THE GATHERING SWARM In a lab where multiple unmanned aircraft systems work together, engineers take problem-solving to new heights BY DAN RALEY | PHOTOS BY BOB FERGUSON hree unmanned aircraft systems lift off the ground in unison and hold steady. T With rotors spinning at high speed, they resemble hummingbirds. They then dart forward and back, and up and down. A quadcopter and hexcopter follow the lead of the larger octocopter until Boeing software engineer Chris Beauchene, seated off to the side and controlling their movements with a laptop, temporarily halts the demonstration. “They’re going to land for a second—they thought we were done,” Beauchene said with a smile. Here at the Collaborative Autonomous Systems Laboratory, in St. Charles, Mo., flight takes place indoors. The lab represents the latest example of the company’s strategy to join smart unmanned systems with people seeking innovative ways to use them. Boeing will test and improve what others build, pushing to become the leader in a rapidly evolving autonomous industry, said Nancy Pendleton, Boeing’s System Technology director. In the middle of the 8,100-square-foot (750-square-meter) building is a high bay outfitted with an infrared motion-tracking system and a dozen overhead projectors. This enables Boeing engineers to cover the floor with virtual mapping and put unmanned aircraft systems through simulated maneuvers. They will ready the machines for activities such as military missions, civil disaster assistance and commercial needs. “I think we’ll see more and more uses of unmanned systems within the environment where we live—the growth and acceptance of them will increase as we move forward,” Pendleton said. “The lab allows us to invest in and explore all possibilities.” The Boeing Research & Technology facility was built in response to expanding unmanned aircraft system use, which is evolving in a manner similar to that of the earliest common computers, lab manager Mike Abraham said. “Computers have gotten very powerful and when you network them, new capabilities emerge,” Abraham said. “These aircraft vehicles alone are interesting, but when you put them together to do common things simultaneously, then we’re at the cusp of what really could happen.” Inside the lab, the 22-pound (10-kilogram) black octocopter is ready to launch again. It emits a musical sound, a flashing blue light and a beep—alerts that signal various operational modes for the unmanned aircraft system. Once its engines turn over, the copter climbs into the air, followed by others. Fifteen feet up, the unmanned aircraft systems hover in formation over a map of metropolitan St. Louis that fills up the floor screen. The octocopter carries a sensor that aligns with the “terrain” below, allowing it to move or tilt the map view, revealing stadiums, railways and freeways. The mapping is so detailed that even a pitcher’s mound at Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, is detectable. Engineers can display a battlefield, 30 | BOEING FRONTIERS
Frontiers December 2016 Issue
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