REFER TO COVERSHEET NOTICE 3/2/2017

Distributed In-flight Sensor Control (DISCo)

Brendan O’ConnorAustin Ard, Austin Probe, Matthew Ruschmann, Travis Wheatley

AIAA Defense 2018Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland

Distribution Statement “A” (Approved for Public Release, Distribution Unlimited).

The views, opinions and/or findings expressed are those of the author(s) and should not be interpreted as reflecting the official views or policies of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

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What is DISCo?DARPA SBIR: Software components that enable local and remote sensor

management anddata processing in a multi-platform cluster or on a single platform

Sensorcraft: A new class of minimally capable vehicles

Primary: A highly capable vehicle that manages sensorcraft and may host its own sensor payloads

Ground Station: Controls and interacts with swarm

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Fractionated spacecraft

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DISCo Use Cases

Robot swarming

Expendable robot patrols Sensor networks in the cloud

Ground Station

Sensorcraft-1

Primary

Sensorcraft-1

Sensorcraft-3

Sensorcraft-2Primary-1

Primary

Ground StationSensorcraft-1

Sensorcraft-2

Sensorcraft-2

Primary-2

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DISCo Software Components

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DISCo is made up of three main distributed software components that cooperate to collect and process sensor data

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DISCo UAS/UGV Implementation

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UAS

UGV

DISCo was deployed on a small swarm made up of a pair of UAS and a UGV and deployed to preform a pair of missions:

1. Surveillance and Resonance

2. IED Detection and Avoidance

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DISCo UAS/UGV Implementation (cont.)

SAIntSensor

Abstraction Interface

Serial camera

OpenCV camera

Pulse Audio microphone

GPS NMEA receiver

CASMCommon Application

for Sensorcraft Missions

Image processing with OpenCV

Audio processing

GPS NMEA translation

FSWFlight

Software

MAVLink command & telemetry

Autonomous planning

Mock spacecraft flight software

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DISCo UAS/UGS Demonstration Configuration

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Backup Control

DISCo Ground Station

RC Control and MavLink Telemetry

SBN TelemetryAnd Data

DISCo System Features:1. Manages sensors

and sensor data2. Handles data

processing and resource use

3. Reconfigurable based on operations

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DISCo Surveillance and Reconnaissance

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1. Reconnaissance 2. ArUco marker(s) detected

3. Surveille noisy marker 4. Failure of sensorcraft

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DISCo IED Avoidance

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Unknown Unknown

UAV in motion to location

Scotty arrived at location

Scotty in motion to location

Clear

UAV ready for sensing

Clear

ArUcomarker found

Clear

1. Send sensorcraft to investigate grid location

2. Acquire sensor data

5. Send rover to adjacent safe location

3. Process sensor data to evaluate dangers

4. Mark safety of location

6. Repeat throughout road

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DISCo Recon Video

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What can DISCo do for You?

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Enables Sensorcraft

Manages sensors

and data

Independentof the host

System features

Utilizes remote sensors

Reconfigurable during mission Rapidly

Extensible

Future Use

Cases

Dynamic sensor swarms

Single asset supporting

multiple missions

Demonstrations

Spacecraft

Camera sharing

Simulated IED

ClearingReconnaissance and surveillance

Autonomous Robots

DISCo

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This research was funded through a DARPA SBIR contract, Lt. Col John Losinski (COTR)

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Acknowledgements

Distribution Statement “A” (Approved for Public Release, Distribution Unlimited).

The views, opinions and/or findings expressed are those of the author(s) and should not be interpreted as reflecting the official views or policies of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

REFER TO COVERSHEET NOTICE 3/2/2017

Questions?

Distributed In-flight Sensor Control (DISCo)

Impact

1. Allows for a new class of small-satellite mission typesthrough the use of sensorcraft, generally low size,weight, and power (SWaP) vehicles whose sensors canbe accessed through a crosslink with affiliated ground-connected centralized vehicles.

2. Simplifies integration of hosted payloads.3. Can be deployed on unmanned aerial systems (UAS) or

unmanned terrestrial systems for remote sensormanagement and data processing.

Innovations

A software suite that enables remote vehicle (sensorcraft)sensor management and data processing on a primary.

1. Common Application for Sensorcraft Missions (CASM) –An application residing on the primary spacecraft withinput/output access to the sensorcraft via the crosslinkradio; CASM maintains an independent function libraryand access to affiliated applications that can be appliedto sensor data.

2. Sensorcraft Application Interface (SAInt) – Anapplication residing on the adjunct sensorcraft thatreceives and appropriately translates sensor commandsbound for connected hardware and, if desired, flightsoftware, and sends sensor data to CASM instance(s).

Milestones

• 6/2014 Phase 2 Start• 12/2014 Yearly Review• 7/2015 CDR• 1/2016 Yearly Review• 5/2016 SIR• 7/2016 Phase 2 Final Demonstration and CDRLs• 7/2016 Phase 2 Option Research and Development• 1/2017 Yearly Review• 4/2017 Phase 2 Option Final Demonstration• 7/2017 Phase 2 Option CDRLs

DISCo: NASA Core Flight System (cFS) components that provide sensor management, sensorcraft control, and

sensor data processing in flexible configurations