Inside Unmanned Systems

APR-MAY 2016

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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55 unmanned systems inside April/May 2016 ENGINEERING. PRACTICE. POLICY. Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy throughs from getting lost in the 'valley of death' where technologies too mature for early research money, but not far enough along to move toward production, languish until they are forgotten. We would "develop it further to that point where it would have a design, it would be mov- ing toward procurement," Murphy said. Kelley, however, is talking about a strategy that goes beyond task-specific requirements and technologies to a matrix of connected de- vices operating 24/7 that is able to gather, share and act on information across domains. Engelhardt wants an unmanned aircraft to be able to communicate the reconnaissance information it is gathering to a surface or un- dersea vehicle in such a way that there is "a very coordinated, almost a networked, approach to where the enemy may be—and maneuver and tactics within that." "If I can't have my widgets talking to one an- other," she said, "I'm still limited by those do- mains. We want to be able to cross-communicate among all our domains in an unmanned world." Standardize To make that possible the strategy needs to incorporate common or compatible enabling technologies, like communications systems and software, across the service. "In other words," Engelhardt said, "things like open architecture where I can actually take something that may be a shiny object and drop it in a mission profile without having to re-wicker the major software." Enabling technology for LaPointe, who spent part of her career doing sensor and weapons in- tegration, also means establishing standards. "Right now, if you look at the unmanned sys- tems world and certain domains," she said, "some- times it feels a little bit like the Wild, Wild West right? We're still in the days of figuring out if the steering wheel goes on the left or right of the car." can essentially perform a lot of the tasks that currently require big expensive ships and they do so at a fraction of the cost." The watercraft can be used for gathering weather and climate data, doing biochemical studies and monitoring fsh stocks. Each can carry a wide range of sensors including ones to measure temperature and current as well as dissolved oxygen and dissolved carbon. "We carry on board more sensors than any other type of similar unmanned assets, whether fxed, like buoys, or other similar au- tonomous vehicles," de Halleux said. Saildrone first encountered DIUx when DIUx reached out to the frm, de Halleux said. "Part one of their mission is to really build bridges," he said, "and so they surveyed in- novation in the Valley with a special focus on hardware and unmanned technologies. They found us and we were invited to present our company's activities in several workshops with DIUx. They are teaching us about their use cases—what they're looking for and the problems that they want to solve. Then we're looking at whether there's an alignment and what the procurement cycle might be, which is typically very unfriendly to small startups. That is a problem the Pentagon is try- ing to address, de Halleux told Inside Unmanned Systems. "Typically (defense) procurement is a complex process," he said, "it takes a very long time. And that's been the stereotype of working with DOD for a long time. In the Valley companies move really, really fast. DIUx is trying to bridge both the standard Navy process and the fast cycle of Bay Area companies. The only characterization I can give you is that they're trying to go from a process that takes years to a process that takes months—and that's moving really, really fast when it comes down to DOD." CONTACT DASN UxS 1000 Navy Pentagon Room 4A268 Washington, DC 20350 N99 (703) 697-9910 USA DIUx osd.diux@mail. milhttp://diux.mil Offce of Naval Research 875 N Randolph St, Arlington, VA 22217 Phone: (703) 696-5031 www.onr.navy.mil/

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