Blog Post #1
ASCI 530 – Unmanned Aerospace Systems
The Evolution of Unmanned Aerial Systems
Like so many boys
growing up I had a keen interest in model airplanes. Cutting little plastic parts, and gluing them
together to marvel at a replica of an admired piece of engineering genius. That led the way to fly by wire model planes,
and the ever “cool” Estes model rockets with their solid propellant, size A, B,
C, and D engines; some even double stage.
Later, when my budget allowed (or rather my parent’s budget would
allow), I graduated to remotely controlled vehicles. So went my evolution with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
(UAV). Today that interest carries over
to my professional life where I get to research, and be involved in the
development of real Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs), and the ground elements
that are used to operate them remotely.
As a kid I thought
Radio Control (RC) was cutting edge technology, but if that were true I’d have
to be over a 100 years old today. For
the record, I am not. Several
technological obstacles have stood in the way of the advancement of the UAS, guidance
systems and control of those systems likely being the most obvious. The United States first began exploring the
utility of UAS during World War 1 but those efforts were plagued by the
unavailability of a reliable guidance system (Zaloga, 2008, p 4). In 1909, American inventor Elmer Sperry began
designing gyroscopic devices to control the stability of aircraft. That led the way for the modern Inertial Navigation
Systems (INS) in use today. (Zaloga, 2008, P6).
Navigational
systems is just one milestone in the evolution of the UAS. Others have been the improvements in remote
communications most notably through satellite communications which allow pilots
to “fly” those aircraft from thousands of miles away, replacing the radio
control first introduced to the United States Navy in the 1930s by Reginald
Denny of the hobby industry, and his Radioplane company. Mr. Denny developed several versions of his
model, the RP-1 through the RP-19/OQ-19 over several years. His Radioplane was acquired by Northrop
Grumman and went on to form the core of one of the most successful of today’s
UAV firms (Zaloga, 2008, P 7).
Greater distances
between aircraft and control site necessitates an accurate reporting of the
aircrafts location when beyond line of sight, usually via GPS reporting. No matter how reliable a control channels may
be, it’s absolutely imperative that some safety measures be in place in the
event of a communications system failure.
A modern UAS needs some degree of autonomy. In the more sophisticated aircraft, that is
achieved through on board mission management computer systems which have flight
plans loaded so if communications are
lost, the aircraft can still execute preprogrammed instructions, allowing it to
Return to Base (RTB), land safely, or proceed to a preestablished way point in its
flight plan in the hopes of reestablishing control and communications. Many control agencies, including the United
States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) already insist upon a Traffic Collision
Avoidance System (TCAS) before they will allow an aircraft to transit over a
populated area, or within their airspace.
That will surely extend to the UAS as well. The mindset of “big sky, little bullet” is
not, nor should it ever be, acceptable. The refinement of existing TCAS is likely to
further the advancement, and prevalence of UASs in the skies above us. UASs have come a long way from Reginald Denny’s
Radioplane, largely in part due to the advancement in satellite communications
providing that means of control, as well as enabling the UAS to be a platform
for various payloads including sophisticated Electro-Optical systems, such as
that integrated in Boeing’s ScanEagle, initially designed for the commercial
fishing industry, and later used by the military as an observation platform,
proving UAVs have a much greater utility than as simple targeting drones
(Boeing, 9/2015).
To the uninformed, UASs present a danger to
our population, but I would argue that the systems in use, and those in development
today are, and will continue to be, tremendously valuable tools, furthering our
ability to fight fires, conduct search and rescue operations, extend
communications, conduct terrain mapping, and will have countless other
uses. One thing is certain; UASs will
continue to grow within the aviation community and even today we can look at
them as the next big thing in a rapidly developing and exciting industry.
References
Zaloga, S. J. (2008) Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles, Robotic Air Warfare 1917 – 2007. Osprey
Publishing/Random
House Distribution Center, Westminster, MD 21157
(Boeing, 9/2015) ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle [online].
Available: http://www.boeing.com/history/products/scaneagle-unmanned-aerial-vehicle.page
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