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Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, may look like typical toy airplanes, but this technology

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should not be taken for granted. UAVs are being used for a variety of different tasks,

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including law enforcement, search and rescue, and specific military operations. Currently,

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researchers in the Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Laboratory, or SWAV Lab, at NASA Langley are

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developing unique UAVs to perform in high-risk situations that may be too dangerous or costly

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for humans. I spoke with Mike Logan at NASA's Langley Research Center to find out more.

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Primarily what we're trying to do is solve problems for people. They will come to us

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with a particular problem, and we try and design and develop a small airplane to help

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solve that problem. In some cases, we may use brand new technology that we're developing

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here at NASA to incorporate in these small airplanes that help us to solve those problems.

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So they can come to us where they wouldn't be able to go anywhere else and get those

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problems solved. So what kind of configurations do UAVs come in? Well, as you can imagine,

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different problems require different solutions. For example, we had a group come to us and

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wanted a backpack observation vehicle where it could fit into a backpack. They could take

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it out, unfold it, and toss it in the air and fly it. It would radio back video images.

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In this case, the wings fold underneath, and this fits into a 15-by-15-by-5-inch box.

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Very light, very compact. We also test configurations before we actually make a flying model. This

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is a wind tunnel model of a small single-seat general aviation aircraft that we call the

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channel bug. It has these unique configurations called channel wings, and it lets this vehicle

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take off and land in a 50-foot runway. And of course, if you want it even smaller, then

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we have a smaller vehicle that would be capable of flying into a building. And how is one

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of these created? What's the process that goes into developing a UAV? Well, the first

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thing we do is we try and analyze the problem, and we use a lot of computer-aided technologies

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to help us with that. Once we get a design that we're happy with, then many times, for

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example, this is a mock-up of that same configuration. It was done using a process called stereolithography,

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where the computer divides up this model into little slices. It traces each slice onto

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a vat of photoreactive resin and hardens it. It builds it slice by slice, and then it comes

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out as a solid piece. So we can take this mock-up to make sure that it's going to be

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the right size and shape that we want, and then we can turn it into a flying vehicle

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by using those same CAD files, milling a mold to make the little skins for this vehicle,

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and turn it into a real airplane, similar to what you see here. So what are some of

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the advantages that a UAV has over a regular piloted aircraft? Well, there's actually a

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number of advantages that UAVs have over piloted airplanes. One of which is the ability to

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fly lower, longer, and into more hazardous airspace than any pilot would dare. Much like

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robots are used to handle explosives in many police or SWAT situations, the UAV can be

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placed in high-threat situations, perform exceptionally, and complete its mission with

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little or no risk to human operators. With advances in audio and video electronics, real-time

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television images are possible to help guide a pilot around dangerous situations or gather

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valuable intelligence. One of the problems we were presented with was a problem of trying

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to look at what's inside of maybe a partially damaged building. For example, in the case

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of an earthquake, you really don't want to risk a whole team of people going into that

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building, but you'd like to know if there's someone inside that you need to go rescue.

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So when presented with this challenge, we worked up a little prototype. That's what

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you see here. This is a little vehicle that would carry a camera. It takes off vertically.

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This is what's called a VTOL, or vertical takeoff and landing. It takes off vertically.

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Wings pitch forward for forward flight, but then when it needs to hover, it can stop and

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hover. It can turn by moving the wings differentially. It can be flown by remote control by using

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a display that actually shows the picture of the camera in the nose. So you fly it remotely

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from the camera. All without risking the pilot or anyone remote controlling the vehicle.

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Correct. Another problem that we're looking at is trying to use these small unmanned air

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vehicles to detect forest fires. That's clearly a big problem. Finding and fighting forest

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fires now is very, very expensive. The average cost of fighting forest fires in the United

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States is over $800 million a year. One reason that fighting forest fires is so costly is

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that by the time many fires are detected, they are already unmanageable. Although 98%

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of all forest fires are caught and extinguished quickly, it's the 2% that turn into wildfires

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costing taxpayers millions. This is where the idea for the UAV comes in. The plan is

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to place hundreds of these low-cost UAVs on current or abandoned forest fire lookout

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stations around the country. The vehicle would remotely take off, land, and recharge autonomously

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up to six times a day from the lookout tower. It would travel over a section of the forest

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and use onboard sensors and cameras to detect smoke. If smoke is detected, it would send

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out a warning message to the Forest Service with the exact GPS coordinates pinpointing

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the fire. This would enable firefighters to respond much faster, potentially reducing

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firefighting costs dramatically. So Mike, what does the future hold for UAVs? Well,

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we're looking at a whole range of activities and things that these small airplanes can

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actually do beyond just saving money, but defending our country, saving lives, solving

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problems. That's what the Swab Lab is all about.