SBIR-STTR Award

Sense and avoid (SAA) systems are crucial for safe integration of unmanned aircraft into the national air space system. An SAA system provides an automated method of avoiding collisions caused by intruding aircraft, supplanting the pilot’s “see-and-avoid”

Visual sensors (electro-optical and infrared) are important for many civil and military aviation applications. The key advantages of visual sensors are 1) the ability to sense passively (without emissions) and 2) their low size, weight, and power (SWaP). In this AFWERX STTR project, UtopiaCompression’s novel UAS passive collision alert system (PCAS), which passively estimates intruding aircraft 3-D state, has been augmented with collision avoidance algorithms, providing a complete detect-and-avoid capability for unmanned aircraft. The PCAS system’s estimator will be applied to long-range target state estimation in Phase II for USAF Air National Guard missions.