DARPA’s $6.5 million drone resupply challenge: lift more with less

Donna, thank you so much for being here with me today

Thank you very much for having me. Very excited to talk about this today. So tell me all about the Lyft Challenge

So we're really excited at DARPA to be able to put on this challenge

We're focusing for this challenge on drones, and in particular on one of the areas that we have seen

as maybe one of the most limiting to its widespread adoption, and that's the payload-to-weight ratio

So in general, drones that we're seeing out right now have maybe like a 0.2 to 0.3 payload to weight ratio

And that's with an acceptable distance for a mission that they would want to do or even a civilian use case

Some drones, of course, get higher, 1, 1.25, things like that. On the helicopter world, we're seeing about the same

So your multi-role aircraft are somewhere lower, 0.5, 0.6. And then your specialized ones like a K-Max or a Skycrane, they're about a one-to-one payload-to-weight ratio

And just to be clear, when you're talking about payload-to-weight, you're talking about how much these things can carry

Yeah. Which is significant because a lot of these drones are designed for cargo logistics

You want them to carry as much as possible. Right. And that goes into, like I said before, the widespread adoption, right

So if I want to lift 100 pounds of gear, I need 100-pound aircraft, right

If I want to lift 1,000, 1,000 pounds. if they are at that one to one ratio

So we want to always lift more, transport more, whether that cargo or munitions or sensors right We always want to have more right And so when that happens you have to keep on increasing the size And with that comes an increase in production

or purchase costs, an increase in maintenance because it's a larger aircraft

and then an increase in operational costs, whether that's fuel or replacement parts and everything

So as we know, vertical lift is very expensive. And so by switching this

by going from a one-to-one to a four-to-one, We're hoping to carry more per mile, right, or more payload per mile cost kind of thing

Now, before we get into the specifics of this really interesting competition, I wanted to talk a little bit about your background

So you're a reserve lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps, and you're also a Harrier pilot, the AV-8B Harrier, which is the Marine Corps' first short takeoff and vertical landing platform

So can you talk about how that background informs what you're doing right now? Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah

Like you said, Harrier pilot, so I can hover and fly fast

And so one of the things was that we deploy on a MUSE

So I was able to deploy on a Marine Expeditionary Unit and was able to interact a lot with the V-22 Ospreys

with the CH-53s, and then the Skids as well, Cobras and Hueys

So I got to see a lot of that. My dad is also a helicopter pilot, so I grew up around helicopters

He was also a helicopter maintenance or maintainer. So got to see a lot of those specifics and those details But in the Marine Corps logistics runs the world right And not just the Marine Corps but all of the services So anything we can do to increase our logistical capability will help us win the next battle that we have to fight

And so that's where a lot of the motivation comes from for this, the ability to assist with that

And then when we go beyond logistics, like I said, you know, carrying more weapons, carrying more sensors or just swapping that payload for fuel so that you can go farther is all things that we want to do

So tell me a little bit about the specifics of the competition that you're holding now and what you hope to get out of it

Sure. So what when you're building a challenge and a competition, obviously you want to stick with a real world scenario. Right. So that you can relate to a real world

So in general, it's a five mile, you know, there and back kind of a concept. So pick up a payload, fly it five miles, drop it off and come back. That was the original

When we started looking at our venues and how to fit within part 107 rules and then the exemption, which we'll get into later, we started to say, OK, we need to make this in a manageable way

Right. So we came up with a circuit style. So you'll take off with the payload, fly around two points inside of a geofence box

Designated course. Yep designated course For four miles you drop off the payload and then fly another mile unloaded And then that has to be done inside of 30 minutes So that the general course the layout There a few more details minutiae of course but that the general concept

And then you talked about some rules and an exemption. Yeah. And I know when you deal with flying drones

the rules are very important. So tell me all about that. So also in the design of the competition

we knew that we wanted to get as many people as possible, right

The more ideas you have, the more likely you are to find success in those ideas

So reducing barriers to entry was just fundamental in the design of this concept or of this challenge

And so one of them was regulations. And so originally, we were going to have everyone submit for their own exemptions

We've had amazing coordination with the FAA, and we've been able to work out that we at DARPA will actually submit an exemption

and then all of the teams that are registered and will be competing in the event

will be under that umbrella exemption. So we've eliminated the need for each one of the teams to have to do something different

In the exemption, we're still working it right now with the FAA

but in general, we will follow all Part 107 rules. and so you have to do everything from the flight id the altitude the within visual line of sight all

of that sort of stuff but we will just be exempting the weight limit and that's it so we will allow

people to go above the 55 pounds under this exemption but still fall under all the other

part one or seven rules