The George H. W. Bush Combat Development Complex, in Texas A&M University System’s RELLIS Campus, is hard at work against the threat of wildfires.
Texas A&M University will receive $59.8 million in funds appropriated from the Texas Legislature, according to a release from Texas A&M. The funds will go towards developing and implementing autonomous UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters as autonomous vehicles equipped with firefighting capabilities, as well as for building facilities, tools, and equipment for research, testing, and integration.
Using autonomous aircraft will reduce the risk pilots face and damage to equipment in challenging wildfire fighting conditions. The BCDC was also selected to work together with the Defensive Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on its Aircrew Labor in-cockpit Automation System (ALIAS): a technology built to reduce risk for pilots and aircraft in high-risk missions.
“Working together with Texas, we have an opportunity to use autonomous helicopters to completely change the conversation around wildfires from containing them to extinguishing them,” Stuart Young, DARPA program manager for ALIAS, said in a release from DARPA.
The BCDC program will also integrate DARPA’s automation toolkit: MATRIX. The toolkit has already demonstrated fully autonomous aircraft on 20 aircraft platforms. MATRIX was developed by California-based Sikorsky Aircraft.
MATRIX has already gone through its ‘trial-by-fire’: it was previously tested in proof-of-concept demonstrations of autonomous fire suppression in California and Connecticut earlier this year, according to DARPA.
“I am proud we are working with DARPA in a manner that will benefit Texas, the Department of Defense, and commercial industry,” retired Maj. Gen. Tim Green, director of the BCDC, said in the release. “Wildland firefighting will be the first mission application fully developed to take advantage of over a decade of work by DARPA on its Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System (ALIAS).”
The BDC will test fully automated and semi-automated ALIAS-equipped aircraft on highly complex firefighting tasks. The complex will also work with Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi’s Autonomy Research Institute, the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, the Texas A&M Forest Service and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station on the project.
John Diem, director of the innovation proving grounds at BCDC, will serve as principal investigator for the project.
“Advancing system capabilities through the last stages of technology maturation, operational testing, and concept development is always hugely exciting and rewarding,” Diem added in the release. “The best part of my career has been seeing systems I tested move into the hands of warfighters. Now, I’m proud to help ensure ALIAS is safe and effective in protecting life and property – and we will do that through realistic and challenging testing.”
Informational source: Innovation Map
