SBIR-STTR Award

This proposal is meant to assist the Air Force on the $70 million annual problem of bird strikes. The Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) team is constantly trying to come up with new ways to harass birds so that they are not a hazard for operating aircraft. The BASH biologists are doing their best with the tools that they have, but there are still large expenses being expended by the USAF for bird strikes. The XWorks Robotic Docking and Interchange Station (RDISt) can be adapted to answer this problem and work for bird mitigation much in the same way a raptor keeps birds away; flying a random mission with a raptor bird speaker. The RDISt can launch a drone autonomously, on a scheduled time, or based on human input, fly a given pattern for harassing birds, return to the RIDSt for a change of battery, and be ready to continue the mission 24 hours per day.Automated BASH Tool,Automatic Bird Harassment Drone,Automated Bird Collision Mitigation Tool

The Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) team is responsible for bird/wildlife strike mitigations for the USAF. This team consistently tries to come up with new ways to harass birds so that they are not a hazard for operating aircraft. According to the BASH data, more than $24 million/year (on average), is spent on bird damage repairs. Additionally, The BASH team has been given a mandate by AFI 91-212 which in short states there is zero-tolerance for large animals on the airfield. These animals gather outside of the perimeter of an airfield and can be observed and mitigated with the right tools. The XWorks RDISt can assist in answering this need; the RDISt can launch a drone autonomously, on a scheduled time, or based on human input and assist the BASH team in monitoring for birds and other wildlife and harassing them from airport operations areas. The end result of this effort is meant to assist the BASH team in carrying out this mandate in addition to improving the overall safety of flight operations around Air Force Bases.