Advancements in Military UAS via Civil and Commercial Technologies

The military unmanned aerial systems (UASs), or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), used in the first Persian Gulf war of 1991 are nothing compared to the technology used today. GovernmentUAS are now competing with a range of future and commercial versions for law enforcement, agriculture, and even package delivery.

Today military UASs are becoming a vital part of the military’s arsenal. At the same time, civil and commercial models are also improving. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other aviation authorities often feel pressured to allow non-military UAV operations in civilian airspace.

Civil and Commercial Technologies Bringing Change

Technology companies are working hard to bring higher levels of automation, high-speed data processing, and memory. While military branches are facing dwindling defense budgets they’re tasked with doing more with less while keeping up with advancing commercial technologies.

Experts see a changing militaryUAS market by increased use in civil law enforcement and a fast-growing commercial market. These markets may soon advance beyond government UAS markets or fail to materialize at all. But industry experts expect the following information processing software and technology trends coming soon:

·         Improved battery life and longer endurance for smaller electric UAVs

·         Better fuel efficiency for larger models

·         Military UASs offering stealth technologies intended to penetrate contested airspace

·         Smaller, lighter, and more efficient sensors

·         Sense-and-avoid systems enable government UASs to operate alongside manned aircraft in a congested battle airspace, including civil and commercial UASs in a civilian airspace

·         Increased onboard computing power to process significant amounts of raw data before transferring useful information

·         Lower costs for manufacturing and lifecycle operation

·         Multi-mission capabilities with reprogrammable sensors

Government UAS Needs

A key feature for future government UASs is survivability. Medium to large applications may need stealth and electronic countermeasures while small applications could use swarming to survive.

Better technology for small aircraft is a goal for future generations and will likely translate to civil and commercial applications. Technology is being pushed from massive applications to put massive capabilities into applications you can carry in your pocket.

Power-to-weight is always a factor. The more you put on it the bigger the applications must be. Altitude and speed are factors for medium-altitude, long endurance UAVs. The computing power needed for these applications require more weight, size, power consumption, and heat signature.

Uncharted Territory 

In 10 years, the UAV industry could become a $10 billion a year industry in the U.S. between manufacturing, sales, new jobs, etc. By the same time, we’ll likely see bigger UAVs helping agriculture industries deploy pesticides and packages delivered for Amazon.

The Industry Faces Delays

The FAA is late to developing rules for small UASs to be flown commercially. This delay is causing local companies to sell to overseas operations, yet they face restrictions designed to keep superior U.S. technology away from potential competitors or adversaries. These delays can be devastating to the nation’s current lead in information processing software and UAS design, development, and production.

Some compare the situation to the 1980s U.S. satellite technology. Efforts to protect the technology lead to much of it going overseas and we lost our lead. Many fear we’ll do the same with UAS technology. While the U.S. military is the biggest developer of military UASs, other countries such as China and Israel will likely catch up and may surpass us.

As civil and commercial markets bring advancements to the industry, these will help the U.S. military in adding a new level of speed and focus on technology evolution, just like we saw with lasers, computers, and cell phones.

At Insitu, we’re leaders in developing information processing software for government and military UAS. Get in touch to learn more about our technology and services.