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Session F6: PNT for Uncrewed Systems

Autonomous Navigation for Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) without GPS
Justin Klotz, Aaron Maitland, Mathew Castleberry, Chris Yeager, Jonathan Ryan, and Kevin Betts, Leidos
Location: Room 6-8
Date/Time: Tuesday, Jun. 4, 11:10 a.m.

SOCOM and Leidos undertook a project to navigate a SUAS to points of interest without relying upon Global Positioning Systems (GPS) or continuous operator control.
Objectives:
• Demonstration will take place in a variety of outdoor environments to include forest, desert, marsh, fields, or urban terrain.
• The system must operate in both day and night ambient light conditions.
• The demonstrator will be provided a satellite image of a point of interest as much as 5 kilometers away from the launch location.
• The SUAS will launch with an approximate range and bearing, navigate around obstacles, identify the point of interest, identify a suitable landing zone, and land. The SUAS will then launch, navigate to the initial launch location, and land again.
• Performance will be measured: Round trip navigation error, point of interest identification, landing zone selection, and landing precision.
• Initial launch position will be provided in advance of testing, but the point of interest location will be provided on the day of testing and may be fixed or transient.
• System may not utilize GPS signals for navigating, only for flight safety fail-safe mechanisms during testing.
• Navigation may non-cooperatively use RF signals of opportunity from space based or terrestrial emitters for alternative position fixing.
• Navigation may include georeferencing or preloaded maps of an appropriately sized area.
Standards/Desirements:
• Navigation algorithms should integrate onto the SUAS without modifying the existing autopilot.
• Navigation algorithms should integrate onto the SUAS utilizing PX4 or derivative autopilot.
• Navigation algorithms should not disrupt the ability to utilize GPS signals when desired.
• Navigation algorithms should accommodate high level behavioral inputs from the operator into route planning and obstacle avoidance prior to launch, e.g. minimum or maximum altitude.
Results and additional details will be shown for this project at the CUI level.

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