SPIE
Prague
Sept 2011
19th
Presented by:
Sandy Allsopp
ALLSOPP HELIKITES LIMITED
We believe that in the future,
Netforce will rule the airwaves
and
Cyberboats will control the sea.
This is our reasoning.
1. INTRODUCTION
2. HELIKITES AND USV’S
3. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HIGH
ALTITUDE MANET RADIOS
4. NETFORCE AND CYBERBOATS
1.
INTRODUCTION
HEIGHT + MANET = LONG RANGE VIDEO
HELIKITES + MULTIHOP MANET RADIOS + WWW
= NETFORCE
UNMANNED BOATS + NETFORCE
= CYBERBOATS
2.
HELIKITES AND USV’S
THE NETFORCE OPPORTUNITY
Why are there so few USV’s operating today?
Lack of over-the-horizon radio relay is the main reason for the limited number of USV’s in
operation. When a USV can only go as far as can be seen through binoculars, there are few
ISTAR or kinetic reasons for deploying it. The complex and technically demanding mine
hunting role is one of the few present short-range uses for USV’s and already they excel at
this role, but even mine hunting can often be made safer and more effective with an over-thehorizon option.
Why will there be many USV’s in the future?
Like mobile phone towers on land, Netforce can provide full broadband communications over
the sea with ease.
Cyberboats are far less vulnerable to anti-ship missiles than large ships. Cyberboats are
small and stealthy. Also, Cyberboats cost less than the missiles required to destroy them, so
it becomes uneconomic to attack them. Soft-skinned humans are just too susceptible to
unmanned rockets and missiles. Putting large numbers of people into a huge, inflammable,
highly vulnerable ships has already become untenable now that satellites can easily target
most vessels and a thousand supersonic missiles can be built for the cost of one frigate.
Logic dictates that in the future, anti-ship-missiles and stealthy Cyberboats will control
manned access to the sea, and that heavily manned naval ships will eventually become the
highly risky exception rather than the rule.
USUAL AIRBORNE USV RADIO-RELAY PLATFORMS
Extremely hard to operate and pay for.
Expensive and difficult airborne platforms are often touted as suitable for
unmanned vehicle radio-relay, however in reality they are seldom practical.
NETFORCE ECLIPSES AUTONOMY
Some autonomy is useful for unmanned boats - it reduces workload during repetitive operations
and it is very useful for underwater craft, but it can never be the entire solution because
communications are still required to autonomous boats, just as they are to manned vessels.
The problem with prioritising autonomy research is that it attempts to reach into the area of
sentient, human-type intelligence for things such as sense and avoid and lethal targeting. Many
USV programs are being delayed until this false prophet of full sentient autonomy is achieved.
This an immense funding black-hole that strangles and delays USV development, because
sentient autonomy requires an appreciation of context. Comprehending context is hugely difficult
and will never be possible without quantum computers which are decades away.
Superb Netforce communications eliminate the need for sentient autonomy. Sensitive human
brains guide Cyberboats.
Netforce is aware. Netforce senses. Netforce understands.
Netforce is as intelligent as the human brain operating through it.
Autonomy alone can never compete with Netforce.
23rd June 2011
Portsmouth, England.
Autonomous Surface Vehicles Ltd.
Small USV pulling Helikite.
Flying against a
30 mph wind
Helikites can easily
carry MANET radios
to thousands of feet
altitude, unattended,
for weeks.
Flying with the wind
2 cubic metre Helikite
HELIKITE - Altitude From Understanding
Wind pushes Helikites
strongly up, rather than
down as with other
aerostats.
All Helikites, whatever
size, fly in no wind and
also in gales – with no
adjustment.
WIND LIFT
Considerable
top-frontal lift
creates high
wind stability.
HELIUM LIFT
BALLOON
WIND LIFT
SAIL
KEEL
STIFF SPINE
FLYING LINE
Helikites harness the wind that other aerostats fight.
HELIKITES CAN BE TOWED AT SPEED
FROM SMALL BOATS OR USV’S.
Arctic Ocean Feb 2011
USERS INCLUDE:
Royal Marines
US Navy Seals Riverine Group
US Air Force
British Army Force Protection
British Antarctic Survey
HELIKITES CAN OPERATE FROM
ANCHORED BOATS OR SEA ANCHORS.
OVER 5000 FEET ALTITUDE =
100 MILES RADIO LINE-OF-SIGHT
DEPLOYMENT IS EASY AND SAFE IN
ALL CONDITIONS.
REMOTE DEPLOYMENT IS
POSSIBLE.
HELIKITES ARE MORE RELIABLE THAN AUTONOMY OR UAV’S
HELIKITES CAN OPERATE WHEN NO
OTHER AIRCRAFT CAN FLY - SUCH AS
SNOW WHITE-OUTS OR STORMS
SEA-STATE IS IRRELEVANT
Teahupoo, Tahiti.
USV RETRIEVAL
Merchant ships can economically operate Cyberboats against pirates.
Any naval ship can operate Cyberboats with no modifications
Oil rigs can deploy and retrieve Cyberboats.
1. Small Helikite on deck of
Cyberboat.
2. A radio signal causes a
solenoid bolt to release the
Helikite which then instantly
launches.
3.Helikite automatically flies
to the height of the mothership deck, carrying a winch
cable.
4. Cyberboat winched up
like a launch.
ALLSOPP HELIKITES NETFORCE BOAT “FIREFLY”
Unsinkable Polyethylene/Foam construction. Fly-By-Wire 150Hp Mercury Verado. 300 miles range.12 Volt Electric
Winch capable of deploying a 7 cubic metre Helikite + MANET radio from bow or stern to 3000ft. Gives 20,108 sq
miles VHF/UHF radio coverage. Can launch and retrieve small UAV’s and USV’s. “Firefly” with Netforce has far
greater VHF/UHF radio line-of-sight than even the largest naval ships.
0.15 CUBIC METRE
HELIKITE FOR USV
RETRIEVAL
Cyberboats can do most functions of a manned vessel, but the functions are split
between several types of Cyberboat instead of being concentrated on one vessel.
ANTI-SHIP
ANTI-AIR
ANTI-SUBAMRINE
ANTI-MINE
ANTI-MISSILE
COMMS RELAY
RADAR PLATFORM
CARGO DELIVERY
COVERT ISTAR
SHIP TO SHORE
FISHERY PATROL
PIRATE PATROL
BORDER PATROL
PORT PROTECTION
ANTI TERRORISM
POLICE PATROL
ICE PATROL
NBC SENSORS
SEARCH AND RESCUE
SHIP DECOY
SURVEY VESSEL
SOLAR POWER, LITHIUM BATTERIES AND SEA-GLIDERS
= LONG RANGE + EXTREME ENDURANCE.
Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System [MCADS]
Cyberboats and fully inflated Netforce Helikites can also be air-dropped.
Creating a credible bluewater force anywhere in the world within hours.
CYBERBOATS DO NOT NEED TO ACCOMODATE HUMANS
ADVANTAGES:
1. No human casualties
2. Lighter
3. Faster (100 knots+)
4. Stealthy
5. Sub-surface or surface
6. Extreme endurance (Longer than nuclear submarines)
7. More fuel and payload
8. Expendable
9. Cheap
10. Mass Produced
11. Air, sea or land deployed
12. Operated from anywhere worldwide within cyberspace
CYBERBOATS ARE MORE ADAPTED TO THE SEA THAN HUMANS
3.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
HIGH ALTITUDE MANET RADIOS
Mobile Ad-hoc Network Radios or RF-Over-Fibre systems, can
create Helikite multi-hop airborne MANET networks over long
distances. Rajant claim video sent over 21 hops with only 1
millisecond latency per hop.
ROYAL MARINES SHIP-TO-SHORE
BOWMAN RADIO-RELAY
Helikites can be big with a high payload
34 cubic metre Skyhook Helikite.
Sandia National Laboratories,
New Mexico desert.
Rapid-response military radio-relay
station & gyro-stabilised video
surveillance.
Skyhook Helikites of any size can be safely inflated, launched, retrieved and
deflated by only one person in all weathers, night and day.
RF-Over-Fibre + Helikite is General Dynamics’ preferred solution for range
extension to the UK MOD Bowman Radio. Also suitable for up to 5 GHz.
Helikites can be big with a high payload
64 cu metre Helikites
Net lift = 30Kg.
Altitude = 5000ft carrying 8Kg of
radio-relay equipment.
Made for Eglin AFB, to operate from
barges in the Gulf of Mexico to
provide radio-relay to low-flying test
missiles.
Helibase for easy and safe ground
handling on barges by one person
in all conditions, day or night.
Or small and handy
7 cubic metre, low-visibility, all-weather, Stealth Helikite
UK INFANTRY TRIALS
US NETWORK-CENTRIC MANET TRIALS
34 CUBIC METRE
DESERT STAR HELIKITE
Tough, double-lined construction.
Carries a 10Kg 25x Zoom EO/IR gyro camera
for the British Army in Afghanistan.
It can also lift a 4Kg MANET radio to 5000ft
from ship or shore.
Twin-drum electric or motor winch. Remote
controlled. Reliably deploys Dyneema flying
line + fibre-optic .
Helibase for easy inflation and launch.
3.3 CU METRE SKYHOOK HELIKITE USED FOR EXTENSION
OF RADIO COMMS
Maj. David Warden - Royal Signals. M.Sc. Project: “Use of Aerostats for
range extension of mobile radio communications.” Cranfield July 2004.
114 cubic foot Skyhook Helikite +Coax + Dipole gave 0.05 Watts at 40
metres altitude.
Good line-of-site COMMS to HTZ Warfare Model
Blandford Model predicts most of Hants/Dorset/Wilts/ covered (40 mile
radius) with 2x radio-relays using 3 Watts at 630 feet altitude.
BLANDFORD
DAMERHAM
10 miles
July 2010 US Army Trials. White Sands Test Range.
2Kg Rifleman Radio. 2 Watt. MANET
50 Km radius from an aerostat at 700ft.
50 km
Concept Demonstrator Rajant Airborne MANET Video Relay. 7th July 2010
7 cu metre Helikite at 400ft + Rajant ME2 (2.4GHz/600mW) sent IP video at 5 frames/sec out to 6 miles.
The same radio system flown on a helicopter has sent the video 14 miles.
RAJANT. Video sent at 5 frames/second over twenty-one hops.
5 - 20 Watts transmission power
350Mhz
High-gain, passive beam antennas
Helikites at 3000ft on 4,500ft of flying line.
Link-budget predicts up to100 miles range between Helikites
Theoretical multi-hop range = 2,100 miles
Area of Cyberboat operations = 2,100 miles x 100 = 210,000 sq miles
Area of potential influence = 13, 856,220 square miles
4.
NETFORCE AND CYBERBOATS
MANET RADIOS, NETFORCE AND THE WWW
MANET radios link seamlessly into the internet. This allows video and
data from Cyberboats to be distributed anywhere via the WWW. It also
allows the control of the Cyberboats from anywhere. So the workload of
supervising and controlling Cyberboats can be easily spread to people
working in different time-zones. This reduces the cost of operations and
ensures operators are always alert.
Netforce is more practical than satellite comms.
Netforce has:
Low-latency
High bandwidth
Rapidly deployed
Low-Power
Robust
Available worldwide
Inexpensive
STRAIGHTS OF HORMUZ
Netforce area over provided by four land-based Helikites at 5000 feet.
This allows minesweeping or attack Cyberboats to be controlled directly from the shore thereby reducing costs,
increasing timeliness, and eliminating the risk of attack from anti-ship missiles.
100 nm
GULF OF ADEN. Netforce safety-area created within a few hours by air-dropping 16 Helikites +
MANETS. UAV’S, USV’S and UUV’S can patrol within the red circles - all controlled from Djibouti.
Netforce double-backbone design for resiliency.
100 nm
FALKLAND ISLANDS. Four Netforce Helikites based on land, plus eight at sea, would allow
Cyberboats or UAV’s to patrol the entire 200 mile Falklands economic area.
Another four would cover the Argentinean coast to detect any vessel leaving port.
200 miles
The price of one Royal Navy destroyer, would provide 5000 Cyberboats to patrol the Falklands.
POSSIBLE NETFORCE RELAY COVERAGE, ORIGINATING FROM BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORY
Netforce provides radio-relay for just 1% of the cost of UAV’s
or satellites.
Therefore, for the same cost Netforce provides 100X the
bandwidth.
Netforce grows organically with the unmanned system
because it is part of the system.
As Helikites rise rapidly into the sky Netforce moves far ahead
of the unmanned force at about 600mph.
Wherever Netforce, goes unmanned vehicles can follow.
NETFORCE ECLIPSES AUTONOMY
Autonomy is not the solution for unmanned boats - it is the unsolvable problem.
Autonomy research is a huge bottleneck that strangles USV development, because
useful complex autonomy requires an appreciation of context which will never be
possible without quantum computers.
While scientists endlessly debate autonomy, Cyberboats will claim the seas.
Superb Netforce communications eliminate the need for autonomy. Sensitive
human brains guide Cyberboats.
Netforce is aware. Netforce senses. Netforce understands.
Netforce is highly intelligent.
Dumb autonomy can never survive against Netforce.
LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP HAS PROBLEMS:
1) LCS relies on UAV’s to relay to USV’s. But USV
endurance is days, whereas UAV endurance is only
a few hours. USV’s are not well supported by LCS.
2) LCS needs to go close to shore to support USV’s.
3) LCS is a very expensive, lightly armed, manned
ship very vulnerable to shore based anti-ship
missiles. So she must keep away from shore.
4) So, there is little point is the LCS being shallow
draught, small and short range.
5) Small number of unmanned vehicles carried.
6) Expensive LCS and starves other USV funding.
7) LCS requires support ships for long passages.
8) Limited mission packages can be carried
9) Mission packages are very slow to replace
10) LCS is not expendable.
LCS, its support ships and its USV’s need to operate within Netforce to achieve maximum safety and
effectiveness. But why not have just one, large, fully self-sufficient, ocean going ship, steaming
safely well away from shore, deploying Netforce and huge numbers of Cyberboats for the dangerous
inshore applications? HMS Ocean or HMS Albion plus Cyberboats, may well prove to be far more
effective than LCS for long-distance littoral operations.
Each Cyberboat costs $300,000 to build. Each LCS costs $700 million.
Therefore, more than 2,300 Cyberboats can be built and fielded worldwide, for the
cost of building and operating one LCS. Which would project more power?
NETFORCE & BLUEWATER CYBERBOAT
DELIVERABLES
1. Reduce or eliminate risks to sailors
2. Fully networked ocean
3. Blue water access to oceans worldwide
4. Massive force multiplication
5. Rapid air-dropped blue water force
6. Deployable from any ship or oil rig
7. Extreme endurance
8. Specialist ships not required
9. Huge manpower reductions
10. Overwhelming control of the seas
11. Electronic warfare dominance
12. Immense cost savings over manned craft
ALLSOPP HELIKITES LIMITED
South End, Damarham, Fordingbridge, Hampshire, SP6 3HW, England
Tel: +44 (0)1725 518750
www.allsopphelikites.com