Project Oculus

The C-130-fitted airborne deployment technology, called “Oculus” for reference to the German god of sight and vision, is a creation of WVU’s Center for Industrial Research Applications (CIRA). Project Oculus was funded in the form of research contracts with the Department of Defense Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office (DoD-CNTPO) and the National Guard Counterdrug Bureau (NG-CDB) and has been developed to support a broad spectrum of the latest in remote sensor technology for missions requiring highly proficient reconnaissance capabilities.

Oculus is a sensor pallet system featuring two Roll-On/Roll-Off (RO-RO) assemblies. The first assembly, the operator station, is used as the command and control center of the system and is positioned within the main cargo hold of the aircraft. The operator station houses the mission operators, electrical inverters, and the control computers for the sensor arrays used in data acquisition and reduction and the communications equipment to relay the mission information to their designated end-users (eg. field operators).

The second assembly, the sensor platform, attaches to the rear ramp of the aircraft. The mechanical arms of this assembly are specifically fitted to the C-130 rear-loading ramp. These arms, via a one-touch automatic process, swing a “pod” carrying sensors into position against the lower edge of the loading ramp through a series of electrically driven rotational and linear movements. Once set against the level positioned loading ramp, operators can begin collecting data through the sensors with an ideal view of ground targets.

Oculus version 1.2 completed safety of flight testing from March 5 - 9, 2007 through Warner Robins Air Force Base – Special Programs Office (WRAFB-SPO) at the West Virginia Air National Guard Base in Charleston, WV. This system will obtain complete airworthiness certification in the near future.

The upgraded version of the Oculus system (Oculus 2.0) has begun the full certification process and could obtain full flight certification by the end of August 2007.

The Oculus technology has been licensed to a private incubator company (Oculus Development, LLC) started at West Virginia University. Oculus Development, LLC has established a manufacturing consortium team well versed in defense contracting and manufacturing to produce Oculus systems for the United States military.

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