Qinetiq North America (QNA) views robotics controllers as one of many growth areas it is focusing on in the near future, according to a key executive.
QNA has developed a portable controller that can command a wide variety of unmanned systems ranging from aerial vehicles (UAV), surface vehicles (USV), underwater vehicles (UUV) and unattended ground sensors (UGS). Known as the Tactical Robotic Controller (TRC), the vehicle can be quickly transformed from a wearable system to a vehicle-mounted system in seconds.
“Controls, we think, are going to be huge,” QNA Chief Strategy Officer Mark Hewitt told
Defense Daily yesterday at the company’s Reston, Va., headquarters.
Hewitt said the TRC is also based on controllers from Microsoft’s [MSFT] Xbox gaming platform to increase familiarity with young warfighters. In addition to the familiar design, the TRC also features a simple design of a processor core module, hand controller module and a radio communications module. The control is modular and 50 to 60 percent lighter than other available controllers, according to QNA.
The TRC provides rapid control as the operator simply attaches a radio communications module, launches the appropriate software and begins controlling the asset. TRCs are in the force today as QNA said it controls the Army’s Minotaur and Armadillo robotic mine roller systems.
Hewitt said lifecycle management and logistics work will also be a focus area for future growth. QNA has an Army initiative called Asset Lifecycle Management, which Hewitt said is about helping organizations figure out how to better manage resources for the future. Hewitt said assets that could be better managed through QNA’s Asset Lifecycle Management would include the General Services Agency (GSA) and its public buildings or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its fleet of UAVs.
“We think there’s a real opportunity there,” Hewitt said about lifecycle management. “Basically, it’s a big data problem: how can you make the stuff go further?”
QNA sees a growing emphasis for mission mobility in its national security and homeland security customers, Hewitt said. While the private sector is accustomed to being mobile with cell phones, laptops and tablet computers, the public sector is just starting to catch up. Hewitt said he believes QNA is well-positioned to take advantage of this emphasis due to its expertise in cloud computing, hardware/software integration mobile applications and analysis and decision support in a mobile environment.
Space will play a big part of QNA’s growth strategy moving forward, Hewitt said. The company is seeing growth in its international space business, Hewitt said, because space is more accessible to countries than ever before by being more affordable and having the technical discipline to do those kinds of complex missions more accessible. Hewitt also forecast future growth in the United States’ civil space market as well as its defense and security side. Though NASA continues to face declining budgets, Hewitt said private industry has stepped in to fill that gap and he expects that to continue.
“NASA will get its mission calibrated,” Hewitt said. “But in the meantime, someone is going to be doing stuff in space, it’s likely to be the private sector, and we’re going to be there to provide support.”
Launch site maintenance will continue to be an attractive business to QNA because the United States will always have a need to launch space vehicles, Hewitt said. NASA in 2010 awarded QNA a cost-plus-award-fee contract with a maximum value of nearly $2 billion to provide engineering services and products at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The contract has a five-year base period with three one-year option periods.
Hewitt said because of the United States’ need to access space, bringing innovation to the launch site to help increase the reusability of launch platforms and decrease the operational complexity of launch will help drive down costs.
“We’re going to have to get creative about how we do that,” Hewitt said. “We’re pretty good at that, actually, so we see that as an enduring market.”
Increasing complexity in launch vehicles brings another growth opportunity for QNA. Hewitt said lately the technological focus has been on the design of the space vehicle and integration with the space bus, overlooking the launch site, which he described as technically straight forward. But with diversity in launch boosters increasing launch challenges, Hewitt said there is probably opportunity for “very cool” innovation in mixing and matching launch vehicles with boosters in a cost effective manner so that new infrastructure isn’t created for every class of launcher created.
“There will probably be a burst of innovation in the next decade in that sort of thing,” Hewitt said. “I think we’d like to be involved in that.”