Small Scale Propulsion Fly on the Wall, Cockroach in the Corner, Rat in the Basement, Bird in the Sky,
Abstract
This study concerns small vehicles on the battlefield, and in particular their propulsion. These vehicles may fly or travel on the ground by walking, rolling or hopping. Their purpose is to carry, generally covertly, a useful payload to a place inaccessible to man, or too dangerous for men, or in which a man or manned vehicle could not be covert. Small useful payloads usually are sensors, which may include visible or IR imagers, nonimaging photometers, detectors of lower frequency electromagnetic waves, detectors of various chemicals or ionizing radiation, seismic or acoustic sensors, meteorological instruments, etc., together with means of storing or communicating the results of their measurements back to the user. Useful payloads may also include taggants to be released, or lethal or non-lethal weapons; the restriction to very small payloads may still permit the delivery of effective weapons if the accuracy of delivery is high (possible examples include explosives applied to locks and irritant gases released in confined spaces). This field has been the subject of a great deal of speculation in the past. For example, many people have written about an artificial vehicle as small and inconspicuous as a fly or cockroach, which could fly or crawl into a denied area and transmit data. Unfortunately, an artificial fly or cockroach is far beyond present technology. It is possible to build vehicles as small as rats or small birds, but they are much less capable than the living organisms because of mechanical constraints.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 18, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA331212
Entities
People
- D. Eardley
- J. Katz
Organizations
- MITRE Corporation