Shield AI’s V-BAT Teams system allows autonomous operations under difficult conditions
By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill
Because the U.S. Department of Defense searches for tactics to make use of advanced technology to counter growing threats from international adversaries, a California robotics and software company has introduced a system that may allow warfighters to launch swarms of low-cost and simply replaceable drones to greatly expand a military unit’s surveillance capabilities across a broad expanse of territory.
Shield AI recently introduced its V-BAT Teams system, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) software to regulate multiple vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAVs. These vehicles can operate autonomously even in hostile environments, where GPS and RF communication links are denied. At about nine feet long, with a nine-foot wing span and a weight of 125 kilos, the V-BAT vehicles are compact enough to be carried at the back of a truck and will be launched from the deck of a ship at sea.
Coupled with Shield AI’s propriety AI-powered piloting software, the V-BATs are designed “to operate in those denied environments where UAVs today cannot operate,” Shield AI’s director of engineering Willy Logan, said in an interview.
![Shield AI V-BAT](https://dronelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/V-BAT-on-ship-1024x683.jpg)
230717-N-ED646-2230- ATLANTIC OCEAN (July 17, 2023) Artur Vacshenko, left, and Jamal Ramsey, civilian contractors for the Department of Defense, prepare an unmanned aerial system for a test launch aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50). The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps routinely take part in scheduled deployments to enhance combined combat readiness, increase operational capability, and strengthen relationships amongst allies and partners throughout the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Moises Sandoval)
“The important thing thing for V-BAT is that it will probably take off vertically, then it transitions to fixed flight, so it offers numerous capability from logistics, by way of being small,” Logan said. “Give it some thought by way of the Navy, which must cover numerous area — within the Pacific for instance — without runways.”
Shield AI hopes that the military will adopt its technology as a part of the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative, which calls for the deployment of hundreds of low-cost and easy-to-replace autonomous vehicles over the following two years, as a counter measure to technologically sophisticated potential rivals corresponding to China.
The corporate, which unveiled its V-BAT Teams product earlier this yr, said it’s able to be deployed by U.S. military forces as early as 2024.
![Shield AI V-BAT](https://dronelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/V-BAT-takeoff-683x1024.jpg)
230717-N-ED646-2263- ATLANTIC OCEAN (July 17, 2023) Jamal Ramsey, a civilian contractor for the Department of Defense, launches an unmanned aerial system for a test flight aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50). The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps routinely take part in scheduled deployments to enhance combined combat readiness, increase operational capability, and strengthen relationships amongst allies and partners throughout the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Moises Sandoval)
V-BAT vehicles are mobile and will be broken down and transported in molded plastic cases, manufactured by Pelican, that seal with an airtight and watertight gasket. They will be re-assembled and made able to launch in a few half hour, Logan said.
The vehicle’s eight-bladed ducted fan allows it to take off vertically then switch to horizontal flight mode once airborne. It’s in a position to carry payloads of as much as 25 kilos and achieve flight times of anywhere from eight to 10 hours depending on the vehicle’s payload configuration and fuel levels.
Logan said the V-BAT vehicles will probably be equipped with wide-area EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infra-Red) cameras, plus an AIS [automatic identification system] and radar, giving them the aptitude to conduct long-range surveillance missions.
Shield AI’s Hivemind technology allows for the coordinated autonomous operation of a swarm of as much as 4 drones. The corporate plans to double the software’s teaming ability yearly for the following several years, controlling swarms of as much as eight drones in 2025, and 16 vehicles in 2026.
The Hivemind software controls the flight of the swarm of drones, allowing it to operate in tandem without human intervention, even under conditions when communication with a human pilot is denied, corresponding to when a hostile state actor disrupts the GPS and RF data links.
“You may provide a capability to operate when the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) is contested or denied, like for instance what’s happening in Ukraine now, where the Russians have arrange lines of jammers,” Logan said. “They’re jamming airplanes, so the airplanes aren’t in a position to navigate, they mainly fall out of the sky.”
The V-BAT teams’ first mission will probably be to conduct maritime-based searches over wide areas, corresponding to the vast stretches of the eastern Pacific, where runways are few and much between. The initial batch of drones is not going to be armed, although the flexibility to arm the V-BAT exists and may be utilized in future deployments, Logan said.
“I believe you possibly can arm anything, so are we planning to deploy armed V-BATs? The reply isn’t any, but is it something that’s in the long run? Across the industry, I believe the reply is yes,” he said.
Currently, the U.S. and other countries engaged in a vigorous debate over how much control must be given drones and robots outfitted with AI software that permits autonomous operations, especially whether or not they must be allowed to make targeting decisions against enemies, without humans within the loop.
“In my view, we’re a good distance from a UAS targeting something with out a human,” Logan said. “Usually, what’s more likely is that a drone will go seek for targets; it’ll discover the targets, it’ll locate the targets, after which it’ll ask a human if it should proceed to interact the goal.”
Shield AI was founded as a defense and AI technology startup by former-Navy Seal officer Brandon Tseng, his brother Ryan Tseng, and Andrew Reiter in San Diego, in 2015. While fighting in Afghanistan, Brandon Tseng hit on the thought of forming an organization to develop a product that might be used to enter and search buildings, without exposing its human operators to unnecessary danger.
To that end, the corporate developed the Nova drone. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Defense issued the start-up company its first contract, and deployed the Nova product for reconnaissance and combat assistance missions in the Middle East theater of operations in 2018.
The corporate went on to develop Hivemind, an AI piloting software that may operate not only V-BAT vehicles but in addition larger unmanned aircraft. Shield AI has partnered with several manufacturers, including Kratos, to develop software stacks for his or her aircraft.
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