What amounts to serious scientific research could, at first glance, be mistaken for students at The University of Alabama in Huntsville letting off a little stress with radio-controlled helicopters.

It’s all part of work being done by UAHuntsville’s Systems Management and Production Center at Von Braun Research Hall. Under the program, several UAHuntsville students are working to develop micro-UAVs that could provide low-cost surveillance while enhancing the variety of uses for these UAVs. The U.S. Army’s Aviation and Missile Research and Development Center (AMRDEC) on Redstone Arsenal provided the original program funding.

While the research is conducted at UAHuntsville and most student researchers are pursuing various UAHuntsville technical degrees, students from other north Alabama universities, and even a few from area high schools, have gravitated towards the program.

Their research supports the ongoing evolution of military intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). ISR platforms are getting smaller and less costly, important in an era of increasing constraints on military R&D budgets. At altitudes of just a few hundred feet, they can peer down on enemy troops below while remaining practically invisible. Everything in aerial surveillance is getting smaller, lighter and less expensive. The mini-copters often carry tiny cameras that are marvels of miniaturization. And while the military benefits are obvious, law enforcement and first responders are showing increasing interest in the tiny aerial platforms with their advanced cameras and other sensors. First responders could use them for low-cost surveying of post-tornado damage, or to survey the scene after a bad auto accident. Law enforcement sees uses ranging from looking for fugitives to find missing persons such as small children.

The team is now able to program a GPS chip that allows the mini-copters to fly a semi-autonomous flight pattern. A near-future capability will allow re-programming the GPS for totally autonomous flight of a swarm of several helicopters flying in close formation. Each helicopter would carry a different sensor, allowing observers on the ground to get better overall situational awareness of what’s on the ground that they could not otherwise see.

Another push is for low-cost production. The confluence of UAV miniaturization and low-cost, three-dimensional printing may allow for parts to be designed using computer-aided design programs, then instantly manufactured using 3D printers.

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