The 2011 earthquake and subsequent
tsunami in Japan left more than 15,000 dead, with roughly 9,000 bodies
recovered in the days and weeks later (Oskin, 2015). Many of those people may
have been alive for hours or even days after the event. Such an astronomical
number of needless dead prompt the question of how could it be avoided? One
solution likely could have contributed to hundreds of saved lives: unmanned
aerial vehicles.
In preventing the future loss of
life in similar catastrophes, the author submits a request for proposal, to
produce a UAS that would help identify and locate the living amongst the destruction
created by earthquakes, tornados, tsunamis, and hurricanes among other natural
disasters. The aircraft will need sufficient loiter capability, endurance, and payload
capacity to accommodate the equipment necessary to make it a reasonable and viable
solution to the problem. Some of the baseline and derived requirements, as well
as testing and timeline requirements are listed below:
1.
Baseline Requirements
1.1
Air Vehicle Element
1.1.1
Shall have an endurance of at least 5 hours
1.1.2
Shall have a loiter speed of a maximum of 30
miles per hour
1.1.3
Shall have a typical cruising altitude of 400
feet
1.1.4
Shall be deployable on-station in less than 15
minutes
1.1.5
Shall house power-plant to vehicle
1.1.6
Shall house a separate power-plant to payload
1.2
Payload
1.2.1
Shall be capable of color daytime video
operation of up to 1000 feet AGL
1.2.2
Shall be capable of infrared (IFR) video
operation of up to 1000 feet AGL
1.2.3
Shall be capable of 360° lateral video operation
regardless of airframe heading
1.2.4
Shall provide capability to provide real-time
data to controllers and search and rescue personnel on the ground
1.2.5
Shall be capable of transmitting locations of
targets to within 10 meters to operators
1.3
Communications and Control
1.3.1
Shall be capable of manual operations
1.3.2
Shall be capable of autonomous orbit operations
around a target
1.3.3
Shall operate on available frequency that does
not interfere with other search and rescue signals
1.3.4
Shall be protected from exterior data-link
threats
1.3.5
Shall have a radius of action of at least 10
miles
2.
Testing Requirements
2.1
Air Vehicle Element
2.1.1
Conduct ground test of power-plant operation at
cruising power to ensure at least 5 hours of operation
2.1.2
Conduct controlled ground test of system speed
capacity to ensure stall speed is no greater than 30 miles per hour
2.1.3
Test the timeframe to assemble and operate the
system from support vehicle to lift-off
2.1.4
Inspect power-plant, airframe, and systems after
various tests to identify stresses if any
2.2
Payload
2.2.1
Conduct ground test of 360° lateral video
operation while installed on airframe
2.2.2
Test daytime video for adequate operation up to
a distance of 1000 feet
2.2.3
Conduct nighttime video for infrared operation
up to a distance of 1000 feet
2.2.4
Test the GPS targeting system to ensure target
location to within 10 meters.
2.3
Communication and Control
2.3.1
Conduct “hacking” test to ensure security of
data-link systems
2.3.2
Conduct ground test of manual controls
2.3.3
Conduct controlled ground test of software to
ensure autonomous orbit capability
2.3.4
Test acceptable performance of radio
transmission and reception up to 10 miles
2.4
Flight/Operational Test
2.4.1
Conduct a timed flight of 5 hours and a reach of
10 miles while conducting:
2.4.1.1
Test of manual controls
2.4.1.2
Test of autonomous controls and orbit
2.4.1.3
Test of real-time video
2.4.1.3.1
Daytime color video
2.4.1.3.2
Nighttime IFR
2.4.1.4
Operational test of deployment time of 15
minutes or less
3.
Timeline:
Concept Design and Research: 14 weeks
Preliminary Design and Detail Design: 10 weeks
Ground Systems Tests: 2 weeks
Prototype Build and Operational Tests: 14 weeks
Development and Certification: 12 weeks
Production: 12 months
Total Timeline:
24 months
Ultimately, this timeline is relatively short. The argument
for this is that the majority of system requirements could be fulfilled by
commercially-off-the-shelf (COTS) products. The airframe, power plant, video
systems, and data-link systems could be garnered from already produced
products. The challenge would be to effectively integrate these systems into a
collaborative whole.
The production time only consists of 36%. The justification
for this is the aforementioned point of using COTS products. The production
time would mainly entail assembly of COTS into a usable system.
The design phases accumulate to more than 30% of the total
design-to-operational-use window. The rationale for this is the inevitable and
time consuming decomposition of low-level requirements (Leowen, 2013). For
example, one of the low level requirements is to accomplish a loitering orbit,
but what if the wind is relatively constant from the East? The aircraft will
need to be able to compensate for weather. As a result, the aircraft should
also provide weather monitoring and wind-speed measurements to the operators.
All of these factors and more will add to the total equation and must be
considered in the design phases.
Considering the loiter, endurance, and payload requirements,
the airframe will more than likely need to be a fixed wing aircraft with either
a catapult launch capability or a hand-launch capability. However, with the
power plant needed to satisfy the endurance requirements, hand launch may not
be feasible. Regardless, test-site considerations should be deliberated. Additionally,
considering the dangerous and austere environments it will be employed, a
parachute recovery may also be considered and implemented.
References:
Leowen, H.
(2013). Requirements based UAV design process explained.
Retrieved from http://www.micropilot.com/pdf/requirements-based-uav.pdf
Oskin, B.
(2015, May 7). Japan earthquake & tsunami of 2011: facts and information.
Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html
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