3月
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最大的非健康研究基金
国防部拨款1490万美元用于开发反无人机技术
The U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Naval 研究 has awarded a $7.2 million grant and a $7.7 million contract to the 威尼斯人娱乐城 to develop technologies to reduce national security threats from small, unmanned aerial vehicles, more commonly called drones. 在宣布研究资金的活动中，无人机在威尼斯人娱乐城四方飞行。 这是威尼斯人娱乐城获得的最大的非健康研究奖项。 The team of investigators also includes researchers from Missouri University of Science and Technology and the University of Missouri. 这项拨款是在威尼斯人娱乐城计算机与工程学院宣布的。 演讲嘉宾包括临时校长兼教务长芭芭拉·a·比切尔迈耶（Barbara A. Bichelmeyer）； 密苏里大学系统校长Mun Y. Choi； 众议院少数党领袖、密苏里州众议员盖尔·麦肯·比蒂； 安东尼·卡鲁索，马里兰大学堪萨斯分校研究助理副校长，物理学和电子工程教授，该基金的首席研究员。 威尼斯人娱乐城候任校长Mauli Agrawal出席了该活动。 Travis Fields, left, assistant professor of engineering and 威尼斯人娱乐城’s drone guru, pilots a drone while Caruso and Mun Choi, UM System president, check it out. 无人机在商业上可供公众使用，并呈现出越来越大的威胁。 无人机曾被视为无意中对空域造成滋扰的东西，但近年来，它所展示的恐怖主义行为有所增加。 无人机的威胁范围很广，从收集情报到运送武器化的有效载荷，再到被困在喷气发动机的进气口。 无人机的威胁，无论是有意的还是无意的，在成本和复杂性上都与它们可能造成的损害不成比例。 例如，一架几百美元的无人机可以摧毁一架价值数十亿美元的隐形轰炸机。 目前，对于这种潜在的毁灭性威胁，还没有具有成本效益的保护措施。 “A prominent threat example is the low cost and ease of automation for deploying drones to collect video data or the transport of an unwanted material to a location five miles or greater from their launch point.”—Tony Caruso, lead investigator on the grant The four-year grant award will focus on advancing high-power microwave electronic countermeasure technologies. 除了卡鲁索，教师团队还包括威尼斯人娱乐城艺术与科学学院的普拉曼·多诺夫和保罗·鲁利斯； Deb Chatterjee, Travis Fields, Ahmed Hassan and Faisal Khan of the 威尼斯人娱乐城 计算机与工程学院; 密苏里科技大学电气与计算机工程系的Daryl Beetner和Victor Kilkevich以及MU电气与计算机工程系的Scott Kovaleski。 该基金还将资助10名新的博士生，并为12名新的本科研究人员提供职位。 威尼斯人娱乐城计算机与工程学院拥有一个无人机实验室，里面有各种形状和大小的无人机。 这些努力的目标是评价和证明通过赠款开发的反技术的能力。 “These awards demonstrate the value 威尼斯人娱乐城 research brings to our community and our state, in terms of stimulating our economy, showcasing our region’s scientific and technological leadership and safeguarding our citizens.” —Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, 威尼斯人娱乐城 interim chancellor and provost This 威尼斯人娱乐城-led effort with Missouri S&T and MU also includes team members from the Kansas City National Security Campus; 堪萨斯州曼哈顿的辐射探测技术； 位于新罕布什尔州纳舒厄和德克萨斯州奥斯汀的BAE系统公司； 华盛顿州西雅图的鹰港技术公司； 加州利弗莫尔的劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室； 马萨诸塞州韦斯特伯勒的元磁学； 科罗拉多斯普林斯的科学应用与研究协会； 位于华盛顿特区的海军研究实验室； 加利福尼亚州中国湖海军空战中心武器分部； 以及位于弗吉尼亚州达尔格伦的海军水面作战中心达尔格伦分部。 “The counter-drone problem is considered a grand challenge — maybe even a wicked problem begging for a comprehensive study of present- and future-art countermeasures. 该项目将解决并改进对抗措施，对密苏里州的国防企业产生重大影响。”— Mun Y. Choi, president of the University of Missouri System In previous awards from the Office of Naval 研究, Caruso led a team of 20 faculty and students to create a portable nuclear radiation detector, taking the product from concept through prototype to production. R & D Magazine awarded the team an R & D 100 Award, the “Oscar of Invention,” for the detector, which improves homeland security by protecting people from potential risks from radioactive materials. 该小组包括来自密苏里大学和堪萨斯州立大学的调查人员。 卡鲁索小组还在海军研究办公室的反定向能武器项目下研究高功率微波的对抗措施。 To learn more about the increasing threat of drones, read this Q & A with Tony Caruso. 2018年3月2日
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操作：送风
研究人员设计隐蔽和成本效益的降落伞
When dropping supplies for military operations, every second and every detail matter — details like cost and accuracy. But it’s these details that have proven to be extremely difficult to overcome, especially when it comes to the precision of the drops. 即使是一阵风也会造成灾难性的后果，直接影响到海外驻军的安全和保障。 This is an intense situation with serious consequences, and it’s one Travis Fields, Ph.D., assistant professor at the 威尼斯人娱乐城 计算机与工程学院 is surprised to find himself exploring often. “During my graduate work, I definitely did not imagine all the ways the work I was doing could be translated and applied,” says Fields, whose research focuses on the applications of drone technology. 他的工作当然受到追捧，并引起了几个知名政府机构的兴趣，包括美国陆军纳蒂克士兵研究、发展和工程中心（NSRDEC）和美国国家航空航天局。 来自这些组织的资助使菲尔兹和他在海军研究生院的研究伙伴奥列格·亚基缅科博士合作开发创新的降落伞技术，以便从更安全的高度准确地投放物资。 Dangerous Drops The Department of Defense started out performing the drops from very low altitudes to ensure they do not miss the target. 随着时间的推移，团队正在努力扩大规模，并从更高的高度下降。 它的下一次测试将于2019年12月进行，将进行30英尺的下降。 “Unfortunately, this puts the aircrew in harm’s way, and there are many cases of aircraft filled with bullet holes,” Fields says. 另一种选择是使用降落伞系统，就像跳伞者使用的伞盖一样。 这些系统具有复杂的控制算法，可实现高精度； however, they are expensive — often upward of $80,000 — and are usually reserved for the direst situations. Currently, there are no great low-cost, yet accurate, delivery options that can be employed from safe altitude Nevertheless, the DOD still needs effective methods to safely get supplies to troops on the ground. “As we have continued to push the limits and boundaries of our operational bases, aerial resupply has become the only way to provide goods,” Fields says. 另一个阻碍物资成功投放的复杂因素是难以到达的崎岖地形和不可预测的天气。 “Winds are the major factor that impact aerial delivery,” Fields says. “Winds change constantly, and if the predictions are off the true wind by even a few miles per hour, the payload can be off by hundreds to thousands of feet.” 简而言之，准确性在这些任务中至关重要，可以挽救生命。 “Most — if not all — incidents have come from using unguided systems that missed the target,” Fields says. “By having gliding capability, we hope to hit the right location and avoid such issues. Safer Landing With cost and accuracy needs in mind, Fields, Yakimenko and SCE students are testing a cruciform, or cross canopy system, that is manufactured with two rectangular nylon panels that are sewn together. 根据研究人员的说法，这个过程比试图制造复杂形状的伞翼要容易得多，也便宜得多。 “This system, which is probably an order of magnitude cheaper than those based on a parafoil, demonstrates a capability to rely on a calculated aerial release point and uses a limited control authority to steer toward a desired point of impact,” Yakimenko says. 该包配备了一个机载制导单元，具有传感器和树莓派，一个信用卡大小的计算机，提供实时态势感知。 此外，树莓派还控制着一个马达，该马达拉动降落伞的特定悬挂线，从而实现更精确的滑翔，以达到预期的目标。 在菲尔兹和他的团队继续测试这个新系统的过程中，他们很幸运地获得了独特的经验，并在此过程中获得了越来越多的资助。 Test Runs Fields and his team recently had an opportunity to do testing from UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters at the Army Yuma Proving Ground. “It was a great opportunity and enabled us to show that our system really is steering and could be a more cost-effective method for aerial delivery,” Fields says. To date, Fields has secured $75,000 from NASA’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive 研究 to further explore unmanned systems and models. 美国宇航局甚至为该团队提供了为期五天的全面支持测试，测试地点位于美国宇航局兰利研究中心的垂直旋转隧道，这是西半球唯一的此类隧道。 此外，该研究的主要合作伙伴美国陆军NSRDEC自2015年最初授予以来已提供了418,386美元。 “I definitely did not imagine all the ways the work I was doing could be translated and applied.”– Travis Fields, Ph.D. The funding, Fields says, is essential to the research and has helped the team run experiments at Camp Roberts in California on several occasions. 罗伯茨营是一个陆军国民警卫队基地，有一条被限制的飞机跑道，麦克米兰机场，用于无人驾驶飞机。 在那里，该团队使用固定翼和大型多旋翼无人驾驶飞机将包裹运送到4000英尺的高空，然后部署系统。 为了进一步了解降落伞的引导性能，研究小组使用一架四轴飞行器追踪降落伞，收集下降的视频片段。 这有助于诊断系统正在做什么，并为将来的测试进行调整。 该团队将于12月在亚利桑那州埃洛伊的一处跳伞场地进行测试。 “Going to places like Camp Roberts and Eloy is absolutely crucial for us to test our steering and guidance methodologies,” Fields says. “Out there we can go higher and farther away than in the national airspace around Kansas City, which currently limits operations to 400 feet without a waiver.” 虽然这些测试只是开发和实施这项技术的开始，但菲尔兹很高兴地报告了积极的结果。 “We have performed two tests from 4,000 feet above ground where we were within 10 feet of the target, and a test from 6,000 feet where we were near 300 feet from the target,” Fields says. 他补充说，他们工作的成功直接归功于威尼斯人娱乐城计算机与工程学院的支持和学生们的热情。 Yakimenko表示同意。 助理教授特拉维斯·菲尔兹（Travis Fields）博士使用无人驾驶飞机进行研究，在限制的空域中，无人驾驶飞机将10到15磅的有效载荷投放到离地面1600英尺的高空。 “I enjoy working with the undergraduate and graduate students from 威尼斯人娱乐城 because of their desire to be involved in real-world, defense-related applications, as well as their creativity, readiness, thoroughness and willingness to stay for several days in a desert, where we usually conduct our tests,” Yakimenko says. “I know I can always rely on Dr. Fields’ team.” The team’s system has great potential to increase precision delivery capabilities for critical military missions, particularly when costs inhibit more complex parafoil-based deliveries. Fields’ system features descent profiles that are not currently achievable with other glide systems, which means his system can achieve more accurate drops, more successful missions and save more lives. “This low-cost approach opens up the potential for semi-precision delivery in a variety of scenarios well beyond military use, including aid relief for situations like the hurricane in Puerto Rico or any other major disaster or crisis,” Fields says. “I believe this will be a transformational technique for aerial delivery operations in both military and humanitarian relief efforts in the years to come.” 这篇文章最初发表在威尼斯人娱乐城计算机与工程学院的研究杂志《先锋》上。 2018年3月1日