-2000-00032) which already in November 2003 delivered ALIVE the first intervention AUV realized by Cybernetix. As a evolution of the proven concept the english Seebyte and Subsea7 "have joined forces to develop the next generation of AUV for the offshore oil and gas industry" as they recently stated. As we did for the ROVs even for AUVs has to be mentioned a class by its own; the only AUV capable to claim an unlimited autonomy: the solar powered autonomous underwater vehicle (SAUV II), realized by Richard Blidberg and its team at the Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute (AUSI).

With few exceptions many of these AUVs are commercial off the shelf products: most companies describe how can they custom design their product, but few modification are allowed to the main structure. Despite a good solution to this problem was suggested by Hafmynd with their patented QuickLock system installed on Gavia allowing to configure the AUV on the spot, still in these days not many companies are willing to modify their product even after having sold it. The customizing procedure takes often part only before the customer delivery. For this reason many research groups are still forced to invest a rather big amount of time and money designing from scratch their own AUV. Fortunately this condition often pushes research institution to explore new paths and consequently make significant progress in the field. Among them we can surely remember the superlatives Jamstek (Urashima) and Woods Hole (Sentry and the hybrid Nereus), togeter with smaller but not less innovative university groups spread all over the world. Some of them meet every year at the AUV Competition organized by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International or at the Student Autonomous Underwater Challenge - Europe (SAUC-E) organized by Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. A display of famous labs and their robots can be founded there.

There are many companies and research groups that produce, sell, or use, underwater robots all over the world. Given Perrone Robotics' aim to cover a wide range of undersea problematic, and particularly being the Raia Project a hybrid vehicle, it is necessary to consider both Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) in order to produce an exhaustive comparison.

ACER Robot

The Armored Combat Engineer Robot (ACER) is a military robot created by Mesa Robotics. Roughly the size of a small bulldozer and weighing 2.25 tons, ACER is among the larger of the terrestrial military robots. Nonetheless, like many other military robots, it has a modular body, allowing for adjustments for its next mission. ACER is able to reach speeds of 6.3 mph, using treads for movement. Uses for this robot include clearing obstacles, removing explosives, hauling cargo and disabled vehicles, and serving as a platform for various other tasks, such as clearing buildings and disarming landmines.

M1 Abrams Panther Mines Remover

M1 Abrams Panther II

The M1 Abrams Panther II is an M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank specially modified for mine clearing missions. Modifications include the removal the turret, and installation of mine rollers on the front of the vehicle and Omnitech's Standardized Teleoperation System.

The Panther II is a 43-ton, remote controlled vehicle that can clear a 50,000-square-foot minefield in one hour. It can be operated up to 2,600 feet away. The M1 Abrams Panther is an M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank specially modified for mine clearing missions. Modifications to the Abrams tank include the removal the turret, and installation of mine rollers on the front of the vehicle. Rollers attached to the front of the vehicle explode landmines without causing damage to the vehicle. Weighing 43 tons, the Panther II can clear a 5,000-square-meter area within an hour. Plow and roller kit attachments push mines out of the way when clearing roads without damaging the vehicle.

The remote-controlled Panther II mine-clearing vehicle allows engineers to increase safety and efficiency standards. The Panther II offers a marked improvement over current methods of clearing mines and unexploded ordnance from roads and assembly areas during contingency operations. Instead of putting sappers (engineers) on the ground with mine detectors and probes, the vehicle can rapidly and thoroughly clear large, hazardous areas at an extremely low risk to soldiers and civilians.

It is not difficult to use. Soldiers can operate the Panther II from 2,600 feet away, but generally keep it at about 800 meters. It’s not like a remote-controlled plastic car where if you run into a building it’s no big deal. With this vehicle there would be some serious damage done. If needed, a panic button located in the briefcase-sized remote control can halt the vehicle immediately. The vehicle can clear lanes effectively and efficiently, saving man hours, and it will save engineer lives by demolishing mines.

The two Panther II vehicles in the 130th Engineer Brigade’s arsenal are one-third of the Army’s total stock. Two have been used since 1999 for mine-clearing missions in Bosnia, and two more are en route to Kosovo.

Phoenix Mars Rover

Lockheed Martin-Built Phoenix Spacecraft Successfully Lands On Mars

NASA Spacecraft will Study Water-Ice on the Northern Planes of Mars

DENVER, May 25th, 2008 -- NASA has a new spacecraft operating on the surface of Mars. This afternoon, the Phoenix Mars Lander, built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], navigated a dramatic blazing descent through the planet’s atmosphere, positioning Phoenix to dig down and touch the planet’s subsurface ice.

At 4:24 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time today, onboard software commands fired six separation nuts and jettisoned the cruise stage of the spacecraft while it was 635 miles away from the surface. That started a series of events that took the spacecraft through six different configurations and from a speed of 12,500 mph to a gentle touchdown on the surface. The data signal confirming the spacecraft had successfully landed was received on Earth at 4:53 p.m.

“Phoenix is an amazing machine and it was built and flown by an amazing team. Through the entire entry, descent and landing phase, it performed flawlessly,” said Ed Sedivy, Phoenix program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. “The spacecraft stayed in contact with Earth during that critical period and we received a lot of data about its health and performance. I’m happy to report it’s in great shape.”

Flight operations since launch and through landing were performed by a tight-knit team in Pasadena and Denver. Mission management and navigation were handled by JPL and spacecraft operations were performed by Lockheed Martin. The joint team stayed in daily contact with the spacecraft through the Deep Space Network since its launch on Aug. 4, 2007.

“We are absolutely delighted by the successful landing of the Phoenix spacecraft,” said Jim Crocker, vice president of Sensing & Exploration Systems at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. “Years of patience, planning, preparation and teamwork paid off handsomely this afternoon. We’re very proud to have played a role in another one of NASA’s exciting voyages of exploration.”

After landing, the spacecraft waited 20 minutes for dust to settle before it deployed its stereo camera, meteorology mast, robotic arm bio-barrier bag and, most importantly, its twin solar arrays. The camera took images of each 6’ 10” solar array which confirmed both were fully deployed allowing the spacecraft to generate its own power. It also took other pictures of a lander foot pad and instruments on the lander’s deck. Those images were returned to Earth via the Mars Odyssey orbiter at 6:47 p.m.

“We’ve passed the hardest part and we’re breathing again,” said JPL’s Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project manager. “Seeing the images that Phoenix sent back after a successful landing reaffirmed the thorough work over the past five years by a great team.”

The University of Arizona leads this first Mars Scout mission for NASA from its Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson. Most of the scientific study for the mission will be performed out of the university’s Science Operations Center. The NASA mission, valued at $420 million, includes the spacecraft development, science instruments, the Delta II launch vehicle, mission operations and science operations.

“I’m truly pleased that we are back at Mars. The journey feels much longer than 422 million miles. We have gone through challenges and trying times, and now we’re going through jubilation,” said Peter Smith, of the University of Arizona, principal investigator for the Phoenix mission. “I’m very grateful of NASA, JPL and Lockheed Martin for making this mission a reality and for allowing us to advance the scientific study of our neighboring planet.”

Two NASA orbiters, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and 2001 Mars Odyssey, played major roles in getting Phoenix safely to the ground. Odyssey provided the communications data link between Phoenix and Earth throughout the entire entry, descent and landing phase. MRO’s powerful HiRISE camera took unprecedented high-resolution images of multiple landing site options. The images gave analysts a preview of the potential landing sites, allowing them to determine which area was the least risky. MRO also received Phoenix data during its journey to the surface, but the orbiter recorded the data and sent it back to Earth at a later time. Both MRO and Odyssey spacecraft were built by Lockheed Martin and both are operated for JPL by the company.

Lockheed Martin has been an industry partner with NASA and the JPL for more than three decades on many interplanetary missions that have ushered in a new and exciting era in the scientific study of our universe and, particularly Mars. Beginning in 1971 with the Atlas/Centaur launch of Mariner 9 as well as the Viking missions in 1976, and continuing with aero shell and heat shield development for the Mars Science Laboratory, Lockheed Martin has been at the forefront in the development of spacecraft and systems used to explore Mars.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, a major operating unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation, designs, develops, tests, manufactures and operates a full spectrum of advanced-technology systems for national security, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include human space flight systems; a full range of remote sensing, navigation, meteorological and communications satellites and instruments; space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft; laser radar; fleet ballistic missiles; and missile defense systems.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2007 sales of $41.9 billion.