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AFRL Miniaturizing Intelligence Pod

The effort will result in a family of multisized sensors to fit an array of aircraft.

The AgilePod, the first physical system to be trademarked by the Air Force, is a multiintelligence pod. A new effort to develop a suite of platform-agnostic AgilePods in various sizes is currently in progress, teaming AFRL with industry partners. (U.S. Air Force photo/David Dixon)

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) engineers have embarked on a new miniature version of the AgilePod in an effort to increase the platform’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, according to an AFRL announcement.

The original AgilePod recently underwent successful testing on the DC-3 aircraft and is moving toward flight testing on the MQ-9. It is a multiintelligence, open architecture, flight-line reconfigurable pod designed for the ISR community. Comprised of compartments ranging in length from 28 to 60 inches, the pod can be assembled in different configurations to enable diverse sensor communication packages for a mission. For example, high-definition video, electro-optical and infrared sensors and radar can be deployed in a single AgilePod, eliminating the weight that might accompany multiple pieces of equipment to do the same.

But a one-size-fits-all system limits its ability to be used with a number of sensors on multiple platforms. The Mini-AgilePod project will essentially create a family of AgilePods with small, medium and large-sized pods to host optimized sensors and enable the pod to fit an increased number of aircraft.