Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Triple Challenge

Imagine hiking in a forest with a friend. As the sun begins to set, the path to the trailhead becomes difficult to see, and the landscape’s topography has unknowingly blocked cellular service to your phone. Fortunately, a forest ranger notices your car at the trailhead parking lot and learns of a lost persons report in the area. The local rescue team deploys to the scene and instead of setting out on foot in multiple directions, they launch an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), also known as a drone or an uncrewed aircraft system, equipped with a thermal camera and data sensors to quickly scan a five-mile radius to look for images that match a person. The UAS quickly locates you and, with the help of Wi-Fi antennas attached to the UAS, the search and rescue team can communicate using an onboard 2-way radio and send data images with location information over the communications link, all at a minimal cost and with fewer first responders on the scene.

Researchers at NIST Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) division are exploring ways to support first responders by leveraging advancements in drone technology. This has predominantly been supported by the Open Innovation program through UAS prize challenges. The latest example of this research is the recently concluded First Responder UAS Triple Challenge in June 2022, which comprised three separate prize competitions. Each competition served as an individualized research opportunity to improve drones and their integrated sensors for everyday use by first responders.

The prize competitions

Increasingly, UAS are positively impacting numerous aspects of society and have the potential to make a large impact on public safety operations. However, these systems are not without their limitations, so each UAS Triple Challenge prize competition aimed to solve a different problem that first responders face. Whether the use case is for law enforcement or firefighters, all three prize competitions offered drone enthusiasts the opportunity to compete in a final head-to-head flight contest by building and operating uncrewed aircrafts designed to improve first responders’ emergency response time and effectiveness. We would like to congratulate all 23 teams who participated and received prize money in one or all UAS Triple Challenge stages for their outstanding, innovative solutions. 

In the first UAS Triple Challenge competition, called UAS 3.1: Fast Find, participants aimed to improve search and rescue capabilities specifically focused on finding lost hikers in a heavily forested area. Solutions included enhanced computer vision techniques, camera specifications, and data analysis tailored to finding a human using techniques such as machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). For the second competition, UAS 3.2: LifeLink, competitors sought to address the challenges that first responders face with limited broadband communications in a cellular-denied area by developing solutions that carry a network system and directional antennas and using protocols such as Wi-Fi to offer continuous connectivity. The last competition, UAS 3.3: Shields Up!, focused on cybersecurity threats and asked contenders to identify a software-based UAS attack that could disrupt drone navigation and then develop a countermeasure to defend against such threats. Competitors demonstrated their solutions by attacking and defending an open-source navigation software application that public safety agencies could easily and cost-effectively implement.

As drones are more commonly used by public safety, there is great potential for time savings, cost savings, and increased efficiency. Improving the ability to locate missing persons more quickly, expanding options for consistent broadband connectivity, and increasing drone security all have the potential to contribute to more lives saved in emergency situations. 

The winners

Each challenge winner brought something novel and valuable to the public safety drone community. The UAS 3.1 Challenge asked participants to improve image detection and enhance navigation techniques to help find people faster. Team Autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicle Team (AMAV) from the University of Maryland placed first, walking away with $40,000 for their combined use of a color camera, thermal camera, and ML to detect people in low visibility environments such as a forest. Team AMAV is a student-led team that designs, builds, and flies multirotor UAS to compete in national and international competitions.

The UAS 3.2 Challenge focused on enabling a drone to carry a network device that transmits and receives data signals in areas with limited to no cellular coverage so that first responders can communicate more effectively during an emergency event. Team Autonomous Robotics Competition Club (ARCC) from Pennsylvania State University won $40,000 as the first-place team for their mesh network solution that successfully transmitted voice communications, images, and video to first responders from 800 feet away. ARCC competes in autonomous robotic competitions with a focus on using multi-copter aerial vehicles.  

Finally, for the UAS 3.3 Challenge, participants aimed to identify threats to UAS navigation and control and build innovative countermeasures for those threats. The final three teams each won $30,000 for their solution. The CNA-RIIS UAS Defense Team is composed of CNA Corporation, which focuses on mobile and artificial UAS intelligence, and RIIS L.L.C, a non-profit that supports government use of UAS and emerging technologies. Together, the team identified and provided a countermeasure system for several key vulnerabilities in often overlooked and unchanged default network and security settings that, if exploited, could lead to an operator’s loss of UAS control. The second finalist, Team ManTech/Flyt, is a partnership between ManTech International Corporation, a federal contracting firm with various technology capabilities such as cybersecurity, and Flyt Aerospace, a small business specializing in VTOL transportation. For their solution, Team ManTech/Flyt utilized an encrypted communication link between the ground control station and the UAS to prevent nefarious actors from intercepting video feed and other broadcasted data. The third finalist, Team ARCC, focused on a gradual spoof attack where fake GPS signals sent to the GPS sensor caused the mobile station to drift from its controlled hover position, and their countermeasure used a data sensor for comparing the GPS data during GPS quality checks. 

Overall, competitors met the UAS Triple Challenge goals by producing solutions for first responders that were a lower weight, affordable cost, easily deployed and transportable, and more feature-rich than your average UAS design. You can learn more about the individual challenge winners and their solutions on the PSCR website.

PSCR is approaching the final stage of the First Responder UAS Indoor Challenge (UAS 4.0), which launched in 2022, where PSCR will award a top prize of $100,000 in May 2023 and up to $685,000 in total cash prizes throughout all stages. This challenge is seeking UAS solutions that support indoor flights with a high degree of flyability and high-quality video to provide an Incident Commander with vital information before entering an indoor structure. This research will contribute to improving indoor situational awareness and image detection by identifying human life or unique objects and assessing structural hazards without putting first responders in harm’s way. 

What's next

PSCR is approaching the final stage of the First Responder UAS Indoor Challenge (UAS 4.0), which launched in 2022, where PSCR will award a top prize of $100,000 in May 2023 and up to $685,000 in total cash prizes throughout all stages. This challenge is seeking UAS solutions that support indoor flights with a high degree of flyability and high-quality video to provide an Incident Commander with vital information before entering an indoor structure. This research will contribute to improving indoor situational awareness and image detection by identifying human life or unique objects and assessing structural hazards without putting first responders in harm’s way. 

For more information regarding the First Responder UAS Indoor Challenge or to join the challenge, visit the 2022 First Responder UAS Indoor Challenge webpage. To stay up to date on PSCR and the upcoming 2023 First Responder UAS 3D Mapping prize challenge (UAS 5.0), make sure to subscribe to the PSCR newsletter.