Mitre and the Office of Naval Research have developed a small unmanned aerial vehicle prototype that could be used in maritime surveillance, search and rescue and detection of meteorological events.
The drone, dubbed Hopper, comes with small solar cells that could recharge the system while at rest and in flight, Mitre said Friday.
ONR and Mitre used advanced simulation software, computer-aided design and 3D printing technique to design and build the drone, which could be deployed in swarms to perform signals monitoring, marine-life biological research and other maritime missions.
“It’s been inspiring to see Hopper rapidly develop from an idea to flight-capable hardware,” said Lee Mastroianni, program officer for advanced autonomous systems at ONR.
The Mitre-ONR team developed the drone prototype in less than two years.
“This technology works primarily to augment existing maritime surveillance platforms,” said Conor Mahoney, expeditionary group leader at Mitre. “Where normally you’d have to risk a crewed asset or an expensive uncrewed asset to maintain cognizance over a wide ocean area, Hopper can do so at a fraction of the cost—and free up those other assets.”
The team is conducting experiments by integrating satellite transceivers and small radios to test the drone’s communications capability across maritime environments.