Today's Army Aviator must fly both low and fast in order to survive against modern anti-aircraft weapons. Such flight brings him perilously close to wires, poles, trees and other obstacles. Helicopter collisions with such obstacles have been a long-standing concern for the United States Army. In order to address this issue, the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) has sponsored the development of an Obstacle Avoidance System (OASYS) capable of being integrated onto an aircraft and operated in real time. Under this program, two different systems have been fabricated and delivered. Both systems utilize direct detection laser radar sensors which operate in the eyesafe regime. The two systems differ primarily in the type of laser source used. The first system, developed by Northrop Corporation, utilizes a diode laser operating at 850 nm with an average repetition rate of 64 kHz. The second system, developed by Fibertek Inc., utilizes a diode-pumped solid-state laser operating at 1.54 microns with a repetition rate of 15 kHz. Both systems have been integrated onto helicopters and extensive flight evaluations have been completed. A number of important lessons have been learned regarding the individual technologies involved and obstacle avoidance as a whole. Both systems have been demonstrated to enhance mission effectiveness and flight safety. Furthermore, the technologies have been shown to be mature enough to justify proceeding to an Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase in which issues relating to cost, volume and weight are addressed.


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    Development and Flight Testing of an Obstacle Avoidance System for U.S. Army Helicopters

    Holder, S. L. / Branigan, R. G. / Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1995


    Flight Evaluation of the Obstacle Avoidance System (OASYS) for Army Helicopters

    Holder, S. / Branigan, R. / American Defense Preparedness Association | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994



    Development and flight testing of helicopters

    Sarsted, G.J. / Coles, A.V. | Engineering Index Backfile | 1960


    Flight testing of helicopters

    Stewart, W. | Engineering Index Backfile | 1948