SBIR/STTR Award attributes
An aircraft crash or mishap is an inherently time consuming, manpower-intensive, and hazardous ordeal. Security forces and emergency management secure the scene, rescue the pilot, and reduce any hazards. Holloman Air Force Base (AFB) is one such base that sees many aircraft crashes and mishaps due to its role as a critical Air Force training and test location. Each year the base sees at least three (3) major mishaps. Holloman’s 49th Security Forces Squadron (49 SFS) deploys 13 Defenders to secure the area while emergency managers investigate the presence of hazardous chemicals (i.e. hydrazine leaks). These investigations can easily last for three (3) days. That’s three days of Defenders standing in the desert as listening posts / observation posts (LP/OPs) with temperatures as high as 102°F. This risks Airmen heat casualties while standing post. The 49 SFS also only has 100 personnel. One crash equates to 13% of its total manning dedicated to security for three days in the desert, taking Airmen away from other threats that could occur along the base perimeter. This manpower burden puts the installation’s 17,000 Airmen and civilian personnel, $7.8 billion in assets, and 66,000 acres at risk. The heavy time and manpower strain outlined above exists across the Air Force. Whenever there is a crash or mishap, bases deploy personnel in similar fashions to secure the scene, investigate hazards, and search for survivors. Autonomous systems such as ground robots or small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) are commonly looked to as a solution. But sUAS have limited flight operating times and autonomous systems require continuous power, especially for multi-day operations. Despite the Air Force’s embrace of autonomous systems, the lack of consistent power limits practical implementation and general adoption. The result is the Air Force deploying large numbers of its personnel inefficiently and in ways that potentially jeopardize broader air base safety. Ghost Robotics proposes to partner with the 49 SFS on a SBIR Phase II project to develop solar charging capabilities for its Q-UGV security robots. Ghost Robotics will research, develop, test, and evaluate (RDT&E) new solar charging capabilities for its Q-UGV charging station so the 49 SFS can deploy the robots to remote crash sites without the need for grid power or diesel backup generators. This will free up at least nine (9) Defenders from standing in the desert for days at a time while emergency management teams assess hazards. Assuming a minimum 40 hour work week, this results in 1,080 Airmen labor hours given back to the squadron for other more pressing security functions. The newly developed capability will capitalize on the abundant solar resources available at Holloman and present at many DAF installations around the globe, reduce the reliance on grid power and generators, free up manpower, and introduce a new DAF autonomous security capability that can operate 100% off grid in austere conditions.
