SBIR-STTR Award

In order to meet the remote runway survey system requirement, by using many cutting edge technologies, a very innovative system is proposed. The remote runway survey includes 4 steps (or the survey system consists of 4 subsystems). In the first step, we will use Remote Sensing Pictures (RSP) from satellite and airplane to roughly determine which area is suitable for runway. In the second step, we will use Micropower Impulse Imaging Radar (MIIR) from a surveillance airplane, unmaned aerial vehicle, or helicopter to penetrate the ground and roughly get the structure of different layers of the ground selected by the first step. In the third step, we will use parachute or rope to drop a specially designed robot from helicopter or integrate the robot with UAV together to take the soil samples of different layers using a modified Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) without making a big borehole. The small robot will equip all necessary measurement instruments including spectrometer, laser induced fluorescence, GPS, inclinometer, compass, imagery sensor and traverse the whole assault zone quietly to measure the soil characteristics, calculate load bearing capacity for large military aircraft, and measure the physical dimensions of the assault zone, including property slope and magnetic orientation. All of the data/images will be wireless sent to the remote site at least 3 miles away using our gum-size transmitter even sent 100 miles away through our recently developed personal satellite communication system. The last step is to analyze the data/images from RSP, MIIR, DCP, and LIF at the remote site and compare the standard data/images to get a correct conclusion. In phase I, a laboratory prototype will be delivered to SOCOM for demonstration. The new runway survey system could be used in a broad range of military and civilian applications where load bearing capabilities of soil and surface slope are important. Airport, road, and building construction projects could benefit immediately from this capability. The related cutting edge technologies: remote sensing, Robot, MIIR, DCP, LIF, wireless communication, and image classification also will find large military and commercial applications

Keywords:
sensors, remote measurement, vision systems, impulse radar, robotics, communications, pattern analysis, dynamic cone penetrometer

Traditionally the Air Force Special Operations Forces (AFSOF) physically measures assault zone characteristics such as physical dimensions, magnetic orientation, coordinates, obstacles, elevation, weight-bearing capacity of the soil, soil composition, surface tolerances, clearances, and roughness, terminal navigation aid suitability, etc. It is labor intensive and the operator would be exposed to the enemy during the wartime. Therefore, in the phase-I research, an automatic remote runway survey system using a small robot with 5 sensors was developed by Zybron, Inc. Prototype demonstration was successfully conducted in Hurlburt, Florida and remarkable achievements were reached. However, the phase I research was only 6 months, not all problems could be solved in that short period. The objective of the phase II is to solve following remaining problems: (1) Sample the soil and measure the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) up to 3 feet (the depth reached in phase I was only 7 inches) for the whole runway of 4 kilometers within critical time. (2) Measure the obstacles and surface roughness and create a method for automatic obstacle avoidance. (3) Measure the runway size and slope. (4) Wireless send the measured data and images to the remote control center and analyze them to get a correct conclusion that if the site is suitable for use as an assault landing zone, and if so, what class of aircraft can land there. In order to solve above problems, a specially designed robot with proper motion control under GPS navigation and having obstacle avoidance ability will be furnished by the Government to cooperate with our 8 sensors. Detailed software source codes and protocols, and hardware interfaces of the robot should be supplied. From our side, special cover will be added on the robot to reduce visible, infrared and Radar signatures. Electrical or mechanic dynamic cone penetrometer will be design to measure the soil load bearing capability up to 3 feet, and at the same time soil samples will be collected. Stereo fusion camera using our unique low light level CCD and uncooled infrared sensors, and laser scanner using invisible laser diode will be designed and used to detect the obstacles and measure the surface and undersurface conditions (holes, crests, voids, etc.) of the runway. Hardware and software will be developed to let the robot avoid obstacles and holes automatically. The laser scanner will share the laser diode and the common optical aperture with the laser rangefinder, so the laser rangefinder can measure the runway size by using the pulsed mode. If the robot can find several reference points with known heights, the laser rangefinder also can measure the runway slope. Of course, we also can use an inclinometer to measure the slope quickly. A digital modem using spread spectrum and secret encryption codes will be designed to send the measured and compressed data 30-km away to the computer at the control center to produce the 3-D runway map with size, slope, obstacles, unevenness, CBR, and other parameters by using the AutoCAD and image processing software. The new robot with GPS navigation will be delivered in 6 months, and the innovative remote assault zone survey system satisfying all SOW requirements will be demonstrated at the government selected site

Keywords:
remote runway survey, assault landing zone, robot, gps navigation, soil california bearing ratio, obstacle avoidance, wireless data transfer and recor