Kairos Autonomi’s Retrofit Kit Powers First Autonomous Moving Land Target in U.S. Navy Demo
SALT LAKE CITY-(Business Wire)-February 13, 2009 - A Pronto4 Strap-on Autonomy System, manufactured and supported by Kairos Autonomi, was used as a moving land target (MLT) during a highly successful U.S. Navy training exercise and demonstration at Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon, Nev., on Jan. 27, 2009.
The exercise was the first ever to use a standard ground vehicle autonomously navigating as a MLT during live fire. Using the Pronto4 installed in a common sedan, the MLT autonomously drove a course on a gravel runway at 35 mph as Navy pilots dropped many inert, Enhanced Laser Guided Training Rounds (ELGTRs) from 15,000 feet.
The Pronto4 Target System offers the U.S. and its allies a cost-effective, immediately available MLT for use in training or test and evaluation exercises with limited to zero required infrastructure improvements.
The NAS Fallon demonstration was part of a CRADA between Kairos Autonomi and the U.S. Navy for ConOps development of aircraft dropping live ordnance on MLTs.
Video is available on Kairos Autonomi’s web site at: http://www.kairosautonomi.com/videos/KA_Fallon_Drop_Full_640_480.wmv.
The Navy performed the exercise without any infrastructure improvements, using only a single, low availability radio link to provide safety functions, as well as course control. Course development consisted of recording the courses by driving them with the Pronto4 enabled vehicle, editing that course and performing a few trials to ensure course performance.
The developed courses included an ingress (driving to the target area on a one lane road), several loops in the target area, and an egress (again a one lane road). The ingress/loop/egress courses were then controlled through the low availability radio link. The ingress and egress courses were 1.5 miles in length and took the MLT from the control tower to the airstrip, and returned to the tower for the next mission. One traverse of the loop was more than 2 miles and lasted about 4 minutes. The MLT flawlessly performed approximately 18 traverses during the 60 minute exercise with unsteady GPS availability.
The Navy determined that MLT-based aerial training was indeed very valuable. The trial also showcased the low cost versus high functionality that Pronto4 MLT systems can offer on a per sortie basis. There is now no need to continue to wait for expensive, less-flexible MLT alternatives from government or private sources.
About Kairos Autonomi
Kairos Autonomi (http://www.kairosautonomi.com), a leader in the robotics industry, offers retrofit kits that create optionally unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and vessels for military, security and industrial applications. The Pronto4 system converts most ground vehicles or surface vessels into unmanned systems in about four hours, offering an immediate, proven solution at unrivaled prices. An available SAIC Operator Control Unit enhances Pronto4 performance by providing a ground station to control and monitor the MLTs via data link and video feedback from the vehicle. SAIC (www.SAIC.com) supported Kairos Autonomi in these exercises.
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