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Uncrewed Aircraft Systems
First responders frequently rely on uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) to gather data and provide situational awareness in dangerous environments with degraded communications. The UAS portfolio performs research on communications technology within these systems to support the advancement and deployment of solutions that are reliable and operationally effective. Through this work, the UAS portfolio drives innovation and commercialization to improve the tools critical for myriad mission critical operations.
Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Portfolio Mission:
To advance the capabilities of uncrewed aircraft systems and provide safe, effective, and reliable solutions to first responder in their crucial missions by conducting cutting-edge research for emergency response operations.
Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Portfolio Vision:
To lead the innovation of uncrewed aircraft system technology that supports public safety efforts in disasters or emergency situations with degraded or destroyed communications infrastructure.
Featured Project
UAS swarms—multiple drones operating autonomously in coordination to achieve common goals—while currently inaccessible to public safety operations due to technological and regulatory constraints, can be effective tools in evaluating and managing large disaster scenes, such as wildland fires or wide-area search-and-rescue operations. However, current first responder communications (e.g., LTE or Wi-Fi links) are limited in range and capacity when scaling to many drones, and streaming video or telemetry from numerous UAS can overwhelm networks. The PSCR UAS portfolio is addressing this issue by developing a single-link and mesh network performance test methodology, which enables evaluation of communications in point-to-point, single-link and UAS swarm configurations by measuring end-to-end throughput, latency, and packet loss rates for UAS networks. Previous results contributing to this project come from the First Responder Wireless Data Gatherer and First Responder UAS Triple Challenge: LifeLink, with future project outcomes expected to be crucial for generating data to define practical limits and best approaches to optimize single-link UAS or drone swarm configurations for public safety operations.
Internal Research
- Simulation Framework and Test Methodology to Model and Evaluate Single-Link and Multi-UAS Communications Configurations
Extramural Research
- 2024 First Responder Wireless Data Gatherer Challenge
- 2023 First Responder UAS 3D Mapping Challenge
- 2022 First Responder UAS Indoor Challenge
2021 First Responder UAS Triple Challenge - 2020 First Responder UAS Endurance Challenge
- 2018 Unmanned Aerial Systems Flight and Payload Challenge
- Pulse Accelerator - Round 4: Flight
Quick Resources
- UAS Program Challenge Overview
- UAS Cybersecurity and AI Reading List
- Webinar Recording: UAS Triple Challenge: Drones for First Responders
- Webinar Recording: The History & Future of the PSCR Drone Program
- Resilient Systems Resources and Publications
Related Content
- NIST, Ensemble, Ezassi, and IU RedLab Announce Winners of NIST UAS Wireless Data Gatherer Challenge
- Taking Measure Blog Post: Drones in Disaster Zones: How Advanced 3D Mapping Technology Can Help First Responders Save Lives
- Federal News Network Podcast: How drones may be a big help to first responders in the future
- How NIST's drone research helps public safety
- Drone competition advancing technology to assist first responders
- University of Maryland students using drones to help fire crews
- Advancing Indoor Safety for First Responders: UAS 4.0 Indoor Challenge
- ‘Gambit’ Pays Off in UMD Team’s Search-and-Rescue Competition Win
- Purdue startup gains traction with drone tech
- It Takes a (Worldwide) Village to Improve Drone Technology for First Responders
- NIST Prize Challenge Launched Research for Unmanned Aircraft in Search and Rescue
- NIST Announces Top 4 Winners in the National First Responder UAS Endurance Challenge
- Flying Drones Compete to Complete Unprecedented Feat
- Survey of Drone Usage in Public Safety Agencies
- The Last Drone Standing: First Responder UAS Endurance Challenge
- Supporting Mobile Public Safety Broadband Using Drone-Borne Networks
- NIST, Engineering Laboratory/Intelligent Systems Division/Aerial Systems
- 2024 IEEE-RAS Response Robotics Seasonal School and Workshop
Team Members and Past Contributors
Team Members
- Terese Manley, PSCR UAS Portfolio Lead
- Don Harriss
- Stephanie Layman
- Sid Bittman
Past Contributors
- Raymond Sheh, Research Lead and Guest Researcher, 2023-2024
- Max Maurice, NIST PSCR Staff, 2017-2021
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