Uniform Sierra

Team name

Team Uniform Sierra Aerospace

Awards

• UAS 4.0: First Responder UAS Indoor Challenge
  • 2nd Place: $70,000
  • Best-in-Class – Ease of Operation: $7,500 (tied)
  • Best-in-Class – Price: $15,000
  • Total 4.0 Prizes: $112,500

UAS 4.0: Indoor solution summary

The Uniform Sierra Aerospace Arrowhead - Tactical sUAS was a compact quadcopter meant for easy ISR in unknown indoor tactical operations. The aircraft has a suite of advanced sensors for intelligence gathering including: Day/Night 1200TVL RGB Camera, FLIR Lepton Thermal Sensor, and a 1-way passive audio capability. The receiving solution allowed top of the market video penetration and proved it could provide video signal between nine (9) walls, and from within heavily armored vehicles like the Bearcat and MRAP (not demonstrated). The Arrowhead implemented dual sensors including a LiDAR and IR based positioning system to minimize operator workload while flying. This would allow the operators to be proficient flying in indoor environments, through doors and windows, and upstairs with as little as four (4) hours of training. Its rigid, aircraft grade carbon fiber exoskeleton provided incredible crash resilience, and gave the aircraft the capability of opening unlatched doors (not demonstrated). The operator was able to flip the aircraft over using the native all-axis turtle mode to right itself and continue operation.

Team description and individual biographies

Duncan Mulgrew, Co-founder and CEO, has been building and flying small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) for close to 10 years and has accumulated over 2,500 remote flight hours spread over hundreds of systems. He has built over 100 unique aircraft and operated them around the country. Duncan has experience working with Military, Government, and Industry groups on different UAS based projects and research. Before founding Uniform Sierra with Jeremy Frederick, he designed and built custom sUAS systems for a range of clients, and raced FPV drones competitively. Duncan currently holds a FAA part 107 remote pilot certificate and a private pilot’s certificate.

Jeremy Frederick, Co-founder and CTO, is driven by a passion for aviation and takes pride in the dedication and time spent on research and professional pursuits. Research interests include machine vision implementation on UAS, including motion tracking, object recognition, and object avoidance. Previous projects include dual autonomous rover-quad tracking and control, and autonomous delivery of Naloxone to opioid overdose victims. Professionally, Jeremy has consulted on numerous UAS projects with organizations including the DEA, DOJ, and a handful of law enforcement agencies nationwide. He is FAA Part 61 and 107 certified.

Trevor Redpath, COO, has a bachelors in Unmanned Aerial Systems from Purdue University. From his time at Purdue, he has discovered his passion for aircraft and unmanned systems. This has led him to obtain his FAA Part 107 and participate in research projects and coursework sponsored by the Air Force Research lab. Outside of research and career work, Trevor has built a variety of aircraft including race wings to micro quads, and is comfortable with flying most commercially available sUAS.