Goal Is To Make Landings In Blinding Conditions Safer
Sikorsky announced Thursday the successful demonstration of
technology designed to enable safer helicopter landings in blinding
conditions, including brownouts. Sikorsky and its "Sandblaster"
project teammates -- including Honeywell International and Sierra
Nevada Corp. -- performed the demonstrations at the US Army
Aeroflightdynamics Directorate (AFDD), AMRDEC at Ames Research
Center, Moffett Field, CA.
Flying the RASCAL JUH-60 Black Hawk helicopter outfitted with
the prototype Sandblaster system, pilots executed landing
approaches January 12-14 in a variety of terrain, including slopes
containing potentially dangerous obstacles to safe landings.
With only a few hours of familiarization with the system, guest
pilots executed the approaches safely. The flight
demonstration team included three US Army pilots, and ground
observers included personnel from several Army, Air Force and
Marine Corps' technology development offices.
The system integrates several technologies, including advanced
flight controls, a "see-through" sensor, advanced synthetic vision,
and data fusion, allowing the pilot to locate and touch down on
level landing terrain free of obstacles.
Using the system, a pilot presses a single button to engage the
automated flight controls, developed by Sikorsky. These controls
bring the aircraft from en-route flight to a low hover with
little-to-no drifting over a pre-programmed landing point. During
the landing approach, Sierra Nevada's three-dimensional radar,
capable of penetrating sand and dust, detects terrain and objects
within the intended landing zone.
Using radar and other data, Honeywell's Sensor-driven Localized
External Evidential Knowledge (SLEEK) and Synthetic Vision System
(SVS) displays on a cockpit screen a three-dimensional view of the
landing zone and surroundings. The pilot is able to monitor
progress during the automated approach by viewing an electronic
representation of the landing zone. The pilot also is able to view
and adjust the precise landing point in relation to slopes and
other objects while the automated flight controls maintain
stability. The system includes a 360-degree view of terrain and
objects in relation to the intended landing point.
"The Sandblaster project speaks to Sikorsky's strength and
priority, which is engineering safety into products," said Brad
Kronauer, Sandblaster Program Manager. "As the system integrator,
we commend our Honeywell and Sierra Nevada teammates for their
efforts in making these demonstrations so successful, proving these
combined technologies work together as a prototype system, and
allowing us to move toward development of a system for
production."
In May 2007, Sikorsky announced a contract award from the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop and
demonstrate a system for guiding safer landings in situations where
pilots cannot see the ground due to degraded visibility. Brownouts,
for example, occur frequently in desert environments when rotor
downwash kicks up sand and dust into blinding clouds enveloping the
aircraft.
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