The SAND Challenge Is An Opportunity For Small Businesses To Compete In An Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Competition

Partnering with small business and industry is a key element to the daily operations of NASA. Whether it’s on the test range or in a fabrication shop, NASA’s commitment to working with industry partners can be seen everywhere. This foundation of partnership is what NASA Langley is calling on to demonstrate an emerging automation technology soon to be featured in a NASA challenge.

The challenge, SAND, or Safeguard with Autonomous Navigation Demonstration will be an opportunity for small businesses to use NASA technology in an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle competition.

“We want to insert autonomy into operational environments, and then build on that experience,” said Lena Little, SAND project manager. “We need the help of industry and academia to achieve this outside of our gates.”

Gathering data from industry and working collaboratively with external entities allows NASA to help shape policy by solving complex problems. The target problem this technology addresses is how to safely integrate autonomous vehicles into the national airspace.

“The SAND challenge helps us realize that goal by demonstrating NASA technologies designed to assure safe operations of autonomous vehicles, promote public confidence in autonomy, create opportunities for collaboration and capture the public imagination,” said Little.

There are many who doubt the capabilities or trustworthiness of self-driving cars, let alone self-flying vehicles. The future, however, is demanding for a world of automation and researchers at NASA Langley pursue this goal daily. Safeguard is the NASA technology behind the competition.

“NASA Langley’s patented Safeguard technology will fly onboard the competitor’s vehicle while navigating the course,” said Kyle Ellis, associate project manager for system-wide safety. “Safeguard is NASA’s patented aviation quality fencing technology. Safeguard is designed to supersede or override non-standardized manufacturer UAV geo-fencing technology, when necessary, to restrict air space access of a UAV to meet regulatory property protection and safety requirements.”

By showcasing real world applications of unmanned vehicles, we can begin to build trust in autonomous systems.  Safeguard is intended to be licensed out commercially to industry so they may apply its merits to new applications.

“Small business competitors will provide their own drones, to navigate a simulated post-natural disaster event,” said Ellis. “The Langley patented Safeguard technology will document breaches in the geo-fencing boundaries of the competition course.”

Afterward, NASA will evaluate the performance of the drones against the Safeguard assessment as well as the ability to identify the post-natural disaster objects.

In an effort to enable the aviation systems of tomorrow, NASA Langley introduces this challenge to engage the community and demonstrate NASA technologies enabling tomorrow.

(Source: NASA)

FMI: sand2020.nianet.org