Mosquito Becomes Easily Portable with Mounting, Towing Prototype

  • Published
  • By Dr. Allen Nease Jr.
  • Materials and Manufacturing
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  An urgent warfighter requirement developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory provides the capability to perform quick and efficient ground-hardness surveys needed for landing-zone preparation in support of remote operations. AFRL researchers developed prototype methods for mounting and towing the Mosquito automated cone penetrometer, allowing Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) personnel to perform ground-hardness surveys to determine the ability of soil to support the weight of landing aircraft. In two weeks, the AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate's Airbase Technologies Division designed and fabricated a mounting/towing prototype for use with a small, 70cc, dirt bike, delivering it to impressed AFSOC users.

Air Force operations in remote areas often require the use of unprepared landing zones for cargo aircraft transporting equipment. Prior to flight operations, Airmen perform landing-zone surveys to determine if the soil will support the weight of a landing aircraft. A ground hardness survey is conducted by manually driving a dynamic cone penetrometer - a long rod with a cone-shaped tip -- into the ground. An operator then measures and records the depth of penetration on each blow.

In response to users' requests for a lightweight, automated system that make the process of taking penetration measurements easier, AFRL engineers conducted a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research program with Alliance Spacesystems. Alliance Spacesystems, a company with experience building lightweight, low-power, percussive coring systems for space exploration, developed a portable, automated dynamic cone penetrometer called the "Mosquito." The device is powered by batteries and uses a feedback-controlled linear actuator to provide a consistent driving impact to the specially designed penetrometer. It produces measurements of soil hardness for each impact and provides California Bearing Ratio (CBR) information related to the depth of the device's penetration.

An operator views the CBR information on a light-emitting diode (LED) display in one-inch increments up to 36 inches in depth. The CBR, as well as raw data measuring displacement of soil per blow, is also stored on a removable digital card. The data can be transferred to a computer using a process similar to importing photos from a digital camera. The stored data is tagged with date, time and Global Position System coordinate information for easy import into Air Force mapping applications.

To date, operators have been pleased with the performance of the prototype Mosquito system in field testing and its ability to measure ground hardness rapidly and then upload the information via satellite to AFSOC headquarters.