Autonomous Drone Delivery From Airdrop Systems (ADDAS): Aerially Deploying Folding-Wing Drones for Ground Reconnaissance

Extending the long-range capabilities of unmanned aerial systems is paramount to protecting small soldier teams operating in remote battlefield scenarios. Currently, many small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) reconnaissance assets have neither the range nor the soldier-technology interface necessary to facilitate small-unit missions.  The purpose of this paper is to detail the design and testing of a system that helps to fill this capability gap by creating folding-wing drones capable of being aerially deployed from an airdropped dispenser.  The dispenser is attached to the Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS), which is an autonomously navigated cargo delivery parafoil that can glide several miles, and which can land within 100 meters of its target. To employ the system, the dispenser is launched from a high-altitude aircraft. The system must survive the opening of the parachute in high speed forward flight and provide cushioning to the drones and other components.  Once the JPADS navigates the dispenser to a predetermined altitude and distance from the intended reconnaissance area, the dispenser deploys multiple folding-wing drones. The soldiers on the ground can access the drones’ live feeds through a handheld video transmitter. The system marries the highly-precise navigation and information-transmission capabilities of the fixed wing drone with the long-range capabilities of the JPADS. With the ZoHD Nano Talon as the folding-wing drone platform, the team designed a wing connection hub that allows for rapid folding and unfolding of the drone’s wings, a separate canister for each drone within the dispenser, and a dispenser capable of interfacing with both the canisters and the JPADS. Though currently in the technology-demonstration phase of the project, the team envisions the system being fully autonomous from launch of dispenser to end of mission.

            The project, which is sponsored by the Army’s Combat Capability Development Command Soldier Center, builds on the past success of a similar project, which designed, fabricated, and tested a system that deployed cargo-carrying quadcopter drones from a JPADS and then allowed them to enter mission mode and autonomously navigate to their programmed delivery locations.  This system was successfully demonstrated in multiple airdrops in 2018 and 2019.  This year’s effort attempts to build on previous work, but with a focus on providing reconnaissance capability to small units.  This new effort required the system to be adapted to accommodate fixed wing drones, and ultimately, the design incorporates folding wing aircraft to fit as many as practical in the small confines of a JPADS-capable cargo bundle.  The full report will detail all of the design tradeoffs, analysis of the structural and aerodynamic challenges associated with the problem, and solution to multiple practical issues that emerges in fabrication and testing.  The project was successfully carried out by a team of four undergraduate students at the US Military Academy at West Point.  The paper will describe the technical details of the project, but it will also address several of the educational and leader-development benefits of the experience for the students.