The U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Munitions Directorate will sponsor a workshop on advances in guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) for miniature autonomous systems, October 20–22 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
With the assistance of the Institute of Navigation (ION), the workshop is designed to bring together the Department of Defense technical and user community, academia, and industry to riview and discuss the technological trajectory and future challenges of these systems.
The U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Munitions Directorate will sponsor a workshop on advances in guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) for miniature autonomous systems, October 20–22 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
With the assistance of the Institute of Navigation (ION), the workshop is designed to bring together the Department of Defense technical and user community, academia, and industry to riview and discuss the technological trajectory and future challenges of these systems.
According to the workshop organizers, current trends indicate that future systems will be miniature (less than 20 pounds total system weight) for a number of reasons: to reduce development and manufacturing costs, allow them to be carried in large numbers, and increase compatibility with small UAVs for air-launched systems. Moreover, miniature autonomous systems can potentially fill a capability gap to enable access to difficult targets such as hardened command and control facilities.
The first day of the workshop will feature For Official Use Only (FOUO) presentations from the Department of Defense (DoD) operations community and GNC research challenge talks from senior research representatives of the Air Force, Navy, Army, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The afternoon of the first day will offer FOUO program updates.
The second and third days of the workshop will feature public-access presentations and discussions centered on a variety of topics including multi-use miniature seekers/sensors, advanced navigation sensors and techniques, system integration challenges, and multi-vehicle cooperative operations. Abstracts for proposed presentations must be submitted by September 2.
The AFRL, located at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, develops conventional munitions technologies to provide the Air Force with a strong technology base to support development of future air-delivered munitions.
For additional details about the workshop, visit the ION website: www.ion.org/mas.
