NASA SBIR 2004 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Utopiacompression, Corporation
11150 W. Olympic Blvd. Suite 1020
Los Angeles ,CA 90064 - 1825
(310) 473 - 1500

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Joseph   Yadegar
joseph@utopiacompression.com
11150 W. Olympic Blvd, Suite 1020
Los Angeles, CA  90064 -1825
(310) 473 - 1500

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
As one of NASA's key motivation, the use of truly autonomous unmanned vehicles (UV) has been hampered by lack of sophisticated and resource efficient obstacle avoidance systems. Solving the obstacle avoidance problem to permit truly autonomous operations in a cluttered and occluded environment has been the subject of considerable research. In Phase I, UtopiaCompression (UC) has developed a layered, intelligent and adaptive system concept that will facilitate UV operations by solving the collision avoidance and path planning problems using inexpensive imaging sensors and modest computational resources. In Phase II, UC shall fully implement this concept. UC's focus is to push the limits of automation in the 3D arena by providing a real-time, end-to-end solution that includes: (i) deriving 3D structures (computing depth) from overlapping (stereo pair) images or video sequence acquired from sensors aboard autonomous agents; (ii) using the derived 3D structure to compute and model a spatio-temporal vector field; and (iii) based on the distance to the moving/stationary objects, plan a navigation strategy that commands the agent to cruise along a safe path from a source to a destination, avoiding the stationary/moving obstacles in the frontal hemisphere. UC's proposed technology provides immediate benefits to NASA and Non-NASA commercial applications.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
UC's proposed technology will provide immediate benefits to NASA. The increasing use of airspace by (semi-) autonomous vehicles for(scientific, civil or military)applications and the proliferation of orbital clutter composed of objects such as satellites, crafts, stations and more, is increasing the likelihood of accidental collisions between objects ? a possibility which carries a high toll in terms of financial cost and loss of life. UC's technology, if integrated into the payload delivery and control mechanisms of orbiting and exploration machinery, would enable automated collision avoidance. This capability would measurably increase the safety of space exploration, both manned and unmanned, and decrease costs associated with equipment damage resultant from collisions. The proposed technology will minimize the crew time required for spacecraft operations through automation, enabling the most productive use of minimal personnel. In addition, the object avoidance capabilities can be integrated into unmanned space vehicles and exploration machinery such as Mars Rovers, enhancing their mission capabilities and facilitating a greater degree of remote exploration.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
UC adaptive obstacle avoidance technology has extensive utility for military and commercial applications. Intelligent collision avoidance will greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of autonomous vehicles in heterogeneous 3D environments. The technology provides the solution to the "see-and-avoid" requirements allowing UAVs unrestricted access to all military and civil regions such as low/high altitude airspace. UC anticipates that object avoidance USV/UUV packages could be developed for the interim and long-term U.S. port security needs. The technology could be extended to include detection and tracking capabilities to detect anomalies, identify unusual or risk-associated patterns as well as appearances of certain targeted objects. In addition to military use, UC believes its object avoidance software also has immediate application for the collision avoidance systems in both automotive electronics & telematics and recreational boating.