AI-enabled sensor system in development for unmanned aircraft
NewsDecember 01, 2020
POWAY, Calif. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.(GA-ASI) has won a $93.3 million contract from the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to enhance the autonomous sensing capabilities of unmanned aircraft.
According to officials, the goal of the JAIC Smart Sensor project is to advance artificial intelligence (AI) technology by demonstrating object recognition algorithms using an unmanned aircraft, as well as employing onboard AI to control the aircraft’s sensors and direct autonomous flight.
GA-ASI claims it will deploy the technology on the MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft configured with multiple sensors, including GA-ASI’s Reaper Defense Electronic Support System (RDESS) and Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). GA-ASI’s Metis product will be used to command the MQ-9.
Metis is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) tasking and intelligence-sharing application that is designed to enable operators to specify effects-based mission objectives and receive automatic notification of actionable intelligence.
