Autonomous Collision Avoidance and Separation Assurance for Small UAVs Operating in the National Airspace System Navy SBIR FY2008.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2008.1 Topic No.: N08-079 Topic Title: Autonomous Collision Avoidance and Separation Assurance for Small UAVs Operating in the National Airspace System Proposal No.: N081-079-0593 Firm: Barron Associates, Inc. 1410 Sachem Place Suite 202 Charlottesville, Virginia 22901-2496 Contact: Matthew Lichter Phone: (434) 973-1215 Web Site: http://www.barron-associates.com Abstract: Unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) are presently restricted from operating within the vast National Airspace System (NAS) covering most of North America. The proposed effort seeks to develop FAA-certifiable collision avoidance and separation assurance algorithms that guarantee safe interoperation of small UAVs and other aircraft in the NAS. Small UAVs pose additional size, weight, and power (SWaP) limitations that make this problem especially difficult. The proposed effort adapts and integrates two novel technologies. A rapid collision avoidance algorithm first developed by MIT for unmanned ground vehicles is adapted and unified with an efficient hybrid D* path re-planning algorithm developed previously by the authors. These technologies are chosen specifically for: (1) their robust real-time performance using very limited computation; (2) their accommodation of substantial sensor, disturbance, and modeling uncertainty; and (3) their generation of maneuvers that are guaranteed to be dynamically feasible. The proposed concept is designed to handle dynamic obstacle aircraft that may or may not be cooperative or well-sensed. Because the collision-avoidance and path-planning components both generate complete, realizable trajectories (rather than waypoints), tracking errors can be bounded and aircraft separation can be assured with the highest levels of confidence. Benefits: The commercialization potential and benefits of the proposed technology is significant. The technology developed here will significantly reduce the cost of airspace access, accelerating the pace of UAV research, development, and testing. This will drive down UAV costs across the military, government, and commercial sectors. The technology could be retrofitted to mature UAV platforms, enabling access to a variety of previously-restricted markets, including aerial photography/surveillance, traffic monitoring, remote sensing, law enforcement/homeland security, etc. The technology could also be used in manned aircraft to enhance safety of small aircraft or to augment TCAS used in larger aircraft. Return