Smart quadcopters find their way on their own -- without human help or GPS

objective with no other knowledge of the terrain or environment, autonomously maneuvering around uncharted obstacles in its way and finding alternative pathways as needed.

The recent four days of testing combined elements from three previous flight experiments that together tested the teams’ algorithms’ abilities and robustness to real-world conditions such as quickly adjusting from bright sunshine to the dark building interiors, sensing and avoiding trees with dangling masses of Spanish moss, navigating a simple maze, or traversing long distances over feature-deprived areas. On the final day, the aircraft had to fly through a thickly wooded area and across a bright aircraft parking apron, find the open door to a dark hangar, maneuver around walls and obstacles erected inside the hangar, locate a red chemical barrel as the target, and fly back to its starting point, completely on their own.

Each team showed strengths and weaknesses as they faced the varied courses, depending on the sensors they used and the ways their respective algorithms tackled navigation in unfamiliar environments. Some teams’ UAVs were stronger in maneuvering indoors around obstacles, while others excelled at flying outdoors through trees or across open spaces.

The test runs had the combined feel of part air show, part live-fire exercise, with a palpable competitive vibe between the teams. “The range is hot, the range is hot, you are cleared to launch,” crackled the voice of the test director over the walkie-talkies audible in the adjacent team tents, giving a green light to launch an attempt. Sitting under his own shaded canopy, the director followed the UAV’s flight on two video monitors in front of him, which showed views from multiple cameras placed along the course. Metal safety screens, which resembled giant easels, protected the camera operators on the course, as well as teams and course officials, from any rogue UAVs.

Once a UAV was out of visual range, team members followed the progress on monitors. The first successful foray from sunlight through a doorway and into darkness brought a cheer. “It’s in the hangar!” came a gleeful cry over the walkie-talkies. And when a UAV maneuvered successfully around the interior obstacles and reached the targeted red chemical barrel, an official goal observer took to the microphone intoning: “Goal, Goal, Goal!”, indicating the UAV had reached the objective as verified by all three “goal cameras” pointed at the barrel. The final stretch involved the UAV flying back to the starting point