SBIR-STTR Award

A highly unique, perching MAV topology providing excellent maneuverability, high explosive payload capacity, color video transmission back to the operator, good range, and energy harvesting from power lines, wind, and solar sources is detailed. These advantages greatly extend the mission duration and capabilities of the micro air weapon. Additionally, the topology of the MAV gives the ability to aim and discharge the payload, allowing the MAV to return for reuse unless expendability is required by the mission. The MAV is also capable of very effective terrestrial travel, including crawling under vehicles and into tight spaces. The design uses high performance plastic, rapid prototyped parts, COTS components such as flight motors, RC servos, receiver, video transmitter, GPS receiver, and lithium polymer batteries, and is remotely controlled via common single or two joystick techniques.  

Benefits:
The feasibility R&D and work in this proposal will fabricate, test and optimize a MAV topology that immediately can become commercial product that enables positioning and repositioning of a video link via flight to virtually any location. This ability is well suited for news gathering, viewing of scheduled indoor and outdoor events, and especially far rapidly deployable video feeds to the internet via TCP/IP and websites.

Keywords:
Mav, Perching, Micro Air Weapon, Rc, Video, Gps

The objective of Phase II R&D concerns micro air vehicles (MAVs). These MAVs are typically used for remote, surreptitious surveillance using video links. Under Phase I, AetherMachines Inc. has developed and test flown a MAV employing many new features which extend MAV capabilities and mission duration significantly. First, it has a very unique ‘insect like’ topology which enables great maneuverability, gives the ability to perch on a power line or tree limb, allows the MAV to land and crawl terrestrially, permits aiming and discharge an offensive payload. The MAV design is also equipped with specialty scavenging circuitry which allows it to collect energy from sources including the sun and power lines. Coupled with its ability to perch, this scavenging capability gives greatly extended loiter missions, without the need for circling or hovering flight, making it highly unobtrusive and useful as a rapidly deployable video link or feed. The MAV’s video link is augmented with a GPS on screen display overlay to provide positional, altitude, and velocity information to the operator. The video link can also be used with virtual reality type goggles for a complete FPV (first person view) while flying or perched. BENEFIT

Keywords:
Mav, Micro Air Vehicle, Perching, Scavenging, Insect Like, Video Link, Loiter, Crawling