HAMPTON, Va., March 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Applications are now being accepted for NASA Langley’s Safeguard with Autonomous Navigation Demonstration (SAND) Challenge.

The SAND Challenge will be an opportunity for small businesses to compete in an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle competition for a grand prize of $20,000 under the America Competes Act.

The challenge will address some of the safety critical risks associated with flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in the national airspace system such as flight outside of approved airspace, unsafe proximity to people or property, and critical system failure.

NASA Langley’s patented Safeguard technology will be used to help small business competitors mitigate such risks while they complete a set of complex mission profiles. Safeguard is a verified and validated independent system originally designed to monitor off-the-shelf UAV systems and if/when necessary physically prevent the vehicles from entering no-fly zones or leaving approved airspace.

For this competition, it will be configured to warn competitors (and auto-pilots) of impending excursions (or violations) while also objectively measuring performance with respect to the rules of the competition. For example, how well they comply with regulatory property protection and other operational requirements during flights.

The challenge will follow the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 Regulation Small Unmanned Aircraft Regulations.

The SAND Challenge will be held in August of 2020 in Hampton, Virginia.

To apply for the SAND challenge and to view more information including drone eligibility, participant eligibility, operational requirements and more please visit: http://sand2020.nianet.org

For more information about NASA’s Langley Research Center go to: http://www.nasa.gov/langley

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SOURCE NASA