UAV Cooperative Flight Demonstrated

Proxy Aviation Systems, Germantown, Md., recently completed a series of demonstrations of the cooperative flight capabilities of its SkyWatcher and SkyRaider unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), managed by its SkyForce Distributed Management System (DMS).

The Cooperative Rules Based Reconnaissance Unmanned System (CRBRUS) demonstration was conducted at Creech Air Force Base, Indian Springs, Nev., from July 1 through 11. Test criteria included target search, simulated weapons and multiple sensor employment, dynamic mission re-tasking, formation flying, collision avoidance and automatic take-off and landing. The U.S. Air Force has contracted with Proxy to perform the tests under the operational control of its UAV Battle Lab. 

CRBRUS marked the first successful demonstration of multiple UAVs performing fully autonomous cooperative flight. SkyWatcher and SkyRaider, with two simulated UAVs, communicated over a common mesh network, allowing one operator to manage all four UAVs.

SkyWatcher is designed for medium-endurance, low- and medium-altitude Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, while SkyRaider is engineered for heavy-payload missions requiring the carriage and release of external stores. The demonstrations at Creech AFB marked the first operational display of SkyRaider, which features retractable gear, a 1000-lb payload and the capacity to operate in high-density altitudes.

The network-centric software of the SkyForce management system allowed the four aircraft to accomplish group tactical goals with varying levels of operator control. SkyForce is designed to operate as many as 12 airborne UAVs and 20 ground nodes concurrently.

“The CRBRUS program demonstrated the advantage of having complementary sensor types operate in concert from their ‘sweet spot’ altitude and flight pattern and merge the derived information. The combined effect was enhanced target validation and reduced kill-chain timeline. The demonstration results provide clear-cut evidence for both the effectiveness of this approach and the far-reaching potential it holds,” said Don Ryan, Proxy Aviation CEO.