University to Design Autonomous Aircraft

The Dayton Daily News reports that Wright State University is starting work in October to design small unmanned aircrafts that can react to problems and repair themselves in flight.

The National Science Foundation will fund the three-year, $1 million project, which will also include collaboration with researchers from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Purdue University, and Portland State University.

John Gallagher, WSU associate professor of computer science engineering, will lead the effort. He tells the Daily News that the project's goal is to “figure out what changes need to be made without human intervention.”

The Daily News reports Wright State and Portland State are going to focus on how machines may change computer programming to handle certain problems, such as wing damage while flying. AFRL has expertise in small UAVs and Purdue will analyze the data.

According to the Dayton Daily News, the science foundation funded the project because the technology could be used in other areas, such as robotics and electric power grids.