Look Ma, No Hands

[Seahawk]

Took one of my UAVs to the ship today...the below is a picture of the Fire Scout just before it lands for the first time on the USS Nashville.

First time an unmanned helicopter has done an auto landing on a ship.

Big day for one of my programs.

[KevinP73]

The sea looks calm it the picture. At what point can it NOT land due to the deck pitching in heavier seas?

[djmcmath]

Ooh ... I can see some practical applications to this new technology. Thanks for your hard work, SeaHawk.

[Seahawk]

Originally posted by KevinP73
The sea looks calm it the picture. At what point can it NOT land due to the deck pitching in heavier seas?

We did the initial tests today in the Chesapeake Bay, off Point Lookout...crawl, walk, run. It is important to "build" on each test point. Today we wanted the exact benign conditions you recognized.

The system spec is for pitch 3, roll 8...not that much, but we're working on it!

Picture of the Nashville as we departed:

[Seahawk]

One more.

[Joeaksa]

Any chance you are working with Lockheed on this? Anyone named TC on the project?

Joe A

[gassy]

That's really cool. Congrats

[KevinP73]

OK another amature Q. I can imagine over land the craft will "know" where the ground is. But when you have a moving deck, How does it know "where" the deck is ? How would you keep the craft from slamming into a rapidly rising deck?

[oldE]

I know absolutely nothing about the UAV, but there are more than a couple of ways the craft could 'read' the distance from itself to the deck/landing pad. Off the shelf sensors might include the autofocus sensors from a camera, back up alarms from a car or some sort of doppler radar. No need to re-invent the wheel.
I suspect the next challenge (crawl, walk, run) will be to get the software to analyse the pitch/roll/yaw of the vessel to predict where it's landing pad will be as it descends for a landing. Lots of coding ahead.
Have fun!
Les

[Seahawk]

Originally posted by KevinP73
OK another amature Q. I can imagine over land the craft will "know" where the ground is. But when you have a moving deck, How does it know "where" the deck is ? How would you keep the craft from slamming into a rapidly rising deck?

Good question...the aircraft is contolled via either a UHF link or a high band data link called a TCDL (imagery and other data is sent down the link as well). The aircraft also has redundant GPS receivers as well.

The operator doesn't have stick and rudder control of the aircraft, all control is done with a mouse and the operator points and clicks where he wants the aircraft to go.

For shipboard landing, the operator positions the aircraft to intercept a stabilized beam from a landing system on the ship. The aircratf rides this "beam" down the glide slope to what we call a "High Perch". Once the deck is stable, the operator commands the aircraft to land.

The event pictures is the first in a series of dynamic ship testing that will get progressively more difficult.

[dhoward]

"In my opinion General, what you need is a pilotless vehicle..."
-Chevy Chase, Deal of the Century

[kach22i]

That is not a small UAV, good range on it I suppose.

[azasadny]

Congratulations!

[Seahawk]

Originally posted by kach22i
That is not a small UAV, good range on it I suppose.

It does...about six hours endurance. The rest of my programs are here:

http://uav.navair.navy.mil/

[widebody911]

Introducing the world's most expensive RC 'toy' - hurry, supplies are limited!

Cool projects! Kinda make my web i/f stuff look weak.

Now that you've told us, do you have to kill us all?

[singpilot]

I worked for two years on a program called Outrider; very similar issues and procedures. Most of our program went on to or back to Predator. We were all R/C geeks, and being on a test site with open, restricted airspace, used to fly our R/C stuff during long delays (breaks) on the test series. We had an ugly stick that fired little Estes rockets.

I have always wondered if the Colonel and that man with the funny hat that used to come watch us firing those things off got the idea from that little field in Hondo, Texas so many years ago.

[Seahawk]

Originally posted by singpilot
I worked for two years on a program called Outrider; very similar issues and procedures. Most of our program went on to or back to Predator. We were all R/C geeks, and being on a test site with open, restricted airspace, used to fly our R/C stuff during long delays (breaks) on the test series. We had an ugly stick that fired little Estes rockets.

I have always wondered if the Colonel and that man with the funny hat that used to come watch us firing those things off got the idea from that little field in Hondo, Texas so many years ago.

I know Outrider well...any time you get to NAS Pax, (60 miles south of DC), I'll give you a tour.

[dd74]

Amazing stuff. How large is the helicopter? Looks to be about a quarter the size of a standard helicopter.

Hey, I'm wondering if all this r/c technology/weaponry could make a soldier obsolete. What's the thought on that?

[wludavid]

Originally posted by Seahawk
I know Outrider well...any time you get to NAS Pax, (60 miles south of DC), I'll give you a tour.

Cool! Can I come? I'm in Army R&D - mostly basic research so I don't get to close to many programs that are close to being fielded. Plus I just took an acquisitions class so I have programatic stuff on the brain.

[dhoward]

Originally posted by dd74
Amazing stuff. How large is the helicopter? Looks to be about a quarter the size of a standard helicopter.

Hey, I'm wondering if all this r/c technology/weaponry could make a soldier obsolete. ....

No, Pilots....