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Homeland Security
Zooming into the Future
The vehicle glides over the rough Afghan terrain, scanning for militants and insurgent troops in training. Thousands of miles away, in the safety of a Nevada office, a soldier helps the plane navigate the chosen course.
The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) represents one of the latest examples of high-tech equipment increasingly in demand in battle zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. The vehicles are also serving both security and civilian purposes here in the United States, such as zooming along the edges of forest fires or hovering in clouds to collect atmospheric activity.
Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are being designed to serve similar security and civilian purposes, but in a marine environment; to test for chemical plumes or evaluate oil spills; to investigate potential terrorist threats from ships; and to conduct scientific surveys of underwater environments.
Vision and Judgment
One significant problem in designing fully autonomous unmanned vehicles is the capability to recognize objects in the environment and judge how to respond. “It’s incredibly complicated, to the point that they haven’t fully managed to create this [autonomy] in cars,” says Rick Lind, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Florida (UF). “When you add the third dimension, it’s exponentially harder.”
Prioria Robotics, a small company located near UF, in Gainesville, has partnered with the university UAV lab to find solutions to this problem. Prioria has developed image-processing technologies to help a small plane “perceive the world around it,” says CEO Bryan da Frota. The company mounted its system on Maveric, a mini-UAV with a 29-inch wingspan that Prioria launched into the market in early 2008.
Maveric’s capabilities, says da Frota, are sophisticated enough for a semi-urban situation, avoiding groups of buildings or trees and adjusting to shifts in terrain. A dense urban center such as downtown Manhattan, however, would prove too complicated for the Maveric’s current navigation system. Prioria has already sold the UAVs both domestically and internationally and is working on refining and improving the collision-avoidance system.
Homeland Security Videos and Podcasts
SRI International
We all know what homeland security is supposed to do -- protect, prepare and prevent. But if you're not familiar with the technologies that make up the homeland security industry, here is a glimpse of one: port security technology. This laser technology built by scientists at the University of South Florida, is being commercialized by SRI International in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Drones with Urban Sophistication
They are usually small, silent and fast. They fly high and see far. They are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Building Port Security from the Bottom Up
Advanced laser technologies developed at one of Florida’s research institutes will protect our ships and ports from terrorist attacks or any other unwelcome intrusions.
Hear from more homeland security innovators in their own words »
Homeland Security articles from technology review
A Tool for Finding Life in Outer Space
A new robotic device to map the ecosystem of one of Earth's ice-bound lakes could be used to search for life on other planets.
Robotic Weather Planes
Fleets of robotic aircraft could improve weather forecasts.
Mapping Disasters in 3-D
Software based on PhotoSynth can model the scene of a disaster.
The Year in Robotics
Advances in robotics for personal assistance, medicine, and the military in 2008.
Untethered in the Deep
Autonomous underwater vehicles advance--not to mention stop, turn, and hover.
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 Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
