PHYSICAL SCIENCES INC. — Department of Defense STTR Phase II: AF08-T008

Description

The Shallow Water and Surf Zone Minehunting program (MAD SWARM) is described that spans the development and demonstration of swarming micro-air vehicles (MAV’s) equipped with Magnetic Anomaly Detectors (MAD’s) to autonomously detect and locate mine targets in shallow water and the surf zone. The MAD Swarm system incorporates low cost micro-air vehicle (MAV) technology, swarming sensor search/control theory, and low cost, high performance 3-axis flux gate magnetometers. The program objective is to demonstrate the search rate, probability of detection, false alarm reduction, and localization advantages of swarming small Unmanned Air Systems (sUAS) equipped with integral Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) sensors for autonomous shallow water and surf zone minehunting. The key innovations of the MAD SWARM program are the integration of high performance magnetometers, low-cost quad-rotor drones, and swarm communications and collaborative controls to sense, share, and locate magnetic anomaly sites for subsequent prosecution. The MAD Swarm program concludes with a Shallow Water and Surf Zone Minehunting field demonstration, and transition to the AN/AES-1 ALMDS program, with future insertions into the COBRA and Barracuda programs.