The AGAS 2000 Precision Airdrop System

Abstract

The requirement for airdropping critical military and relief supplies from high altitude has existed since the advent of long-range, ground-based, anti-aircraft armaments. Aircrews understandably want to fly above the threat of anti-aircraft fire when operating in hostile environments. Advances in just the past five years in navigation, guidance, and control electronics based on the Global Positioning System (GPS), and improvements in the measurement and forecasting of in-situ winds have made the active control of cargo parachutes a relatively affordable and reliable method of compensating for wind drift. Where a ballistic (uncontrolled) round parachute cargo resupply system delivered from high altitude might drift thousands of meters off target, modern autonomously controlled cargo parachute systems can compensate for winds aloft and command the parachute to within a few tens of meters of the designated target. One such system is the 2,000-lb class Affordable Guided Airdrop System-AGAS 2000. Unique among precision airdrop parachute systems, AGAS 2000 integrates a relatively inexpensive autopilot controller with a military inventory round cargo parachute and inventory cargo sling assembly to convert a standard one-ton cargo delivery system into a precision airdrop system. AGAS 2000 can deliver a one-ton payload to within 211 m circular error probable (CEP) of its target when its programmed mission profile is based on forecast winds and to within 38 m CEP when based on a current wind profile provided by a system such as the Air Force's Precision Airdrop System (PADS).

Design Perspectives on Delivery Drones

“…Guided-parachute packages released at higher altitudes and away from obstructions is one possible solution. Indeed, large, autonomous guided parachutes are used in the military to support forward logistics (Jorgensen and Hickey, 2005). However, an unpowered guided parachute suffers from low control authority and maneuverability and would have a hard time navigating around obstacles in built-up areas.…”

Time-Varying Descent Rate Control Strategy for Circular Parachutes

“…(3) and an implementation of the terminal velocity expression in Eqs. (4)(5)(6). Figure 2 shows the descent rate as a function of time for both the numerical integration and the simpler terminal velocity simulations.…”

“…An early concept used a deformable circular parachute actuated via pneumatics [1][2][3] to provide rudimentary horizontal steering by simply straining the suspension lines to deform the canopy, resulting in glide slopes of up to 0.5. Because of the large mass of the system (from the need for large amounts of compressed nitrogen gas), other more feasible options were pursued, including electromechanically deformed parachutes [4,5].…”

Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Performing the Airdrop Mission

“…Other possible JPADS for consideration include the Capewell Components, Inc. and Vertigo, Inc. Affordable Guided Airdrop System (AGAS), which can support payload weights from 200 to 10,000 pounds (Jorgensen & Hickey, 2005); the Mist Mobility Integrated System Technology, Inc. Sherpa family, with available payloads between 100 and 10,000 pounds (MMIST, n.d.); the Strong Enterprises Screamer 2.2k, with a weight range from 500 to 2,200 pounds; the Dutch Space (in partnership with the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) of Amsterdam) Small Parafoil Autonomous Delivery System (SPADES), with a payload capacity of 220-440 pounds or 265-551 pounds, depending on the parafoil used; (Benney et al, 2007) and the Airborne Systems Microfly and Dragonfly, with capacities of 100-700 pounds and 700-2,200 pounds, respectively (Airborne Systems, 2010b; Airborne Systems, 2010a).…”