IYK takes glimpse at new UAS hardware
By Jack Barnwell
Three engineers hovered over a set of hardware and software components at the Inyokern Airport administration building as part of the latest advance in technology set to be integrated into an unmanned aircraft systems project.
As the three engineers, two consultants for Cal Unmanned Aircraft Systems Portal and one from R3 Engineering, worked, the Inyokern-based team leader watched.
The new components, an all weather sense-and-avoid technology donated by East Coast-based R3 Engineering, is something Eileen Shibley, Cal UAS Portal’s team leader, said would be a step forward.
“It’s a huge step forward and a huge opportunity,” Shibley said Thursday. “It is another tool in our toolbox.”
Cal UAS Portal is one of 50 teams in 37 states applying for one of the six Federal Air Administration test and research site designations for unmanned systems.
Congress introduced two laws in 2012 directing the FAA to begin paving a path to introduce unmanned aircraft vehicles into the national airspace by 2015.
The FAA currently holds a tight leash on the use of civilian UAVs, a technology long used by the military and intelligence agencies.
The push came on the heels of sharp lobbying by private sector businesses that saw untapped potential in utilizing the devices for a wide spectrum of uses.
ReNae Contarino, R3 Engineering co-founder, used the analogy of phones when describing her company’s technology.
“We all had to have lines for land phones and now we’re going to cellphone technology where all the information is out there,”
Contarino said Thursday. “We just have to write the applications to receive and process it and then use it.”
The technology would essentially utilize algorithms to alter a UAV’s course based on other aircrafts’ distance from destination, distance from, straight flight and proximity to other aircraft.
Additionally, its open architecture-based approach would allow reception of signals from other sensor technologies like radar.
Contarino said the technology was very low cost, low weight and low in power consumption.
“It is very compatible with the unmanned aerial systems,” she said. “And 85 percent of unmanned aircraft vehicles that are out there are very small and do not have this capability.”
In short, Contarino said it would be a big step in integrating UAVs into the national airspace.
Cal UAS Portal consultant James Jewell had connected R3 with Shibley’s team based on the company’s development of the technology.
Jewell said the technology was applicable to all general aviation, including remote areas like Inyokern.
