Covert Airdrop

NTC recently completed Phase I of an SBIR program to design and test a first-of-a-kind airdrop vehicle that accurately places up to 60 pounds of payload in very tight environments (urban canyons, heavily wooded clearings, etc). The concept relies on a unique autorotation concept that allows large down-range and cross-range placement of the payload, followed by a vertical descent - we call it the "convertible gliding rotorcraft". Our advanced embedded avionics would guide the vehicle from long standoff distances to pre-specified locations. The vehicle is currently in the concept and prototyping phase; we have conducted autorotation simulations and prototype drop tests to validate some of the technical elements of the concept.

Advantages:
- All aero & control surfaces stowed during storage
- Integral handles and wheels for handling
- No large parachute or drogue chute - increased covertness
- Large downrange and cross-range capability
- High speed, wind penetrating flight
- Precision placement and vertical final entry to target

Drop test prototype

This scaled drop test vehicle was built to determine the spin-up and autorotation characteristics of the convertible gliding rotorcraft. The prototype was R/C controlled and dropped from an R/C Helicopter. Spin up and autorotating deceleration were demonstrated.

Mission Profile

1 - Attitude Transient 2 - Rotor Spin-up 3 - Transition to Glide 4 - Guidance to Target, Winds Aloft Estimation & Penetration 5 - Transition to Auto-rotation 6 - Final Guided Descent

Deployment Sequence: (link to the video)

The concept of operations is as follows:
- Enter the target GPS coordinates by keypad or wireless Ethernet
- Attach a lariat to the top of the cart
- Roll or throw out - No special launch procedures
- No winds aloft estimation required before launch

Automatic deployment occurs based on gravity and aero forces:
- Lariat pulls cover off (cover can be recovered and re-used)
- Folded-rotor configuration weathercocks into wind
- Rotor deploys by spring action: initially, the collective pitch is 90 deg
- Rotor collective pitch slowly increased to spin up rotor
- Vehicle transitions into 'Glide Mode'

autonomous miniature helicopter    airdrop    coordinated-control software     multi-vehicle planning interface

©Nascent Technology Corporation. 2004. All rights reserved.