future of the air force (uavs) - 2012

Futureof

the Air Force

Man vs Machine

By: Isaac Seemann

Personal Background

• Long time interest in aviation

• Computer technical type of person

Personal Background

Previous Experience – 8th Grade

Preview

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Preview

Manned Aircraft

UAV History

• Early UAV developed during WW1– Cruise missile named, “The Bug”

• Redesigned by Germans in WW2– V-1 Buzz Bomb

• Modernized with GPS

UAV Advantages

• No pilot = Less diplomatic endangerment– Francis Gary Powers’ crash caused political tension

UAV Advantages

• No pilot = Lives saved– Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid prevented lives

lost in Bosnia

UAV Advantages

• Fraction of manned aircraft, production and maintenance costs– Eliminates pilot costs

UAV Advantages

• No human factor = increased performance– Flight endurance– Maneuverability limited by design, not pilot

Why use human pilots?

Missions aren’t always straight forward

Important Pilot Qualities

•Intuitiveness•Adaptability

Adaptability

• Capt. Ron Garan changed mission objective to adapt to circumstances

Intuitiveness

• Capt. Landis Cook prevented friendly fire on allied tanks

What’s Next?

Autonomy

“The unmanned system’s own ability of sensing, perceiving, analyzing, communicating, planning, decision-making, and acting, to achieve its goals as assigned by its human operator(s) through designed human-robot interactions” –ALFUS Working Group

The Future

The Future

Require: Adaptability + Intuitiveness = Self-Aware

UAV Swarms

Without human control

Self-Aware

Problem?

Personal Lessons

Military require computer skills

Personal Lessons

Time organization

Future Plan

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Future Plan

SPSCC to save money

Bibliography

• Army Unmanned Aircraft System Operations. 2008. PDF file. This document is in pdf form. The file is a document created by the Department of the Army Headquarters covering all elements of unmanned aircraft systems used in the military as of 2008.I found the information helpful as an overview all unmanned system elements. The information is reliable due to its origin of creation.

• Dept. of Defense. Unmanned Systems Roadmap 2007=2032. Federation of American Scientists. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. <http://www.fas.org/irp/ program/collect/usroadmap2007.pdf>. This is a pdf document of a Deparment of Defense publication addressing the future plans of unmanned aircraft systems from the year 2007-2032. The document helped me understand the military's future plans relating to unmanned systems.

• Nolan, Robert. The Pilotless Air Force? A Look at Replacing Human Operatiors with Advanced Technology. 1997. PDF file. This report was in a pdf format. It gave me information on the history of unmanned aircraft systems and how they compare to human piloted aircraft.The source was very useful and it's reliable because of its direct connection to the Air Command and Staff College.The age of the information does limit its usefulness mainly to past events.

Bibliography cont.

• Phillips, Adrian. "A Secure Group Communication Architecture for a Swarm of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles." MS thesis. Air Force Institute of Technology, 2008. PDF file. This thesis was in the form of a pdf. The information gave me specific information on the topic of unmanned system autonomy. Because of the origin of the paper, the information is highly reliable.The age of the information does not affect its reliability.

Image Citation

• Sitting in cockpit. 28 May 2008. Personal photograph by author. • Standing infront of F-22 Raptor. 17 July 2011. Personal photograph by author. • Standing next to Predator. 17 July 2011. Personal photograph by author. • UAV Swarm. N.d. New Scientist. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.

<http://www.newscientist.com/blog/invention/uploaded_images/ swarm-720004.jpg>.

• Francis Gary Powers. N.d. European American Evangelistic Crusades. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. <http://www.eaec.org/newsletters/2004/ NL2004Feb.htm>.

• Hal 9000. N.d. Netbrawl. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. <http://www.netbrawl.com/matchup.php?mid=11131&bracketid=497>.

• I, Robot,VIKI. N.d. Review JPEG Warehouse 6. Tripod, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. <http://reviewsjpegs6.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/ V.I.K.I.jpg>.

Thank you for your time

ANY Questions?