Augusta Systems tests unmanned vehicles

MORGANTOWN, W.Va., Aug. 30 (UPI) -- West Virginia-based Augusta Systems Inc. has announced the successful swarming test of unmanned vehicles.

The vehicles were equipped with the company's on-board sensor data processing capabilities. During recent Naval Air Systems Command field tests, the unmanned vehicles demonstrated a successful swarm with limited human intervention.

"This is a significant advancement for unmanned systems," said Patrick Esposito, president and chief operating officer of Augusta Systems, in a statement. "Thanks to our on-board sensor data processing technologies, the vehicles can function as fully robotic systems, capable of making their own decisions."

The demonstrations were held at a National Aeronautics and Space Administration facility on Wallops Island, Va. Augusta's SensorBridge and SensorPort products among others were installed on six air and ground vehicles. With on-board collaborative control, the vehicles successfully functioned together as a group or swarm.

"Now, with these technologies, unmanned systems can act as part of a distributed, intelligent network on the battlefield, processing, sharing and communicating critical data," Esposito said. "As a key component of joint, network-centric operations, intelligent vehicles can perform the data processing and communications normally handled by personnel in the field or at a centralized location."