Photo By Ana Henderson | The Instrumentation Division’s Ruben Hernandez and Jaime Coronado (pictured) are...... read more read more
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Yuma Test Center (YTC) has built its reputation as the premier test center on its ability to capture exact and reliable test data and provide it to the Department of Defense and industry partners. Engineers analyze the data and use it to improve all sorts of systems, making them better equipped for the Warfighter.
YTC has added yet another tool to its arsenal of data collection equipment — Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems or (sUAS).
While YTC has tested UASs of all class sizes they hadn’t used them for data collection until now. The Instrumentation Division’s (ID) Ruben Hernandez and Jaime Coronado are YTC’s certified drone operators within the Engineering Support Branch.
Hernandez and Coronado use intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipped drone with a stabilized Electro Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) payload to capture real-time and record full motion video of ground test events for data collection.
For Ground Combat this helps capture test events on the range such as wheeled and track vehicle movement, shoot-on-the-move, artillery/mortar munition impacts, airbursts and sub-munition functions.
Hernandez says, “This is essential for test events over a target area to improve operational effects. The use of sUASs for observation greatly improved efficiency and improved confidence in safety during improved conventional munitions artillery tests.”
Air Combat tests use mounted cameras on the aircraft or videographers onboard to capture video inflight. However, Ground Combat tests cannot use this method because the test items typically have large safety fans.
Coronado explains, “We are developing this capability to enable our Optics TRAX counterparts to adopt and deploy it effectively. Previously, aerial views were not available for most tests, as all our cameras were positioned on the ground.”
He describes a typical gun position’s instrumentation setup.
"Our cameras at the gun and impact locations are positioned at ground level, limiting their field of view."
The sUAS drone is equipped with am EO/IR/thermal payload that can detect, track, and locate objects in both day and night conditions. Aside from that they each offer distinct capabilities. The Skydio X2D is a vertical- take-off-and landing drone.
Hernandez says the quadcopter features, “six navigation cameras for 360-degree obstacle avoidance and the dual sensor payload that includes a color camera and FLIR thermal sensor.”
The operators flew one system for a test during the scorching heat of Yuma’s summer and Hernandez said had remarkable results in operation and in the video collected. During active tests they provided networked real-time video from the drone controller straight to the test officers in the field for situational awareness and on-the-spot assessment.
“We are evaluating longer duration, larger payload free flight and tethered systems that host a variety of cameras and sensors for a variety of use case applications.”
The visibility and real-time data give testers reassured confidence during testing.
| Date Taken: | 06.04.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2025 11:26 |
| Story ID: | 499623 |
| Location: | YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 68 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Eye in the sky, Yuma Test Center uses drones to capture test data, by Ana Henderson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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