The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is asking for concepts for drones with a high degree of autonomous operation, as well as remotely-operated containerized systems to launch, recover, and otherwise support them.
What DARPA is really interested in is a pairing that can be employed as part of a largely self-sustaining “autonomous constellation” capable of supporting networked swarms consisting of as many as 500 drones at once.
DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO) first put out its Request for Information for this containerized drone swarm capability back in April, but has updated the relevant contracting notice several times since then. The latest version of the RFI has just been posted online. At least from what has been shared so far, DARPA has not yet given this project a name.
“Existing commercial, airborne Group 1-3 platforms are limited in endurance, payload capacity, and onboard electrical auxiliary power. When operated as constellations, they typically require substantial infrastructure and basing area [sic] for deployment and recovery. These constellations typically require human involvement to recover, recharge/refuel, and launch again, lacking full autonomy necessary to achieve sustained operations spanning days or longer,”
the current version of the contracting notice explains.
“The landscape of current platform technologies has broad limitations that require evolution to achieve high-endurance constellations consisting of drones with meaningful payload Size Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) staged from fully autonomous containers capable of complete mission-cycle management inclusive of launch, sustainment/swap-out, and recovery.”
The U.S. military breaks drones into five different categories. Collectively, drones in Groups 1 and 2 can have maximum weights of up to 55 pounds, fly up to altitudes of 3,500 feet, and have top speeds of up to 250 knots. Group 3 is a very broad middle tier that covers designs that weigh anywhere from 56 to 1,320 pounds and can get up to 18,000 feet, but again have speeds of 250 knots or less. Together, Groups 1 through 3 include a very wide range of drones from small quadcopters all the way up to long-range one-way attack munitions.
Given the aforementioned limitations,
“DARPA has identified an exigent need for highly deployable, versatile-SWaP Group 1-3 platforms, operating in autonomous constellations that are stored within, deployed from, recovered in, and managed by a fully autonomous container, to support a variety of payloads and missions in GPS-denied environments,”
the contracting notice adds.
“Advancements in low-SWaP technologies enable constellations comprising a variety of novel payloads, each requiring dedicated power and weight, but capable of operating in synchrony across the constellation. Constellation populations may comprise up to 500 platforms (number may vary as a function of payload type). Each platform will be equipped with a subsystem or independent payload system with the potential to achieve high operational availability for the combined system over multiple-day periods.”
The notice leaves the requirements for the drones and the containerized launch and recovery systems relatively open-ended.
“Unmanned aerial vehicle (herein referred to as “drones”) in the Group 1-3 space with capabilities for fully autonomous launch, recovery, storage, organization, recharging/refueling, organization, internal logistics management, and pre/post-flight checkout. Proposed drone designs must form a mission-focused, collaborative constellation. Responses must be cognizant of long endurance drone constellations with high operational availability and constellation management,”
per the notice.
“Novel configurations that enable multi-day continuous operations with their corollary constellation management software (ideally with path optimization and collision deconfliction) and innovative configurations of autonomous container-based deployment solutions are of particular interest to DARPA.”
“Storage containers (herein referred to as “containers”) that provide fully autonomous drone storage, logistics management, launch, recovery, and recharge/refuel, while conforming to the intention of a standardized military container (e.g. Conex, 463L pallets, Tricon, ISU container, etc.),”
the notice adds.
“Innovative ideas and non-standard containers (e.g. suitcase-based distributed systems, box-based systems) will also be considered within the context of the presented approach, but solutions should be compatible with current military transport capabilities. It is envisioned that these containers shall be self-sufficient with consideration of energy storage, communication equipment, and compute capability.”
DARPA also says it has a tangential interest in a remotely operated “host platform” that could carry the containers to and from a designated area, from which the drones can then be launched and recovered. The contracting notice does not specify whether this would be an air, ground, or maritime platform, or some mixture thereof.
An example of containerized drone launcher designs on the market today. What DARPA is looking for is a system that can also recover and otherwise support the drones contained inside. UVision
Perhaps most interestingly, DARPA’s contracting notice highlights that drone-and-launcher combinations already exist used for “preplanned lightshows and commercial activities,” though it these are not suitable for U.S. military use.
These exact kinds of developments in the commercial entertainment space underscore very real threats posed by more capable, weaponized swarms. That piece came after a Chinese firm, DAMODA, rolled out a containerized system capable of launching, recovering, and recharging thousands of small, electrically-powered quadcopter-type drones at the touch of a button.
DAMODA’s Automated Drone Swarm Container System, at least as it exists now, is clearly designed for entertainment industry use first and foremost. At the same time, large-scale drone light shows put on by DAMODA (and a growing number of other companies), do highlight, on a broad level, the already highly problematic threats posed by swarms.
The new Automated Drone Swarm Container System underscores the additional danger of these same threats hiding in plain sight. The steady proliferation of advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, especially when it comes to dynamic targeting, will only create additional challenges,
Source: The War Zone