SOAR - Stereo Obstacle Avoidance Rig

UAS in the NAS (ARMD): SOAR promotes the objectives of NASA SBIR Topic A2.01 Unmanned Aerial Systems Integration into the National Airspace by enabling sense/avoid for navigation within uncertain and hazardous environments, as well as promoting autonomous flight capabilities for UAS platforms. Autonomous landing and hazard avoidance (HEOMD and STMD): Safe landing is critical for spacecraft exploration, as was recently demonstrated by the European Space Agency's recent mission difficulties with the Rosetta spacecraft and the Philae lander, which had difficulty locating a stable surface for landing. SOAR can be utilized for safe landing site selection in unknown environments (e.g., for Project Morpheus). Multiple-Use Sensor Technologies/Instruments (SMD): SMD's goals include developing high-quality, multi-purpose, low-cost, low-SWaP sensing capabilities to make spacecraft missions more affordable). SOAR uses COTS hardware with software-based sensing, meaning the SOAR system can be used for sense/avoid, navigation, automated landing, topographical mapping, reconnaissance and more.

There are no existing COTS sensor technologies that address the FAA's sense/avoid concerns for UAS operation within the NAS, particularly for small UAS platforms weighing 55lbs or less. The ultimate goal of the proposed effort is to develop an operational SOAR sense/avoid system that can be used for real-time obstacle avoidance for UAS operating within the NAS. This promotes the objectives of NASA SBIR Topic A2.01 Unmanned Aerial Systems Integration into the National Airspace by enabling sense/avoid for navigation within uncertain and hazardous environments, as well as promoting autonomous flight capabilities for UAS platforms (Figure 3). As UAS drones are approved for commercial operation in the NAS, there will be a growing market for this sense/avoid technology, which is sure to be required on-board every UAS operating in a commercial capacity. More »