Neuromorphic UAS Collision Avoidance, Year 2

Collision avoidance for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) traveling at high relative speeds is a challenging task. It requires both the detection of a possible collision and deployment of an appropriate maneuver to avoid it, to be done in few seconds or less. NASA Langley and Boston University are engaged in a collaborative effort to design neuromorphic optic flow algorithms to avoid collisions and embed these algorithms in small, low-weight, and low-power customized hardware solutions in UAS.

This effort will support ARMD's Integrated Systems Research Program's UAS Integration in the NAS Project with a combination of both long-term, foundational and integrated system-level research on a highly promising technology, with a high likelihood of successfully demonstrating it's benefit in a relevant environment. These collision avoidance algorithms and their implementation in hardware would provide advancement in autonomous systems capability.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.