Atair 'Chutes Offer Guided Autonomous Landing

Mark Montalvo at Atair wrote us, "...to introduce you to Atair Aerospace, Inc., an exciting young
Brooklyn-based high-tech defense company that was recently honored with the Comet Award for '2003 Manufacturer of the Year for Innovation' by judges BAE Systems, EDO Corporation, and Northrop Grumman. Atair has received both Phase I and Phase II SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) funding from the Army Natick Soldier Center for the development of a 75lb. autonomous guided parachute delivery system. In a recent informal conversation with Natick officials about the SBIR process and Atair's application, Atair was told that from the Army's Airdrop Division, Atair received the only Phase II approval for the topic of precision airdrop this year. Additionally, out of all the Army topics for Phase II SBIR, we were ranked #1 and are one of their highest priorities. Atair Aerospace is currently the only U.S. based company that has demonstrated autonomous guided flight capabilities."

He's justifiably happy with the accomplishments, but he wanted us to tell you more about them. Everything's a UAV now -- and Atair is working on a guided parachute: Atair's proprietary technology is centered on its ONYX System. The ONYX is a two-parachute delivery system that employs a high efficiency elliptical parafoil for initial deployment and guidance and a second non-guided parachute (deployed at the lowest possible altitude) for landing.

The ONYX System can be deployed up to an altitude of 35,000 ft. The flight computer determines its heading based on integrated GPS and Inertial Navigation Sensors. When the system is within a programmed distance of directly overhead of the target, it will execute a sustained spiral dive until it reaches its minimum pre-programmed altitude where it will transition from the guidance parafoil to the landing parachute. The system will them fall unguided a short distance until touchdown.

HAHO, HAHO, It's Off to War We Go...

Recent conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia have demonstrated the critical need for guided parachute systems to replace current, obsolete airdrop delivery techniques. The proliferation of inexpensive surface-to-air missiles gravely jeopardizes aircraft and personnel flying below 25,000 feet; a significant problem, since conventional military airdrop techniques require cargo to be released from altitudes below 1,500 feet. Speaking with National Defense Magazine about this problem, Edward Doucette, Director of Airdrop and Aerial Delivery at the Army Natick Soldier Center (MA), stated that "dumb airdrop--the way we [the Army] do it today--is at the mercy of the wind, and accuracy is nonexistent."

In response to the critical strategic requirements of precision airdrop, Atair AS has developed the ONYX System. This recoverable and reusable delivery system can be deployed from an altitude of up to 35,000 feet and autonomously navigate its cargo to a predetermined landing target, thus ensuring the safety of aircraft and personnel from hostile ground-based fire.

After release from the aircraft, the ONYX System employs an elliptical parafoil for initial deployment and guidance. The navigation of the cargo to a predetermined landing zone is controlled by an on-board flight computer that utilizes GPS and Inertial Navigation Sensor technology. A second non-guided parachute is then deployed at the lowest possible altitude for a soft landing.

The ONYX System is unique in that its design significantly reduces time aloft and vulnerability to wind. It is also scalable to considerably heavier cargo weights than is feasible with other technologies. The technological advances used to design this system have received multiple top awards, been used to set multiple world records in the parachute industry, and have led Atair AS to file more than 16 patents.

FMI: www.extremefly.com/aerospace/