15 July 2008

The School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering’s MAVSTAR unmanned air and ground micro-vehicle team has proven itself to be a world-class outfit by securing a major award – and a chance of research funding from the US Army - against tough international competition.

MAVSTAR (for Micro Aerial Vehicles for Search, Tracking and Reconnaissance) – a team of staff, postgraduate and undergraduate students – took part in MAV08, the first US-Asian Demonstration and Assessment of Micro-Aerial and Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology, in Agra, India, earlier this year.

The UNSW team was one of only 12 teams shortlisted for participation in this international event and the only team invited from Australia. MAVSTAR took out the competition award for Best Unmanned Ground Vehicle Performance - and with it the opportunity to submit a research grant proposal to the US Army.

MAVSTAR project leader, Dr Tomonari Furukawa, said he is now preparing a proposal for funding of his research into cooperative coordination of autonomous vehicles.

“We were the only team in the competition to build multiple platforms – taking four UGVs and four MAVs to Agra,” he said.

“We are working on the area of cooperative controls, where vehicles coordinate autonomously to achieve tasks such as search and tracking or urban search and rescue.

“My research proposal is on an ‘information theoretics’ approach I am working on, which is aimed at enhancing the searching and tracking abilities of MAVs. For example, if an MAV is tracking a target then loses it, it can use information such as its previous location and velocity to reacquire contact, rather than reverting back to the start of the search phase of operation. It is an area that the US Army has shown interest in for search and rescue operations.”

MAV08, primarily organised by the US Army, is a showcase for micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) and their cooperative performance with unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Competition is on a kilometre-wide testing ground across a series of search missions. The Best UGV Performance Award won by MAVSTAR was one of only four awards given at the event.

The MAVSTAR project was initiated by Dr Furukawa with the support of Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems (CAS), the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), the Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures (CRC-ACS) and the US Air Force.

Details of the MAVSTAR project can be found at http://cmr.mech.unsw.edu.au/mavstar.

A MAVSTAR team member with a micro vehicle in Agra, India.