This will be a request for proposal of a
quadcopter system used for disaster search and rescue applications. This will be for a small man portable system
appropriate for searching in remote areas with minimal support equipment. The goal will be to select a COTS (Commercial
Off the Shelf) system as well as a COTS payload that can be easily integrated
into the quadcopter platform. By using a
COTS system this reduce development and testing time (less than 6 months)
providing a proven platform for this application.
Base Requirements
· Transportability
o
Entire System (all components) will be
transportable (in ruggedized case) and weigh less than 50 lbs (one person lift)
o
Entire system (all components) will be
transportable in padded backpack for field use
o
Control Station shall be tablet (ruggedized) for
field use
·
Air
Vehicle
o
Shall be capable of flight up to 500 feet
altitude above ground level (AGL)
o
Shall be capable of sustained flight for a minimum
of 45 minutes
o
Shall be capable of operational radius of at
least 1 kilometer mile
o
Shall be autonomously controlled via ruggedized
tablet control station
o
Shall be deployable (from either case or
backpack) and over mission area in less than 15 minutes.
o
Shall provide real time telemetry information to
operator via ruggedized tablet including altitude, magnetic heading,
latitude/longitude or MGRS (Military Grid Reference System) position, and
orientation (roll, pitch, and yaw)
o
Shall provide near real time payload video to
ruggedized tablet control station
o
Shall provide capability to hover over target of
interest
o
Shall provide power to payload, telemetry
sensors, and data-link
·
Payload
o
Shall be capable of color daytime video (EO)
operation up to 500 feet AGL
o
Shall be capable of infrared (IR) video
operation up to 500 feet AGL
o
Shall provide target location coordinates (MGRS,
Lat/Long, etc.)
o
Shall be at least 2 axis gimbal stabilized
o
Shall be interoperable with C2 and data-link
o
Shall use power provided by air vehicle element
For this system I would
look at getting a COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf) system that would require
little actual development other than slight modifications and validation that
the system is capable of meeting the mission requirements. For this reason I would use an unstructured
of ad hoc development process. I would
use the following testing strategies:
1)
Concept Design
2)
Concept Research (COTS)
3)
Subsystem Testing
4)
Integration
Testing
5)
Test Site Selection
6)
Flight Test
7)
Certification
8)
Support
Because this will be a COTS system with
only minimal payload selection and integrations this process should take no
longer than 4-6 months.
I have decided on COTS quadcopter system
because they are usually modular in nature with excellent payload
capability. This type of system is also
very well suited to this application because it can hover and provide a stable
platform with a 360 degree view for the payload. This capability will provide rapid search of
difficult or inaccessible terrain.
By using a COTS system this will ensure
the system is available for use as quickly as possible and will ideally already
be proven with previous operational use.
This will also keep costs down and making this system available to
search and rescue units of all sizes and budgets. This will also eliminate production problems
related to setting up a new facility and the associated development and
production delays.
1.
References
No comments:
Post a Comment