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DECADES OF EXPERIENCE Microbotics' focus on controls, instrumentation and navigation systems result in product innovations such as MIDG II, the 55-gram INS with GPS. Design and fabrication emphasize reduced size, weight, and power dissipation. The backgrounds of the Microbotics engineering team combine decades of experience. Staff have a rich history of activity with unmanned aerial vehicles and associated instrumentation:
"Decades of Experience" projects emphasize staff experience before Microbotics was incorporated in 1999. "Company" pages describe contracts and projects since 1999. |
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FINDER AutoPilot, Generation 1 and 2 (FAP-G1 and FAP-G2)
This ongoing project evolved as an extension of the LWAP for Naval
Research Labs' FINDER aircraft. It offers increased performance over
existing autopilots;
downward compatibility to existing systems, such as SENDER, EXTENDER,
and HiPoint; upward compatibility for future aircraft and technology;
and amazing flexibility in resource assignment and usage. System
requirements included:
Fault-Tolerant, Low-Cost GPS-Aided Inertial Instrument
Microbotics personnel, in cooperation with the Army Research Laboratory
and the Ballistic Missile Defense Office, designed, integrated, and
tested a softball-sized, fault-tolerant, GPS-aided inertial
instrumentation suite. The design goal was for flight instrumentation
in cost-sensitive UAV applications, low-altitude satellites, and an
Attitude Heading and Reference System for the next-generation General
Aviation aircraft. The system is characterized by its low cost and high
reliability. The approach used in the design is to compensate redundant
automotive grade inertial instruments with GPS through the use of an
extended Kalman filter coupled with an artificial-intelligence-based
data fusion algorithm.
Interferometric Attitude System GPS Gyro
Microbotics partnered with a small GPS software company to design,
produce, and market an attitude-based GPS system that is far less
expensive than current market alternatives. The system, based on four
12-channel, all-in-view, L1 frequency receivers, tracks the GPS L1
carrier at one, two, three, or four antenna locations and then
determines pitch, roll, and yaw angles in addition to the traditional
GPS based navigation and velocity data. Initial orders for the unit
have been fulfilled. Production deliveries started in May 1997 for 40%
the cost of the closest competitor. The design allows an upgrade to
MIL-STD 1553, CAN, or ARIC-429. One unit was developed for testing on
an Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. Next generation work, which began
in June 1998, includes incorporation of a GPS chip set solution, rather
than the board-level design initially pursued; this change will
significantly reduce the unit's price and size.
Temperature Compensated, Vibration Calibrated Inertial Measurement Unit
Development of the Micro Inertial Measuement System (µINS), a miniature
(2"x2"x1" package), temperature- and vibration-compensated,
fully-calibrated inertial measurement unit is ongoing. To date, nine
units have been assembled. In July 1998, while performing certification
testing for the FAA, one of these units successfully underwent HIRF
testing while operating as the primary Attitude Heading Reference
System (AHRS) in an advanced Mooney general aviation aircraft cockpit.
In this testing, the device saw 0 to 30V/m energy between 50MHz and
2GHz without failure. This same unit is scheduled to undergo lightning
strike testing to finish initial environmental qualification testing
for FAA certification. 
The
project, leveraging technology from other Microbotics programs,
provides asynchronous RS422, synchronous AMRAAM, and analog interfaces.
Product use has begun on select efforts, such as the SENDER UAV. The
figure at right shows how the package is assembled from a single
circuit board.
Airborne PCM Telemetry Decoder
Developed for the NASA Langley Research Center drop model
program, Microbotics personnel fabricated a miniature, flight-qualified
telemetry bit sync and decoder unit. This unit replaced a competitor's
unit selling for $65,000 each, yet can be produced for approximately 5%
of the cost. In addition to a cost reduction, the unit is approximately
¼ the size and weight. At the PCM decoder's heart is an advanced
high-speed Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and custom firmware
developed by the Microbotics engineering staff.
LightWeight AutoPilot Ground Control System (LWAP GCS)
This early-generation autopilot hardware was developed for use by Naval
Research Labs to test flight and navigation algorithms for unmanned
aerial vehicles such as SENDER. More recently, the system has been
adapted to the EXTENDER UAV, a state-of-the-art "folded"
aircraft. System requirements included:
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Rotorcraft Systems |
The Pigeon was developed as a suitcase-portable, 25-pound
payload-and-fuel-carrying, miniature helicopter. The vehicle, initially
built for a joint NASA/Army project, was intended for research into
system integration and control system development. Now a surveillance
vehicle, the Pigeon has successfully carried high-resolution telephoto
cameras, 4th-generation light-intensified night vision cameras, and an
uncooled infrared sensor.
Principle work on the Pigeon UAV involved the development of a reusable, automated flight control system for a small, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with vertical flight and hovering capability (VTOL). This initial program featured full-authority flight algorithms and very-low-cost instrumentation for guidance, navigation, and control. In FY97, this project shifted from technology development to a 50% customer-funded test and evaluation phase. Three different customers – the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US Navy, and the US Marine Corps – wanted to begin evaluating the potential of the Pigeon to perform unique missions. Both the Marine and FBI missions are related to surveillance flying in urban, or built-up, areas. The Naval application is undisclosed. All three customers, as well as several other potential customers identified by NASA's Technology Applications Group and the Army's public affairs office, have been interested in flight technology where a non-specialized operator, such as a field agent, could control the system at up to a 10-kilometer range. The mission cited most often by public safety organizations is precision surveillance, like looking into upper-storey windows, or tracking the progress of a building or brush fire. However, other unique missions have been mentioned, such as precision crop-spraying, search and rescue, and natural resource surveys which require other specialized payload assemblies. Additionally, the very -low-cost flight electronics package, which could be built for less than $10,000 when fully developed, enticed these customers with the potential for a reliable yet almost "disposable" capability. The military customers have been thinking for years about a system where a competent soldier could perform surveillance without first having to complete an extensive and costly school to specialize in UAV operations. The focus of our developments in both the military and civil cases has been a flight control system, both hardware and software, which fully automates the aircraft's stability and control, and turns the operator into a high-level flight director from takeoff until landing.
Flight testing with all axes under automated control has begun. In
addition to the current automation testing, prior flight testing has
been able to extract from the R&D laboratory a reliable set of
reproducible flight electronics, guidance sensors, and mechanical drive
train. The vehicle's mechanical reliability has been under intense
review and one of the air
vehicles has flown over 60 hours near maximum gross weight with only
visual inspection prior to flight. This same aircraft has logged over
100 hours of flight since its original assembly. Five Pigeon airframes
have been built.
Free Flight Rotorcraft Research Vehicle
This effort has been to develop a joint NASA/Army aeromechanics
research rotorcraft called the Free Flight Rotorcraft Research Vehicle
(FFRRV). The 250-pound, 9-foot-long, 2-meter-diameter, 40-horsepower
helicopter is currently lacking
aeromechanics research funds for completion, but is in the final stages
of mechanical systems integration. The photograph taken at NASA Langley
Research Center shows a drive train test.
Low Cost, High Performance Aerial Targets
Through the exploitation of new cognitive computing technologies, an
electronic flight control system was developed for 20% of the cost of a
conventional system. In production, the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Controller
for Helicopters (FLAC-H) should cost less than 10% of the current
alternatives. Furthermore, since FLAC-H is adaptable, as proven by
other projects, future
conversions to other types of target helicopters should cost roughly
20% of that for adapting a conventional control system.
FLAC-H was demonstrated in September 1994, at the White Sands Missile Range, on a QUH-1H missile target drone (see picture) for the U.S. Army Missile Command's Targets Management Office. In addition to lower cost, FLAC-H provided a more aggressive maneuvering target, and thereby presented a more realistic threat for future missile tests.
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SENDER
The SENDER UAV was developed by the Naval Research Laboratory. SENDER
was originally designed to carry a 2.5 pound
payload to a predetermined destination up to 100 miles away.
Microbotics has integrated an airborne flight electronics module for
navigation, guidance, and control. In addition to the vehicle power
distribution and computational hardware, the electronics design
includes one of our 6-axis inertial measurement units, as well as a
12-channel all-in-view GPS system which is performing 10Hz real-time
kinematic accurate position and velocity measurements. NRL engineers
have integrated
their flight control algorithms into our hardware, and are now
performing flight tests of the overall system.
Dragon Drone
In 1997, members of Microbotics were contracted by the USMC to develop
a parafoil landing system for their modified
Exdrone vehicle, the Dragon Drone. This was attempted earlier by the US
Navy, but abandoned after several unsuccessful attempts and crashed
Exdrones. In March, our team demonstrated five successful parafoil
recoveries from five attempts, and was awarded a contract by the USMC
for the production of 10 units for further field trials. In addition,
we have developed and delivered over 30 precision guidance systems for
the Dragon Drone. This system is based on a Real-Time Kinematic GPS
positioning algorithm which has been modified to support a moving base
station. Moving base station location is determined using a combined
GPS/GLONASS receiver on the base station platform. The airborne
software computes an accurate vehicle position and 3-dimensional
velocity, as well as the location of targets observed from the Dragon
Drone’s camera payload with integrated laser range finder.
Exdrone
Mr. George Makowiec, of the Microbotics team, led extensive flight
tests and supported wind tunnel tests of the Navy
Exdrone UAV. During these tests, the system was routinely flown beyond
the vehicle's known performance envelope for design analysis. The
research included the first internal (video camera) flights and rocket
assisted launches. During these tests, several enhancements were
identified, incorporated, and tested. The tests resulted in (1) a
further understanding of the system’s capabilities and limitations, and
(2) recommendations to further improve the systems flight dynamics
before taking it to production as the BQM-147A. In addition, as chief
test conductor, Mr. Makowiec was involved in design
of a barrage jammer payload and the associated autopilot. While in this
position, in addition to research flight testing, Mr. Makowiec
performed customer acceptance testing and trained several soldiers on
the system's operation.
Aerial Targets
Mr. Makowiec routinely assisted in operating half-scale Pioneer UAVs as
missile targets. His support involved coordinating the vehicle
operations and flying the systems during the demonstrations. Coupling
Mr. Makowiec's skills as a test coordinator with his ability as flight
test pilot make him a favorite consultant of the prime contractor.
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HiPoint
Primarily a technology demonstration project, the HiPoint system is
designed to illustrate the ability to combine aircraft instrumentation
and an autopilot in a small volume. It was developed from the
Microbotics Servo Controller and Micro Inertial Navigation System
(µINS). HiPoint was designed to be controlled via serial port or
optional wireless modem. The system provides:
The outputs are pulse-width modulation (PWM) servo drivers, inertial
navigation information, and aircraft heading and velocities. The system
uses a fixed-point microprocessor to manage the instrumentation, and a
floating-point microprocessor for navigation and heading calculations
and to implement flight control algorithms.
NASA Langley
With NASA Langley's Guidance and Control Group, Microbotics is in
ongoing development of hardware systems and software support for the
implementation of flight algorithms to control inherently-unstable,
high-performance aircraft. Additionally, high-speed instrumentation and
telemetry systems were derived from the upward integration of previous
work for the Drop Test Group, including the PCM Decoder, which was developed to handle IRIG uplinks.
NASA Dryden
Microbotics has worked with NASA Dryden on the Micro Inertial Navigation System (µINS) and the Servo Controller.
Micron Optical Sensor Interface
Microbotics developed interface electronics for Micron Optical's GaAs
sensor, which is used in gas spectroscopy systems. Our efforts resulted
in an interface with dramatically reduced size, cost, and complexity,
and greatly improved portability, over the nearest competitive system.
Ongoing efforts include improving functionality and interfacing with
new families of sensors.
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Copyright © 2005 Microbotics, Inc., Hampton, VA, USA. All rights reserved. February 14, 2005 |
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