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2018-06-03

Indago UAS for Day or Night Operations

Lockheed Martin’s Indago 3, a small quadrotor unmanned aerial system (UAS) has been upgraded with high-resolution infrared sensors capable of day or night operations.

“Providing an infrared capability for Indago further enhances the uses for this small but powerful system,” said Rich Bonnett, Indago programme manager with Lockheed Martin Procerus Technologies. “With its endurance and quick deployment ability, Indago can be used for tasks ranging from surveillance to supporting fire fighting operations to search and rescue.”

Indago’s infrared system, Noctis, consists of dual FLIR infrared cameras that provide real time streaming video and still imagery. Noctis uses wide and narrow fields of view with a digital zoom field of view from 32 degrees to 2 degrees, with seamless transition between cameras. Its vision processing provides feature tracking of objects, reducing operator workload. It is offered in two variants, laser equipped, or non-laser equipped.

The Indago 3 quadrotor UAS weighs less than five pounds and can be airborne in less than three minutes. Along with a low acoustic and visual signature during start up and flight, the platform’s haze grey colour minimises visual detection during missions. Depending on payloads, Indago 3 can fly up to 50 minutes at a cruise speed of 25 mph and can operate at temperatures as low as 30-degrees below zero, and as high as 120 degrees. The collapsible UAS folds into a man-packable unit that requires no tools for assembly and can be unfolded in 60 seconds.

Ready For Civil, Military Applications

The Indago goes beyond the stable, capable design of the UAS. Its features include an extended hover and fast forward flight capability that provides military, civil and commercial customers with a quick aerial reconnaissance capability in crowded areas unreachable by fixed-wing unmanned aircraft. The Indago’s payload system provides additional capability that separates it from the average drone. Featuring a quick disconnect adapter, Indago allows the operator to choose an appropriate payload that suits the mission. There are payloads available for a variety of different applications including: precision agriculture, mapping, surveying and inspection, and reconnaissance. Additional payloads are in development.

The proven and reliable system has an industry-leading flight time surpassing 45 minutes, and provides high quality data with an electro-optic infrared gimbaled imager to enhance situational awareness and enable real-time decision-making.

Saving Lives

The UAS assists fire fighters in maximising the effectiveness of night time operations. Indago can stream live video from its thermal sensor to the operators on the ground, who will use the data to identify hot spots, fire location and intensity, and people and property that were at risk. The Indago has helped save an estimated 100 homes, worth more than $50 million in U.S. The video from Indago can be disseminated locally through a WiFi connection, or streamed over a data connection that can be viewed on any computer or personal electronic device.

Using the Indago, fire fighters are able to reduce the size and duration of the fire, reduce the impact on the community, and realise cost savings in managing the response.

Eye-in-the-sky

Lives are at stake when individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, Autism and Down syndrome wander from their homes. Project Lifesaver International is a public safety non-profit organisation that works with first responders to return these individuals to their homes or facilities, and the organisation has conducted more than 3,000 rescues in the past 16 years. Time is critical when people are missing, and airborne search and rescue can be costly and time consuming.

Lockheed Martin integrated an antenna and receiver with the Indago quadrotor UAS, which can be stored in any squad car and deployed in less than five minutes. Using Indago extends Project Lifesaver agencies’ search areas from one and a half miles to well over seven miles.

The vertical take-off and landing UAS provides an eye-in-the-sky that is suited for urban or heavily forested areas because it does not require a large space to take-off or land. Indago is a safe and effective airborne search and rescue tool that can be used in all weather, even when manned aircraft are grounded.

Disaster Relief

Following the devastation of Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu, the United National World Bank and the Vanuatu government required rapid damage assessments of the country’s infrastructure, without putting further strain on the limited ground and aviation assets available to the response effort.

The Heliwest Group deployed the Indago quadrotor UAS to survey 50 sites across nine remote islands. The team conducted 126 separate missions over 12 days to capture oblique imagery, video, and ortho-mapping. The Indago’s flexibility and small logistics footprint allowed Heliwest to deploy a full system while remaining mobile on police patrol boats, zodiacs, quadbikes, cars, and regional flights and light helicopters.

Indago provided the capability of several different systems in one package: the team fielded a mapping capability, stable high-resolution video, and oblique imaging. The UAS was able to operate in extreme weather conditions, even when other aircraft were grounded.

Precision Agriculture

Farmers use precision agriculture to produce food, fuel, and fibre and land reclamation, which requires gathering accurate data that affects yields, environmental impact and the economic viability of farms. Currently, farmers spend hours walking through acres of farmland to obtain effective information and identify potential threats to their farms – including insect infestations and potential nutrient shortages – and potential threats to the environment.

The Indago quadrotor UAS is being used by farmers in the U.S. to scout crops and conduct 3D terrain mapping. Its electro-optic/infrared gimbaled imager has capabilities that monitor plant size and leaf counts, as well as multi-spectral imaging to monitor parasite infestations and possible effects of drought.

First Response and Inspections

After a fire, an accident or in hazardous search-and-rescue operations, first responders need to quickly assess the situation and determine how to assist or find people in dangerous situations. The need to rapidly capture evidence, record accident and crime scenes, search the area for evidence, and provide first responder safety. The various payloads available with UAS can expedite the search process based on mission requirements.

There is a 30x payload camera or Duo+ day/night/thermal camera on Indago UAS. This payload can not only gather thermal images, it also has a built in laser illuminator which are crucial in search and rescue operations in rugged terrain such as with missing hunters or hikers.

Oil and gas inspections are dangerous, costly and lengthy. To maintain compliance with government regulations, these inspections must occur regularly. Implementing UAS technology to gather imagery and data means inspections can occur with less human risk, less cost and more often.

Indago quadrotor UAS camera captures high-resolution inspection images and video with 30x optical zoom and enhanced digital zoom. It can be used during normal refinery operations, meaning the systems don’t have to be shut down during inspections. Indago can capture these detailed images from 300 feet away and can be used in all weather.

The same case applies to high voltage transmission towers, antenna towers, wind turbines/wind mills, train tracks, bridges, oil pipelines, oil rigs/platforms, and any other dangerous or inspection activity.

Reference Text/Photo:

www.lockheedmartin.com

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