Air Force-Funded Researchers Fly 'Seagull' UAVs in D.C. Congressional Building

  • Published
  • By William J. Sharp
  • AFOSR Public Affairs
ARLINGTON, Va. --  Three Air Force Office of Scientific Research-funded researchers got to showcase their work recently in Washington, D.C., as part of The Science Coalition program recognizing outstanding research.

TSC put on the event in the Rayburn House Office Building. A number of congressional staffers and dozens of interested parties took notice of the unmanned aerial vehicles research presented by Dr. Rick Lind, assistant professor, and research assistants Mujahid Abdulrahim and Daniel Grant from the University of Florida. Dr. Lind's team brought several wing-morphing UAVs to the event with wingspans ranging from 6 to 24 inches. Dr. Lind's team also demonstrated UAV flight capabilities via an aerial demonstration in one of the House chamber rooms, recording the flights with onboard cameras. Florida engineers learned how to design the wings by watching how seagulls change the shapes of their wings in flight.

"Rick Lind's research is another step forward in the overall goal of developing highly agile, autonomous, cooperative teams of UAVs," said Lt. Col. Scott R. Wells, one of several AFOSR program managers monitoring and funding UAV research.

"There is a lot of very impressive research going on at numerous universities in this research area," Col. Wells said. "Eventually, a single operator will be able to command entire teams of autonomous UAVs with a wide variety of capabilities such as surveillance, tracking, mapping, and reconnaissance. What this will mean to the warfighter is a tremendous increase in battlespace awareness, responsiveness, control, and overall effectiveness."

Both AFOSR and NASA are funding Dr. Lind's research which involves designing prototypes for miniature urban drones - 6 inch to 2-foot planes - that can dive between buildings, zoom under overpasses, and even land on apartment balconies.

"These pilot-less planes could be equipped with sensors to detect biological or chemical weapons, so that they could look into buildings where terrorists may be making or storing these weapons," Dr. Lind said. "If the vehicle can search an area by itself, you can have almost instantaneous response to what's being threatened."

Other topics presented by TSC invitees included prediction of earthquakes from space, cancer detection through microscopic wires, dirty bomb detection, non-polluting fuel from plant waste, and cleaner water through new treatment technology.

The mission of The Science Coalition, based in D.C. and representing more than 400 member organizations, is to expand and strengthen the federal government's investment in university-based scientific, medical, engineering and agricultural research. TSC officials said sustained support for research across the entire range of scientific disciplines is the most important step the nation can take to maintain America's position at the forefront of scientific discovery, technological innovation, and economic growth in the 21st century.