The U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) recently pitted two swarms of small unmanned aerial vehicles against each other in what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind demonstration, a Navy official said Feb. 16.
During the event, which occurred Feb. 9 at Camp Roberts, an Army National Guard post in central California, each swarm consisted of 10 Zephyr foam gliders. The unarmed UAVs tried to maneuver behind their adversaries to simulate a dogfight-like kill, and an “arbitrator” ruled whether the attacks were successful, said Ryan Fitzgerald, technology director for the Navy’s deputy assistant secretary for unmanned systems.
NPS developed a set of autonomous algorithms for one swarm, while the Georgia Tech Research Institute devised the other set. The NPS swarm was declared the winner, said Fitzgerald, who spoke on an unmanned systems panel at an American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) symposium in Arlington, Va.
NPS originally planned to have 50 drones in each swarm but scaled back the number due to approaching inclement weather, Fitzgerald said.
The U.S. military has shown increasing interest in swarming unmanned systems. In an October test, for instance, the Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) launched a swarm of 103 Perdix micro UAVs from three F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft. The UAVs flew together in a straight line, a horseshoe and a circle (Defense Daily, Jan. 9).
The Zephyr UAVs are supplied by Marcus UAV Corp. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory designed the Perdix drones.