Colonel Timothy Baxter, the Army's Project Manager for Unmanned Aircraft System (PM-UAS), and his Deputy, Mr. Richard Kretzschmar, are extremely busy these days keeping their fingers on the pulse of several major efforts currently underway. Their top priority, of course continues to be direct support of Overseas Contingency Operations by providing our Warfighters the most technologically advanced unmanned aircraft systems found anywhere in the world.

Other key actions include: cost savings and better buying power initiatives, transitioning the One System Remote Video Terminal (OSRVT) to a Program of Record (POR); transitioning the Small UAS (Raven) from a fielding or acquisition tempo to an operational and support tempo; developing the Universal Ground Control Station (UGCS); and demonstrating the Ground Based Sense and Avoid (GBSAA) system. GBSAA system demonstration scheduled for June 2012 is a significant milestone for future UAS operations in the National Airspace System (NAS).

The U.S. Army has been designated by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Task Force as the lead for GBSAA. Development of the GBSAA system is to assist UAS in complying with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) requirement that all aircraft must "see and avoid" all other aircraft. The Unmanned Systems Airspace Integration Concepts (USAIC) Product Directorate has been assigned this significant task for the Army and has developed a GBSAA system that not only answers the Army's call for training operators on Gray Eagles in the NAS, but also baselines a set of requirements that are being coordinated through the armed services as a common solution to GBSAA.

The GBSAA system is comprised of sensors, maneuver algorithms, fusion and classifier software, displays, and an operator. Currently the sensors are comprised of 3-dimensional radars as well as any existing radars on site (i.e. ASR-11, FAA radars, etc…). The algorithms, classifier, tracker and fusion software have been developed by not-for-profit organizations and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers , which include Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Lab, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab and Syracuse Research Corporation (SRC). A prototype of this system was installed and flown in the NAS under a Certificate of Authorization (COA) at El Mirage, California in April of 2011.

USAIC is now gearing up for the first Army-led GBSAA Demonstration, set for 20 June 2012. The demonstration will use a GBSAA test-bed system that has been installed at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, for the purpose of research and development. The demonstration has six (6) vignettes that show the development of the GBSAA phases and incremental block upgrades, as well as how they could be applied to different sites used by the Services for supporting UAS flights in the NAS. Vignette 1 exhibits the GBSAA Phase 1 Lateral Transit (P1LT) algorithms. This phase displays a red or green light to the GBSAA Operator (GBO) based on the location of the UAS and its operational / transitioning volumes of airspace and the aircraft near these volumes.

Vignette 2 illustrates the next step in the GBSAA evolution, Phase 2 Block 0, the baseline of the GBSAA system and what will be fielded to the Gray Eagle sites and used for the Common GBSAA solution. This phase cues the GBO when aircraft nearby become a threat to safe flight and allows him/her to provide information to the aircraft operator (AO) about proximity and heading of the other aircraft, but does not require the unmanned aircraft to land or fly to restricted area.

Vignette 3 demonstrates an incremental upgrade to the Phase 2 Block 0 system, in which the GBSAA system algorithms will generate a recommended maneuver for the GBO to communicate to the AO to avoid intruder aircraft. Vignettes 4, 5, and 6 will demonstrate the GBSAA Phase 2 Block 0 algorithm's ability to enable UAS to fly at Cherry Point, NC; Fort Stewart, SC; and Fort Drum, NY. Vignettes 1-3 will be conducted with a mix of live and simulated aircraft and vignettes 4-6 will use entirely simulated aircraft.

The USAIC Directorate and Rapid Integration and Acceptance Center (RIAC), also a PM UAS office, have already rehearsed the GBSAA demonstration at Dugway Proving Grounds and have had great success. News of the results of the formal demonstration will be released soon after it is complete. As a preview, the GBSAA system allowed two Shadows to be flown towards one another and the Phase 2 Block 1 algorithms presented maneuvers to keep the aircraft safe from each other. Also, a simulated UAS flew through downtown Salt Lake City against live traffic and safely maneuvered around all existing traffic. As a matter of fact, the most difficult task was getting close enough to other aircraft to get the maneuver algorithms to react! At the demonstration, we hope to get COL Baxter to fly it.

GBSAA is not only the first step in allowing UAS to fly in the NAS without visual observers (i.e. chase planes and ground observers), but will also be a part of the final solution to unfettered access to the NAS for UAS. The Army endorses the GBSAA system as a part of this final solution and has provided funding in order to field it at Gray Eagle UAS locations in the continental United States to support training activities. The first fielding of the GBSAA system is scheduled to occur in 2014.

Related Links:

Program Executive Office, Aviation - Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office