"GETTING READY - Amit Fischler of Elbit Systems Ltd. describes the control mechanisms of the unmanned autonomous vehicle his team has entered in the DARPA Grand Challenge race. ROB LAYMAN/Valley Press"
Posted on 03/10/2004 7:45:15 AM PST by BenLurkin
LAKE LOS ANGELES - The dune buggy scrambling across the desert, working around bushes and other obstacles in its path, may not look like anything extraordinary. But take a closer look and you realize it's crossing the desert by itself, with no driver behind the wheel. This high-tech vehicle is the brainchild of a diverse group of scientists and engineers who hope to win the $1 million grand prize in Saturday's DARPA Grand Challenge race.
The race, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, requires the completely autonomous, unmanned vehicles to traverse a 212-mile route across the Mojave Desert between Barstow and Las Vegas in 10 hours or less. The team with the fastest time wins the prize.
"We hit a button and it's got to go from Barstow to Vegas by itself," said Paul Gunthner , team leader for the Elbit-SciAutonics team.
During Sunday's windy weather, the team was making the final adjustments to its vehicle at its remote practice site in the desert east of Lake Los Angeles. For several weeks, the team has put the vehicle through its paces there, tackling a course of dirt roads, ditches, buttes and other obstacles similar to those expected on the race course.
Gunthner, a Palmdale engineer whose day job is in telecommunications and computer networking, pulled the team together after a neighbor heard about the challenge and bet Gunthner $1 that he couldn't do it.
The team consists of 22 scientists and engineers drawn from around the world.
"They're the brains; I'm just the team leader," Gunthner said. "They're some of the smartest people I've ever known."
Gunthner drew on contacts with Rockwell Scientific, based in Thousand Oaks, for the initial participants. Like falling dominoes, each worked their own contacts in science and engineering to round out the team.
"We started in my little garage in Palmdale," Gunthner said.
SciAutonics LLC was formed specifically for the purpose of creating a vehicle to compete in this race, he said, although the firm expects to continue in the emerging autonomous vehicle industry.
The organization is actually part of two teams competing in the challenge. Gunthner is team leader of the second unit, Elbit-SciAutonics.
Israeli company Elbit Systems Ltd. brought its expertise in developing unmanned aerial vehicles to the project.
Several other sponsors have joined the team since.
The durable vehicle body also is made by an Israeli company, Tomcar Ltd. The two-seat dune buggy-like off-road vehicle is powered by a three-cylinder gas engine and is something of a cross between an all-terrain vehicle and a military Humvee. Tomcar manufactures the manned vehicles for civilian and military use.
Infinite Fabricators in Palmdale took care of the vehicle assembly.
"We took the people out but added 800 pounds of stuff," Gunthner said.
The teams are the first to develop such completely autonomous ground vehicles.
DARPA initiated the Grand Challenge in order to stimulate interest and development of such vehicles, which the Department of Defense views as a critical element of future military capabilities.
Such vehicles could prove important for tasks such as the long convoys transporting supplies across the Iraqi desert, which have been vulnerable to attack.
"We could've saved lives there (with this technology) and we're going to save lives," Gunthner said. "And we're going to have a lot of fun doing it."
Since entering the contest last year, the team has worked 60 to 80 hours a week for 10 months on their creation. This work is in addition to team members' day jobs.
The international nature of the team has meant numerous teleconference calls and constant e-mails to keep everyone on track. Three weeks ago the team members came together in Palmdale for the final push before the race.
The Elbit-SciAutonics vehicle is guided by a sophisticated collection of five sensor suites that help it identify and maneuver around obstacles and stay on course.
The precise course will be revealed to the teams two hours before the race start. Programmers then will feed the route into the vehicles' computers.
Teams will have a series of way points to outline the route, but each vehicle must find its own way between those points, said Amit Fischler , a team member with Elbit Systems in charge of navigation and control systems.
Mounted at the front of the vehicle is a laser system that scans the area ahead vertically and horizontally. This acts as the main system for finding obstacles.
A radar system, similar to those found in airplanes, is used to monitor the area farther out from the vehicle, about 80 meters ahead.
For close-in work, an ultrasound system is employed. This is important for such tasks as turning close to a wall without hitting it, Gunthner said.
A system unique to this vehicle is a three-dimensional stereo vision sensor mounted on top. This provides a 3-D view of the surrounding terrain, allowing the vehicle to essentially drive in a virtual reality world, Gunthner said.
Navigation is taken care of by an inertial navigation system guided by global positioning satellites. This satellite guide uses maps of the terrain created by aircraft and ground vehicles, Gunthner said.
All these sensor systems feed into several extremely fast computers mounted at the rear of the vehicle. These rugged computers command the actuators that control steering, power and braking.
The system also is learning from its practice runs in the desert.
"When we started, it was a 9-year-old," Gunthner said. "Now it's 15."
The vehicle may travel as fast as 40 mph, but will maintain speeds of approximately 25 mph in rough terrain so the sensors can keep up, he said.
The Elbit-SciAutonics vehicle cost approximately $1 million to produce, money the team can recoup by winning the race.
Even if they are not successful in claiming the prize money, Gunthner is confident contracts for the technology will come to the company.
The team is at the California Speedway in Fontana for qualifications this week. This series of races will determine the order for racers at the final challenge Saturday .
"We're ranked pretty high right now," Gunthner said.
As of the application deadline in October, the field numbered 25 teams from across the country. As the race date nears, the field has narrowed, with some teams dropping out because their vehicles were not ready in time or were lost to testing mishaps.
"GETTING READY - Amit Fischler of Elbit Systems Ltd. describes the control mechanisms of the unmanned autonomous vehicle his team has entered in the DARPA Grand Challenge race. ROB LAYMAN/Valley Press"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.