Larry Williams, CEO of BRS Aerospace, said at EAA AirVenture that his company is working on research projects to develop parachute systems for unmanned aircraft, in addition to its current line for light aircraft.
Since 1980, BRS Inc. (Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc.) has developed a line of whole-aircraft recovery systems credited with saving hundreds of lives and minimizing property damage. These unique safety systems are designed to provide a parachute-assisted descent that facilitates recovery of a disabled unmanned aircraft with minimal-to-no damage to onboard sensors. The documented success and acceptance of this technology has evolved into a robust product line of engineered systems and has become standard equipment on the world’s best selling certified General Aviation aircraft.
The increasingly congested National Airspace System will see more and more pressure from government and private agencies wanting to utilize it for UAS operations in congested areas. This could be problematic from a public policy acceptance viewpoint if errant UAS should cause property damage or human injury. BRS has designed the PASSIVE (Parachute Assisted Safety System for Internal Vehicle Emergencies) system for UAS.
The BRS on-board PASSIVE system minimizes risk to the general population by providing a proven fail-safe mechanism for recovery of an unmanned craft in the event of an unmanageable in-flight failure. In addition to public safety issues, PASSIVE will save the agency or private firm operating the UAS untold millions in damage to on-board sensors when uncontrollable failures occur.
BRS PASSIVE Systems can be deployed manually from the ground or automatically from the UAS. Safety margins can be established allowing the UAS to self-deploy PASSIVE in the event of uncommanded manoeuvres, minimum controllable airspeed, excessive vertical speed, and more. PASSIVE Systems can be fitted to UASs ranging in weight from 500 to 7,500 pounds maximum gross weight.
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