UAS 6.0 Stage 1 Call for Papers
The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR) solicits high quality original research papers on novel, applied research that has the potential to improve the performance and capabilities of the next generation of highly connected, autonomous Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) in Public Safety Applications. Papers will be reviewed by a panel of subject matter experts for publication.
Additionally, one of the aims of UAS 6.0 Stage 1 is to facilitate the participation, in UAS 6.0 Stage 2, of researchers who may not have demonstrated their work on a physical UAS, but have technologies that show specific promise in this application. Therefore, out of the papers selected for publication, up to 10 will be chosen by the review panel and awarded financial and subject matter expert support to assist the authors in implementing their work on a UAS for participation in the UAS 6.0 Stage 2 contest.
Topics
Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:
- Novel small and lightweight antenna and radio systems.
- Algorithms for autonomously searching for and mapping radio sources from mobile robots in environments that are both physically and radio complex.
- Novel small and lightweight visual and 3D/navigation sensors for inspecting objects in, and mapping, complex environments from mobile robots.
- Algorithms for autonomously searching for objects in, and mapping, complex environments from mobile robots.
- Algorithms for autonomously inspecting 3D objects in complex and confined surroundings from mobile robots.
In addition, authors are expected to address the impacts of their technologies from the perspective of managing risks associated with their use on UAS in Public Safety. This includes ways in which their technologies might reduce and/or increase risk of public safety operations. This includes the management of risks associated with the use of AI, and cybersecurity risks for work that includes communications and connectivity. Authors are encouraged to analyze these risks in the context of frameworks for Cybersecurity and AI Risk Management, such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.
Important Dates
Submission Deadline: July 26, 2024
Notification of Acceptance/Award: August 19, 2024
Background
There are a wide variety of situations where public safety personnel need information from ground stations, where there is little to no existing communications infrastructure, where there is insufficient power to access satellites, and where the radio environment is challenging yet may not require high bandwidth or low latency. Examples of such ground stations include IoT sensors dropped ahead of a fire in mountainous terrain or the cell phones near survivors of a natural disaster. There is great potential for first responders to be able to leverage UAS, or drones, to collect as much up-to-date information as possible from these target ground stations, including both data transmitted over radio and visual imagery, convey it to a mission commander, and keep the information up to date throughout a response. Such information can help the mission commander to plan the early and ongoing phases of the response, detect changes as early as possible to maintain situational awareness, and improve overall safety by reducing the need for people to approach dangerous situations to perform sensing or maintain communications.
Operational Use Case
As a first responder, the need to investigate accidents, as well as prepare for and adapt during a rescue, requires collecting various types of data about the potentially dangerous environment. In radio-complex outdoor environments, where communications infrastructure may be non-existent, UAS’ ability to collect information, via visual inspection and radio communication, from devices in the field, could be imperative to gaining situational awareness and deploying critical resources to achieve the mission objective.
Three illustrative examples of current and emerging public safety scenarios that have these characteristics are:
● Ahead of a wildfire in a remote, mountainous area, a large number of IoT sensors are dropped in strategic areas that monitor ground and air temperature and humidity, fuel load, presence of embers, and other information. Public safety personnel need to maintain periodic communication with these sensors. This keeps their simulation of the wildfire up to date so they can predict how it may evolve. The sensors do not have the size or battery capacity to communicate with satellites. The remote and mountainous nature of the environment means that there is no existing communications infrastructure, and makes it impossible to maintain communication with them using a reasonable amount of temporary communications infrastructure.
● A hydroelectric power plant is equipped with many IoT sensors and cameras that normally feed the plant operator’s “Digital Twin”, ensuring the plant’s safe operation. An accident, cyber-attack, or disaster has disabled the normal monitoring of the sensors, however the sensors themselves are still operational. Prior to sending in public safety personnel, the incident commander wishes to obtain regular data updates from these sensors to keep the plant operator’s Digital Twin of the plant up to date. This helps ensure that no dangerous situations emerge that may require public safety to take precautions, such as evacuating neighboring areas. The metallic structures around the plant, its location in complex terrain, and uncertainties around which areas are currently safe make it difficult or impossible to set up enough temporary antennas to regain connectivity with the sensors.
● An earthquake, storm, or other disaster has caused widespread damage in an urban environment, including multiple collapsed buildings, resulting in a mass casualty event. In the first hours following the disaster, the public safety incident commander wishes to locate, connect to, and visually inspect the area around all of the active cell phones to locate survivors and determine their condition. They must also periodically re-connect to and re-inspect the area around the cell phones as the rescue operation progresses to monitor the survivors’ conditions.
This competition is designed to encourage the development of UAS that answers this application in a way that is:
● Effective
● Affordable
● Easy to deploy and use
● Appropriately risk managed, particularly in terms of Cybersecurity and AI risk.