Abstract: In an approach to comparing simulated environments for unmanned ground vehicle development and testing, a system includes stored program instructions, the stored program instructions configured to: receive a first simulation scene and a second simulation scene; calculate a first costmap for the first simulation scene and a second costmap for the second simulation scene; calculate a traversability ratio metric comparing the first costmap and the second costmap; calculate a blob size metric comparing the first costmap and the second costmap; calculate an L2 distance between a first plurality of histograms from the first costmap and a second plurality of histograms from the second costmap; and determine whether a first environment of the first simulation scene and a second environment of the second simulation scene are similar based on the traversability ratio metric, the blob size metric, and the L2 distance.

Abstract: An insulator inspection tool and method for identifying defects or conditions that may prevent the insulator from performing properly is disclosed. The apparatus includes a launcher adapted to launch a projectile towards an insulator being tested, a listening device adapted to receive a response signal from the insulator upon being struck by the projectile, and a processing device adapted to measure the response signal received by the listening device and process the response signal to determine whether the insulator contains any defects or conditions.

Abstract: A method of patrolling a perimeter of a geographic area, using two or more unmanned vehicles having means for locomotion along a perimeter path. Each vehicle is equipped with at least the following systems: a navigation system operable to autonomously navigate the unmanned vehicle, an anomaly detection system, a communications system, an anomaly tracking system, operable to track, visually or by following, a detected anomaly, and an alert evaluation system. Each vehicle travels the path on a predetermined route, and is operable to broadcast an alert message to all other vehicles if that vehicle detects an anomaly, to perform an evaluation of any received alert message to determine if it will travel to an anomaly based on stored evaluation rules, and to respond to an alert message based on the evaluation.

Abstract: A method of patrolling a perimeter of a geographic area, using two or more unmanned vehicles having means for locomotion along a perimeter path. Each vehicle is equipped with at least the following systems: a navigation system operable to autonomously navigate the unmanned vehicle, an anomaly detection system, a communications system, an anomaly tracking system, operable to track, visually or by following, a detected anomaly, and an alert evaluation system. Each vehicle travels the path on a predetermined route, and is operable to broadcast an alert message to all other vehicles if that vehicle detects an anomaly, to perform an evaluation of any received alert message to determine if it will travel to an anomaly based on stored evaluation rules, and to respond to an alert message based on the evaluation.

Abstract: An insulator inspection tool and method for identifying defects or conditions that may prevent the insulator from performing properly is disclosed. The apparatus includes a launcher adapted to launch a projectile towards an insulator being tested, a listening device adapted to receive a response signal from the insulator upon being struck by the projectile, and a processing device adapted to measure the response signal received by the listening device and process the response signal to determine whether the insulator contains any defects or conditions.