Configurable Payload Systems

Background

NanTrak Industries provides leading-edge, patented sensing and tracking technologies for both military and civilian product applications. As their technologies are deployed across an expanding range of platforms, UAVs, UGVs, USVs, and more, they needed a configurable enclosure system that could house and protect mission-critical components while keeping pace with evolving deployment requirements.

The Challenge

Each deployment platform and mission profile demands a different payload configuration, different form factors, different protection requirements, different environmental conditions. Traditional enclosure development requires a new design cycle and dedicated tooling for each variant, a process that takes months and often restarts when requirements change mid-program. NanTrak needed an approach that could deliver mission-specific enclosures rapidly without compromising the protection their technologies require.

Our Approach

General Lattice developed a parametric design model for a modular payload enclosure system built around two components: a ruggedized outer housing and a customizable lattice insert. The lattice insert serves multiple functions, it can be reconfigured for different payload geometries, tuned for shock absorption to protect sensitive electronics, and designed with open cell structures that provide airflow for thermal management of heat-generating components.

Because the parametric model captures the full design logic, new enclosure configurations can be generated in minutes instead of days or weeks. Once validated, the manufacturing package is generated directly from the model and distributed across a qualified supplier network for production.

The Outcome

NanTrak demonstrated multiple flight-ready payload system units at the Army xTechOverwatch competition, a program focused on advancing autonomous unmanned systems, run by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology in partnership with Army Futures Command. NanTrak was selected as a winner in the UGV and UAS Payloads category, earning the opportunity to pursue a Direct to Phase II Army SBIR contract worth up to $2 million.

The parametric model remains active. As new mission requirements emerge, NanTrak is able to generate new enclosure configurations from the same model, no starting over.