ASCI 638 Assignment 4.5 BLOS

                                          

The Kaman K-MAX Cargo Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) is capable of autonomous beyond line of site (BLOS) operation both day and night (Kaman Aerospace, n.d.).  Its’ primary mission forth the US military is autonomous resupply in both hostile and non-hostile environments and the unit can also be configured for a variety of non-military uses including fire fighting, logging, humanitarian resupply and construction support (Lockheed Martin, n.d.).  The K-MAX is a joint venture between Kaman Aerospace, manufacturer of the original manned K-Max heavy lift helicopter, and Lockheed Martin which provided the mission integration, on-board intelligence and command and control technology (Kaman, n.d.).  Possessing a maximum external load capacity of 6,855 lbs and a an external payload hook capacity of 6000 lbs, the UAS has a range of 396.3 km with load and 494.5 km without load (Kaman, n.d.).  The system is operated via a ruggedized lap top computer which serves as the ground control station (GCS) and utilizes a portable antennae for line of sight (LOS) operations while BLOS operations utilize a satellite based data link (Kaman, n.d.)  No additional personnel or equipment are required to convert from LOS to BLOS operations.  Each controller can command two K-MAX.  Additionally, the UAS is fitted with high-resolution video and 3D imaging to allow for precision terrain avoidance and safe landing in challenging terrain (Lockheed Martin, n.d.).  The entire mission can be flown in a fully autonomous mode with mission plans pre-loaded and capable of being altered or changed mid flight by the controller or autonomously if an obstacle is detected; if desired another ground controller can take control of the aircraft for precision landings at the drop site, though his is not necessary and is strictly optional.

BLOS operation has the obvious advantage of increasing available range and enabling day or night operations in varying terrain.  Threat avoidance is significantly enhanced by the systems ability to operate at night and with a low noise signature provided by the twin counter-rotating intermeshing rotors and tail-rotor less design.  Provided the technology and systems are operating correctly there are no disadvantages to BLOS operations.  The design maintains the original K-MAX’s single seat cockpit for flight in an optionally piloted configuration and dual flight control computers provide redundancy and additional reliability (Kaman, n.d.). 

There are numerous opportunities for commercial BLOS UAS operations.  In a study focused primarily on agriculture, forestry and energy sectors a report by Andrew Shelley Economic Consulting and Aviation Safety Management Systems presented to the government of New Zealand estimated that allowing BLOS operations could provide up to NZ$190 million in economic benefits (Friday Offcuts, 2015). Currently France has allowed one company, Delair-Tech, to certify and operate a BLOS UAS, the DT-18 UAV for BLOS operation in France (Amato, 2014).  The American distributor for Delair, Fly Terra, has been testing the DT-18 in New York at the DUAIR test facility.

Another opportunity for BLOS UAS is small package delivery.  UAS package delivery, being championed by companies such as Amazon (King, 2015) would require BLOS capability to be useable in a commercial environment.  Maintaining LOS operations only for a delivery service is simply not practical. While some argue that small package delivery via UAS is simply not practical or realistic due to fundamental logistics issues (Wohlsen, 2014) package delivery has been tested in certain markets overseas such as India, which has less restrictive UAS rules than the US (King, 2015) and Canada, which in 2014 approved over 1600 companies for commercial UAS operations (Etherington, 2015).  In 2014 DHL announced that it would begin autonomous, monitored BLOS delivery services to the small island of Juist in the North Sea, upon arriving at designated landing point a DHL driver will make the last leg of the delivery by truck (Hern, 2014).  Ultimately, based on current trials and logistics fundamentals, it would appear that BLOS capability and operation is a necessity for successful commercial UAS package delivery operations.

References

Amato, A.  (2014).  Bring me that horizon: Delair-Tech and Beyond-Lin-of-Sight.  DroneLife.com.  Retrieved from

http://dronelife.com/2014/07/25/delair-tech-beyond-line-of-sight/

Etherington, D.  (2015).  Canada Proves Fertile Ground For Amazon Drone Delivery Tests.  Techcrunch.  Retrieved from

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/30/canada-proves-fertile-ground-for-amazon-drone-delivery-tests/

Friday Offcuts.  (2015, March 13).  NZ$190M/year by allowing beyond-line-of-sight drones.  Retrieved from

http://www.fridayoffcuts.com/index.cfm?id=616#2

Hern, A.  (2014, Sep 25).  DHL launches first commercial drone 'parcelcopter' delivery service.  The Guardian.  Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/25/german-dhl-launches-first-commercial-drone-delivery-service

Kaman Aerospace.  (n.d.).  The K-MAX® Unmanned Aircraft System – A Power Lifter Transformed.  Retrieved from

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed/data/ms2/documents/K-MAX-brochure.pdf

King, H.  (2015, March 20).  FAA allows Amazon to test drones in U.S.  CNN.  Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/19/technology/faa-amazon-drones/index.html

Lockheed Martin.  (n.d.).  The evolution of the K-MAX Cargo UAS technology.  Retrieved from

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/kmax/cargo-uas-technology.html

Wohlsen, M. (2013, December 2).  Even if the Feds Let Them Fly, Amazon’s Delivery Drones Are Still Nonsense.  Wired.  Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/2013/12/amazon-drone/