Sikorsky has launched a second research programme using one of two optionally piloted UH-60M Black Hawks developed under the US Army’s previous MURAL initiative.
Partnering with the National Robotics Engineering Center of Carnegie Mellon University, the airframer aims to demonstrate a higher degree of autonomy than achieved under MURAL.
The helicopter will be paired with NREC’s Land Tamer unmanned ground vehicle to perform a simulated reconnaissance mission into an environment potentially contaminated with chemical, biological or nuclear material.
Sikorsky is confident the UH-60M can be configured to pick up, deliver and retrieve the UGV from a 10km² box with minimum input from a controller on the ground beyond the outline of the mission.
Igor Cherepinsky, Sikorsky chief engineer, for autonomy programmes, says the rotorcraft will be able to select and navigate to its own landing sites, if its analysis of controller-supplied locations show that touchdown would be impossible.
The 18-month programme, sponsored by the army’s TARDEC land vehicle research bureau, will culminate in a final demonstration flight in September 2015.
Under MURAL, the Connecticut-based airframer utilised a limited amount of technology derived from its Matrix research programme to prove the Black Hawk could be flown from a portable ground station.
However, the new demonstration effort will give the helicopter significantly more autonomy.
Source: Flight Daily News
