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A new UAV technology that allows unmanned vehicle fleets to navigate without GPS, developed by MIT and NASA, could help find hikers lost in the wild and could be used one day to cross the Moon's surface and Mars, researchers say.
"You can imagine that it's on the surface of Mars, we are looking for a particular type of sample to send back," said Danette Allen, senior technologist of NASA's Intelligent Flight Systems. "All these things we rely on, like GPS, for example, are not available to us."
When humans are ready to explore Mars, we will do so largely without a detailed understanding of the surface of the planet and the interesting discoveries that could be made. Unlike land navigation, which relies on a network of satellites orbiting the globe, no disembodied voice can be issued by a telephone with instructions.
"You may or may not know exactly where you are going," Allen said. "This problem is much more difficult than most people think."
Allen and MIT researchers worked on a way for drones to understand their position and that of other drones by continuously scanning maps and using the LIDAR, which measures the distance of objects to help of lasers. At the moment, the job is mainly to help locate hikers lost in a forest, where delays could make the difference between life and death.
"What we are trying to do is automate the search part of the search and rescue problem with a fleet of drones," said Yulun Tian, a graduate student in the US Department of Defense. aeronautics and astronautics of MIT and lead author of the newspaper. "By comparing 2D scans, two drones can swap their measurements and will be able to tell if they've ever visited the same area before."
The combined map provides a global view of the search area and helps direct drones to their next search area. The system has been successfully tested in a number of small-scale tests, said Tian.
Still, the work is not yet ready for use in the real world. Tian said that he and other researchers would work to make drones lighter and less expensive, and would work with batteries that would last longer.
Allen said that the ability to navigate without depending on GPS or other external sources could also be useful in disaster areas.
The research, fully funded by NASA, will continue to focus on the lost hiker scenario, but the underlying technology could be adapted by NASA to its own lunar or Martian goals.
For example, Mars is home to a number of large lava tubes that, according to some, could possibly be a safe place for the establishment of a colony, but have never been explored. A fleet of drones capable of making their way through unexplored territory could significantly contribute to exploration efforts.
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