DOD Program Helping Growth of Drone Technology, Radios
DOD’s Blue UAS program has been a success in speeding the roll-out of interoperable unmanned aircraft systems, speakers said Wednesday during an Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International webinar. “Small UAS is still a very nascent, small industry,” said Matthew…
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Borowski, technical program manager at DOD’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). “We can make sure that we have a place to build off of,” he said. “You have to start from somewhere where you can get from zero to flight quickly,” he said. The program has focused on standards for drones, he said. “Interoperability has to be at the front of everyone’s minds and if we don’t have standards we can’t achieve that,” he said. Blue UAS also publishes a list of cleared drone systems, he said. DIU doesn’t invent anything, but works with industry to fill “gaps” in technology, he said. Ashish Parikh, vice president-business development, Doodle Labs, which manufactures drone radios, said he’s not sure the company would have gone after the market without the “ecosystem” created by DIU. The program helped the company navigate the requirements of DOD and the Army, which uses its radios, Parikh said. “It also gave us confidence that there are probably going to be multiple users” of the radio, he said. The radios are being used to communicate with drones in Ukraine, deep behind enemy lines, and Doodle now has a commercial radio available using the same technologies, he said. DOD recently raised the profile of DIU. The head of DIU used to report to the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, but under a memo this week from Secretary Lloyd Austin the unit will report directly to the secretary. Austin appointed Doug Beck, vice president-worldwide education, health, and government at Apple, as DIU director Tuesday .