UofM secures $2.7M grant from the National Defense Authorization Act

Will use the congressionally funded award to develop unmanned aerial systems

Nov. 10, 2021 — The Multi-UAS Multi-Sensor Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance project, led by UofM professor Dr. Eddie Jacobs, brings together researchers from the UofM, the University of Arizona and the University of Central Florida to develop Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) for wide-area intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). Jacobs, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, serves as director of the DRONES Research Cluster and is a senior researcher for Drones and Advanced Sensors with the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER).

Sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, this system will use multiple UASs with a variety of advanced sensors to detect and identify potential threats and items of interest in an area of regard. The intelligence of this system will be enhanced by on-board artificial intelligence and machine learning processing of sensor data into actionable information, an advanced mobile ad-hoc network system geared toward the collection and dissemination of data and an advanced optical communication system for high-bandwidth data. The resulting system will have broad application in public purpose domains such as security, agriculture and environmental as well as military applications.

The emphasis on this proposal is experimental research with multiple UASs and multiple sensors to advance technologies and improve simulation fidelity. Experimentation will demonstrate concepts of interest to public purpose domains as well the Army and develop new capabilities at the University of Memphis.

Jacobs will partner with fellow UofM researchers Dr. Lan Wang, department chair and Dunavant Professor in the Department of Computer Science; Dr. Chrysanthe Preza, professor and chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Dr. Aaron Robinson, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Dr. Ron Driggers, professor of Optical Science at the University of Arizona and Dr. Kyle Renshaw, professor of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida on this $2.7M grant.

For more information on this award, contact Jacobs at eljacobs@memphis.edu.